Headshot

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, gender discrimination, and child death.

The world discus is a motif supporting the theme of Self-Definition on One’s Own Terms. It is first introduced in Chapter 3, during the fight between Iggy Lang and Izzy Lang. Iggy uses the image of the discus to imagine her rivalry with Izzy as the world she has built around boxing. The novel applies the same image to the other fighters in the tournament, stacking their discuses atop one another in tournament order. Andi’s discus, for instance, holds space for the trauma of the boy who drowned at her swimming pool. Rachel’s discus homes in on her affected strangeness, presenting her barefoot while eating veal.

The discuses represent the girls’ integrity and authenticity, emphasizing that motivation is what makes someone a boxer, more than experience, skill, or luck. When Rachel watches the fight between the two Langs, she can tell Iggy will win because the world discus she has built is more coherent: It centers her desire for familial respect, whereas Izzy’s world discus is flimsy because she has lost faith in boxing’s power to affirm her individuality.