Boxing Ring
The boxing ring itself, where the action of the match takes place, has long been a sturdy symbol for the nature of competition. As the sport grew in popularity it took on the element of dramatic spectacle—entertainment—as well as being a winner-take-all competition for physical dominance. The ring in this particular rendering becomes symbolic of the existence of young women in a patriarchal environment by nature of the misogynistic enjoyment of the pejorative term “catfighting” being applied. Boxing has beem transformed into a consumer product to be sold partly on the basis of making the girls in the ring the object of the “male gaze.”
12th Annual Daughters of America Cup
The book is primarily set in Reno, NV in the middle of July in an indeterminate year in the 21st century. The centerpiece is the boxing competition advertised as 12th Annual Daughters of America Cup but the narrative also leaps to the futures of the boxing contestants. In almost every case, the competition had no lasting impact of the trajectory of those futures and, indeed, many of the women have even forgotten much of what was at the time the single most important moment of their young lives. This facet is a symbol of just about anything and everything young women attach such an overly abundant amount of importance on during adolescence that tends, in many cases, to wind up being almost completely forgettable.
"The Biggest Little City in the World"
Reno is the third most populous city in the state of Nevada and it famously bills itself as "The Biggest Little City in the World.” Until the 1960s it was actually Reno and not Las Vegas which was considered the gambling capital of America. Since then the explosive growth of Vegas has made Reno’s standing as Nevada’s “second city” even more starkly outlined. Thus, setting the boxing match in Reno is the perfect symbolic counterpoint to the status of women’s boxing which is the Reno of the sport compared to men’s boxing clearly being the Vegas of the sport. Like women’s boxing in comparison to men’s boxing, Reno gets less attention, support, and economic gain.
Hand-Clapping Games
A sizable chunk of one entire chapter is devoted to analysis of the social significance of hand-clapping games played primarily by young girls. These games are a kind of symbolic precursor to the physical act of boxing because constant contact is being made with the hands and it takes rhythm and reflexes to take part. The most notable difference is that there are no winners in these games as compared to boxing. The author seems to be suggesting through symbolism that women in the ring, despite being opponents during the match, are bound to each other through shared experiences and objectification in a way that male boxers are not.
Hair
Recurring throughout the novel are descriptions and references to the hair of the women boxers. As with hand-clapping games this facet of the story is connected to social bonding of young girls who learn the intricate art of braiding from slightly older female relatives and friends. The various ways in which the boxers style their hair is given a far greater significance than it would ever get in a novel about young male boxers. Hair becomes the dominant symbol of femininity within the mostly brutal and masculinized sport of punching each other senseless.
