Truth

We like the truth when it serves the path we wish to put ourselves on. In Sankowski’s article,” he mentions this idea with a quote from Karl Marx as a reminder that, “Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves…” (58). Using fictional characters as an example of our own pitfalls, Sankowski shows how we are often vividly aware of ourselves when we react to a fictional character (53) especially when we see ourselves in that character or would have chosen those same actions contrary to what we are taught to do.

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It becomes difficult for us to admit our morals or choices when we face it in the real world as opposed to rooting for that same action in a fantasy. Yet in nearly every piece of fiction there is, the characters must evolve in some way just as we ourselves must evolve and own up to that.

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It comes from the idea of a liminal space. You can imagine it like adolescence, the space between childhood and adulthood. Inej is stuck in a liminal space between being the Wraith and being the daughter her parents would have wanted. Many of us find ourselves in liminal spaces between who we wish to be and what others call us to be. In order to leave these places, Lambert argues that “[t]he liminal is a chance for an individual to learn and find a sense of place in achieving the postliminal” (20).

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In Crooked Kingdom, Inej comes to terms with her truth in realizing that “[s]he had chosen to live freely as a killer rather than die quietly as a slave, and she could not regret that” (461). Rather than continue to be pained by the idea of her parents’ shame in what she’s become, she embraces herself as the best version of herself given what she’s endured. In the same way, we must embrace the truths of ourselves, stare into that mirror long past comfortability, and stop objecting to being our truest selves.