“You felt it as a depth of ease in certain boys, their innate, affable assurance that they would not have to struggle for a place in the world; that is already reserved for them.”
The unnamed protagonist being on scholarship and also the only Jewish kid in the esteemed prep school feels out of place among other boys. The other classmates are from affluent families and have a privileged background; thus, they harbor their fair share of snobbery and negligence. As the statement attests they are assured of a place and they are already meant for success. The narrator is completely the opposite and feels he has to work harder than the rest to mold his future. He does not have the sort of certainty the other boys have regarding their future. The unease he feels to be the best from the rest stems from wanting to secure a good future for himself, even resorting to plagiarism to excel.
“We even talked like Hemingway characters, though in travesty, as if to deny our discipleship: That is your bed, and it is a good bed, and you must make it and you must make it well.”
As the boys are engrossed in winning the writing contest in order to meet famous writers such as Hemingway and Ayn Rand they also embody a caricature of the writers’ characters. In the assertion, the narrator takes notice of how they mimic the characters in the works however in a caricatured manner even though they all idolize the writer. The narrator akin to his classmates hopes to win the contest to secure his place as the best writer. Since the educators and judges are also admirers of the writers the students imitate this sentiment to personify their writing prowess.
“Rhyme is bullsh*t. Rhyme says that everything works out in the end. All harmony and order. When I see a rhyme in a poem, I know I'm being lied to. Go ahead, laugh! It's true—rhyme's a completely bankrupt device. It's just wishful thinking. Nostalgia.”
The novel as a commentary on the value of art it makes satirical declarations regarding artistry through the narrator. The narrator pinpoints the naive nature of rhyming in poetry, as it is a hopeful stylistic device despite life being quite hopeless at times. He has a cynical perception of art which also drives him to also plagiarize someone’s work to pass as his own since art is about borrowing. In spite of the delicate moral ground of this action the novel satirizes on what art is and what makes art, not art. Furthermore, rhyme as a lie is also a metaphor for the protagonist’s life in that after the plagiarism incident things do not really work out in his favor.
