Wild Side

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to the death of a loved one.

Rhys Garrison’s Wild Side mask is symbolic of identity. Rhys wears the mask when he’s inhabiting his Wild Side role as a professional wrestler. With the mask on, Rhys can “leave Rhys behind” and inhabit an alternate sense of self (217). As Wild Side, he feels strong, powerful, and indomitable. The mask lets him embody a more controlled state of being. With the mask, Rhys is the alluring, sexy, and undefeated wrestling champion. Without it, Rhys feels more vulnerable and less capable of hiding from his sorrow and pain. Where “Wild Side is just fine with expressing himself, Rhys is more like squeezing blood from rocks where emotions are concerned” (224).

Rhys’s relationship with the mask provides insight into his true character. When Anthony tells him that he wants Rhys to let Elle unmask him in one of his matches, Rhys hesitates. He fears that this act of unmasking will endanger him personally and expose Tabitha and Milo to unwanted media attention. Rhys has never bridged the divide between his true self and his wrestling self; the mask lets him preserve these compartmentalized identities. When he lets Tabitha unmask him at the championship, he is allowing his two versions of self to coexist.