i thought i’d make a separate post with all of the postcards together because i couldn’t resist the side by side when @macarenaandrad3 included this with the final products! im still so obsessed with how they came out and i can’t thank you enough for executing the idea so perfectly!!!
ride or die, the mirror, and the narrative foil trope: the essay
written for the final day of @rodappreciationweek 2021. here i'll be discussing ride or die's use of the image of the mirror and the use of the narrative foil trope, specifically with mc versus five characters: logan, colt, mona, jason, and ingrid.
ride or die arguably is one of the best choices stories which make use of the narrative foil trope. others that come to mind are blades of light and shadow and surprisingly, foreign affairs (which i've touched a bit on here, but it’s executed far more weakly than blades or rod, mostly due to the storyline being a standalone when it was obviously planned to not be).
i. the mirror
ride or die is a coming of age story. it’s all about a girl figuring out who she is and her first experiences in romance and everything in between, we all know that. and when you have a story that focuses so much on figuring yourself out and finding your place in the world, the first question you ask is “who am i?” — an introspective question that can be akin to looking into the mirror.
which, coincidentally, is how the book opens. MC is shown to look at herself in the mirror both literally and metaphorically. first in the car chase with logan:
and when she wakes up that same day:
but just as the book starts with the mirror, it ends with it as well:
after MC looks at herself in the mirror, the player is given the choice to define MC. what is MC feeling? is that really her? how does she look like? ala mulan reflection who is that girl i see. and it all fits well as ride or die, at its core, is a coming of age story.
ii. logan
logan is the first LI introduced in the story. aside from being MC’s potential LI, he is also narratively used to show MC everything she isn’t. while all the LIs are different from MC by virtue of them all being criminals and having a more jaded view of the world, it’s most reflected in logan. the line i see this most come out is in his chapter 3 diamond scene:
logan also goes on to mention how he doesn’t know where his mother is. you could say he “lost” his mother, similar to how MC lost her mother years ago. the difference is that logan’s mother was in the world of crime, as she was in prison and gave birth to him prison; MC’s mother married a detective.
he then tells the story of how he totalled his first car because he was reckless. contrast to chapter 15, MC also gets her car fucking rolling in the parking lot, but by the next chapter we see it repaired. the difference between them was that MC was the one in control of the situation i.e. setting a trap for the brotherhood. and in turn, she gets to keep her first car, unlike logan.
iii. colt
colt is the second LI introduced in the story. colt mirroring MC is the most obvious out of the characters, IMO. his father is the head a crime group, MC’s is the head of capturing said group. they both have fathers who want to control where they go in life, and they both want to prove themselves to said fathers.
if you pick colt in chapter 11, manipulative ass bastard (who we love anyway) he may be, it’s demonstrated how colt and MC have a understanding of each other due to their similar experiences.
in chapter 14, if you chose colt to take you to the prom and pick the option to dance with him (instead of kissing him), the narration uses the term twin stars circling each other, further showing how MC and colt are similar. contrast that to logan’s line in the final chapter where he says he was “just a rock in space lucky enough to burn in your atmosphere.”
iv. mona
mona is the third LI introduced and like many fem LIs, is locked behind the paywall. in chapter 9, we learn more about mona. how she wasn’t born to be as cynical as she was, how she was just like MC, until she met a girl and thought it was love.
you could say that mona has more in common with MC than colt does, and yeah kinda lol. but at this point, colt is meant to mirror MC as she is the present, while mona is meant to show us how MC could turn out to be in the future if she chose to lead the life of crime. it’s especially more prevalent if MC’s primary love interest is mona.
however, unlike mona, MC doesn’t get sent to jail and survives the encounter with the brotherhood because the people she meets truly care for her, if not love her. mona, even if arguably a bit OOC, takes a bullet for her, saving her the way mona’s former girlfriend didn’t for her.
v. ingrid and jason
both jason and ingrid work as narrative devices to show us that MC cannot have it all.
the first chapter foreshadows that MC will inevitably have to make the choice between her two lives. she can’t have it all. and even despite riya’s encouragement, mc is not ingrid.
however there is one more character who just as similar to MC as colt is to her, and you could also argue even more, and yes that is everyone’s least favourite cunt, jason shaw.
the book makes it explicitly known that shaw and MC are foils. it’s a lot more “in your face” and conveniently not paywalled (compared to the LIs), as it should be, because it adds a great layer to the story. and of course, not to mention, it’s technically the primary source of conflict in the story.
MC and shaw are both living two lives they can’t reconcile, and they both know they can’t have both.
but the difference between MC and shaw is that shaw still tries to have both, and that’s what makes him fall. MC, in contrast, i like to interpret as her leaving both behind but creating a new life for herself from those experiences.
which is why i find the ending of rod so great, especially for MC. she’s heading to the east coast, to her dream school, the one she lived the “honor roll, goody two-shoes” life to achieve. but she’s heading there in a car given to her by people in her second, adrenaline-filled life, the same people who gave her the chance to be who she really wanted to be. the ending wasn’t her choosing the quiet life she had before mercy park, it’s her putting the two together and moulding one that isn’t entirely dictated by others.
ride or die is a seriously incredibly choices book and i’m so glad i looked past the whole “bad boy romance” tagline and gave it a try. granted, what i said above isn’t the only parts which make it narratively great (there’s the whole colt and teppei icarus and daedalus, and how riya and darius are used as narrative devices as well) but i hope i at least gave light to some parts which i loved about it.
if you made it this far, you’re the mvp lol
screenshots taken from AppGames Live Too, Abhirio, and choicesfromashes on youtube.
