Slugfest

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.

“When you’re a top athlete, you can’t talk about how you’re great and everybody else has two left feet. But you know the kind of person who has to retake gym in the summer—the kind who was too uncoordinated to pass it in the fall, winter, and spring! The kind who can’t bounce a ball without knocking themselves unconscious! Who would trip over a chalk line on a football field if they ever went near one! Who think sports are for dolts and cave people and that anybody with a brain would rather spend their time playing chess and solving equations!”

This excerpt from Yash’s perspective in Chapter 1 shows his level of privileged thinking at the beginning of his character arc and sets up the theme of The Need to Keep an Open Mind. Here, Yash has preconceived notions about the type of kids who are forced to retake gym, and he’s decided in advance that they are all uncoordinated smart kids who think that sports are for people who don’t think. Cleo’s presence in Slugfest makes this paragraph ironic because she’s also a top athlete who was forced to retake gym due to a sports injury.

“Of course I can swim. I’m on a water polo team. I can outswim anybody in the school. But I won’t put my face in the water. That’s it—I just won’t. And guess what you have to do to pass the swim test.”

These lines are spoken by one of the girls in Slugfest. As with Cleo’s presence in Slugfest, this girl challenges Yash’s expectations by playing a sport well. She also highlights the myriad reasons why someone may be forced to retake gym class—in her case, a fear of putting her face in the water. More broadly, these lines speak to how participation in a sport does not mean automatic comfort with all aspects of it. Playing water polo means that this girl is a strong swimmer, but it does not mean that she wants to go underwater.