Escaping the Cage
“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.”
-Shannon L. Alder
The Comfort Zone. A place which we all have. It keeps us safe, stops us from doing things that can put us in harm. It stopped him from getting into a fight with his boss about his paycheck, potentially getting him fired from the job. It stopped her from moving to America, a place where she would be alone, isolated from her current friends. It is a metal cage, it stops the monsters coming in, but is also a self-imposed prison. His boss continued to pay him the minimum wage because of it. She was unable to pursue her dream career of being an actress because of it. Being in one’s comfort zone guarantees that things can’t get worse, but it halts progress. One confined in a metal cage will never get the chance to see the outside. See what the world is like, after all, a short life lived to its fullest is infinitely better than a long one of no flavors. If our ancestors hadn’t gone out of the safety of their caves and braved the dangers of the outside world, we would still be living in those dark, damp and cramped conditions. If those rebels hadn’t risen from the safety of their homes and fought the cruel tyrants of Ancient China, The Roman Empire, and Britain, we may be still living under a reign of terror, too scared risk our safety for something as simple as freedom.

My reading journey this year has taken me through new genres that I have not previously tried. Although I am still hiding in the safety of fiction, the books read have taken me to the edge if not out of my comfort zone. My preference for books is normally of adventure. Books set in fictional and supernatural universes and mainly are results of pure imagination. Books such as the Summoner Trilogy or the Inheritance cycle. This year, I have experienced books that have kept me in the real world. I explored the world of late 1920s Shanghai, a time of rebellion and danger. I have witnessed an alternate WW2 where woman have been allowed to fight but still must face the stereotypes of being the one that stays at home as a housewife. I have even gone into the future, where I analyzed the thoughts of an LGBTQI teen gifted with superpowers but still facing the prejudice of his community. A unique thing I learned after observing the journeys of the characters is that sometimes, you are forced out of the comfort zone and sometimes, you willingly step out of it. For many of the characters, it is much harder to step out of the cage than facing the outside world.
One of the more memorable books I have read this year is Ghosts of Shanghai by Julian Sedgewick. The book is set in Shanghai during a period of unrest. After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and at the start of the civil war between the communists and the capitalists. Ruby, the protagonist, is born into a white British Family. However, she has never known any home other than Shanghai where she has been living for many years. She is part of a small gang of teenagers from a variety of different backgrounds who like to hang out at an old White Cloud Temple. Ruby’s gang is from all different backgrounds, Ruby’s best friend Charlie and his little sister, Fei, are communist, while Andrei, a homeless Russian had his parents killed by the communist. Another member, Yu Lan, is part of an extremely wealthy Chinese family. As the ringleader, Ruby makes it her job to try to push her friends out of their comfort zone by encouraging them to help her catch a ghost. However, when they get to catch the ghost, it is Ruby, who has the hardest time getting herself to help catch it.
Throughout the book, Ruby experiences flashbacks of an earlier time when her brother was still alive, and she would roam Shanghai without a care in the world. This younger version of Ruby, which she called Shanghai Ruby was much more prepared to do more dangerous and daring things such as running around the streets and greeting strangers. The death of her brother traumatized Ruby and she has lost most of her trust in the safety of the world. Her former playful manner has been replaced with jealous, anxious and disorientated feelings. She believes that her brother’s mysterious and sudden death was because of her not being protective enough. This makes her much more protective and loyal to her other friends hoping it will never happen again.
Things begin to escalate when the communists decided to start making their moves. Ruby witnesses a communist student get executed in a busy town square after he performed demonstrations. An ambiguous Taoist monk by the name Lao Jin appears at the temple and quickly gains the gang’s trust. Not long after, Fei gets kidnapped and the gang members start arguing amongst each other, each fearing for their own lives. With the help of Lao Jin, Ruby and Charlie discover Fei had been kidnapped by an actual gang, the Green Hand to get back at their father, Mr. Tang, for being communist. Ruby also discovers that her parents, who she does not have a healthy relationship with, aided the Green Hand in the kidnapping.
To make matters worse, after Lao Jin suddenly reveals himself to support the communist cause, Andrei wanting revenge for the death of his parents catches him off guard and shoots him. Lao Jin’s death isolates Ruby and Charlie and they are left to themselves. Whilst Charlie is forced to run, Ruby is given a choice. She can retreat safely to her parents who she does not entirely trust or break out of her comfort zone and run away and find Fei.
Most of us will be fortunate enough to never have to make such a decision, after all, who doesn’t want to be safe? Sedgewick wants us to see that sometimes you have a choice to stand with what is right and being safe in your comfort zone. The 2019 Hong Kong protests is an example of this. People coming out of the safety of obeying the law and respecting the Government to protest for their future. Protest for what they believe is right. People who want a capitalist Government over the reign of communist rule. Just like the events in Ghost of Shanghai where the Vice-versa is occurring but with the same purpose.

Front Lines by Michael Grant shows a similar concept in an alternate World War 2 where women have been allowed to fight alongside men. However, the stereotype that women should stay at home and do the housework while men go off to fight is still strong. The book follows four brave young women as they fight two wars. One against the Nazis and one against the prejudice of their families, friends and fellow soldiers. They are:
Rio Richlin, an underage girl from Gedwall Falls whose sister had just died to the Japanese. Rio is to is convinced by her best friend to enlist for the war. She is determined but she is deeply affected and changed by the conflict.
Jenou Castain, Rio’s best friend who is not loved by her parents. Jenou is boy-crazy and humorous. Her positive energy, even in the darkest times keeps the team going.
Rainy Schulterman, a Jewish girl from New York City who is a gifted linguist and is extremely smart. She joins army intelligence was unlike the other girls, she has a clear motivation in mind: To kill Hitler
Frangie Marr, a Christian African American girl who aspires to be a doctor when she is older. She joins the army to help support her struggling family and becomes a medic. She is extremely small for her age and has to cope with racism as well as sexism with many white male soldiers refusing to be saved by her.
Each with their different reasons, each of them takes a step away from the safety of their homes and move to the front lines. Rio enlists wanting revenge for her sister and feels the patriotic urge to do her part for the war effort. Jenou, on the other hand, wants to go to war to escape. Escape her constantly drunk and arguing parents who she hates and go to places where there will be a large number of attractive men. Rainy joins military intelligence as she believes that she can use her skills to kill Hitler. The man who has caused so much suffering to her people (Jews) in Europe. Of the four, only Frangie is truly forced to enlist to support her family so they have enough to survive after her father’s injury.
Front Lines made me think more about why people would venture so far from their comfort zones to do dangerous things such as participating in the army. The conditions that the characters experience is almost identical to those who fought in the second world war. For me, it would pretty much impossible to enlist in the war knowing those are the conditions, but it is interesting learning and understanding why some would take that kind of risk.
My family would be what people some people consider as traditional. I grew learning that those who are born girls are girls and those who are born boys are boys. I was told that males will marry females. I remember when the Yes campaign won, my parents were visibly confused. I was told to not associate with people who identify as LGBTQI for what they are doing is against nature. So even though, for the past few years, I have been exposed to the ideas of LGBTQI and even have a few gay friends, there was still that hint of discomfort when reading the Sovereign by April Daniels. Something I’m not too proud of.

The protagonist of this story is a girl who identifies as LGBTQI called Danny. In this world, random people have received mysterious superpowers and Danny is one of those few who have. As the superhero Dreadnought, Danny must learn how to adjust to his powers after a catastrophic encounter with a supervillain which results in the death of many other superheroes. As the story moves forward, we discover that Danny had anger management issues that stem from how her parents had abused her for being transgender when she had been younger. The main villain of the book is a rich businessman by the name of Sovereign who has hopes of finding out what was causing the random distribution of superpowers and finding a way to manipulate and monopolize the superpowers who he would be powerful. However, the book puts a lot of emphasis on the story of Danny the girl, who must endure the mental pressure made by her parents which she eventually fights a court case with. With the press applying pressure on her always, it constantly seems like it will be a matter of time before she cracks. The two sides of the story merge when a transphobic and Misandric villain by the name of Graywytch attempts to wipe out most of the male population with only Dreadnought/Danny to stop her.
The hardest people to fight isn’t the enemy, but the people closest to you. After reading Sovereign, I realized how hard it must be for those people who identify as LGBTQI but have parents who are prejudiced and dislike the very thought of it. Many probable hides what they are from their parents. But it is those who leap forward, those who fight their family and friends, so they are free to express themselves that gain the most.
Of all the challenges and barriers life throws at us, it is ultimately the metal cage that we put around ourselves that is the hardest to break out of. Ghost in Shanghai talks about the idea of rebellion, both with the communists rebelling against the capitalists and Ruby running away from her parents for what she believes is right. Front Lines showed me why people risk their lives to fight for their country and with some even considering it as an escape. Sovereign opened my eyes and hearts to those who must wage conflict with people they are closest to themselves just to be able to express themselves. In a metal cage, you can only have so much space to do what you want, fight for what you believe and express yourself, but as soon as you step out of it, the sky’s the limit.
