When Edwin finally breaks free from this boxed world, his declaration is "I’m dead! I’m glad!” reframes death not as an ending, but as liberation. What dies is the imposed self, the obedient version trapped within manufactured boundaries. What emerges is the possibility of living again, this time as a self that chooses, feels, and experiences the world beyond fear (sounds like Ego, right?). In this story, death becomes transformation, and freedom is earned through breaking away and sundering.
I chose this short story as part of the AoB Reading List because I wanted Jhope to be represented. Last year, I revisited "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", a book Hobi read in high school and which later inspired Hope World. For 2025, with the HOPE ON THE STAGE tour marking a defining moment in his career, Jack-in-the-Box felt like a timely and necessary read.
Bradbury’s story resonates with Jack In The Box, the album, in concept, song lyrics and sonic qualities. Both confront boxed expectations, manufactured identities, and the cost of stepping outside what is prescribed. Both insist that emancipation is not always gentle, but it is essential.
This pairing honors Jhope not only as a performer, but as an artist continually choosing authorship over confinement, and selfhood over safety.
