Old School

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-7

Chapters 8-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Literary Identity

For much of the novel, the narrator struggles to figure out who he really is. He’s created a persona on campus, complete with stereotypical literary affectations. However, in large part because he wants to escape this persona, he chooses to go to a college that none of his classmates will be attending.

After he is expelled and his scholarship offer rescinded, he works various blue-collar jobs in New York and then joins the military. Still, his sense of self is entwined with the notion that he’s a writer. When he was younger, this notion was interwoven with romantic ideals and bookish affect. However, when he later becomes a successful writer, the narrator notes:

A more truthful dust-jacket sketch would say that the author, after much floundering, went to college and worked like the drones he’d once despised, kept reasonable hours, learned to be alone in a room, learned to throw stuff out, learned to keep gnawing at the same bone until it cracked (156).

Through his persistent actions and productivity, the narrator now carries the identity, rather than the persona, of a writer.

Self-Awareness

Many of the narrator’s thoughts and actions, especially during the plagiarism debacle, call his self-awareness into question. Earlier in the novel, he demonstrates self-awareness by commenting on how he has created a persona. He understands that there is a difference between his true character and his outward affectations. While it could be argued that one’s true character also envelopes affect, it’s nonetheless important to note that the narrator is aware of a discrepancy between his internal and external lives.

When the narrator’s plagiarized story wins the contest, not only is he unconcerned about his offense, he doesn’t seem to be fully aware of it. This is exhibited through his disappointment that, in the interview, Hemingway did not give him more praise. Upon being called into the office and charged with plagiarism, he seems to begin gaining awareness of what he’s done. Still, the full realization has not hit him. He notes, “Even with the proof in hand, even knowing that someone named Susan Friedman had written the story, I still though of it as mine. I couldn’t reconcile what I knew to be true with what I thought to be true” (143). Later, when he’s in the military, he has become fully aware of his offense and knows that the story was entirely Friedman’s.

Within the narrator’s circle, his fellow aspiring writers seem to view themselves as more important to the literary world than they actually are. However, as they debate whether a story should be published in Troubadour, there is a moment of self-awareness when George says to “run the stupid thing! Who cares? It’s not like the rest of this crap’s about to set the world on fire” (120).

Literary Patriarchy

The novel focuses on a group of young male writers who attend an elite boys’ prep school with an all-male staff. They largely idolize Hemingway. For those on campus who don’t love Hemingway, a popular preference is Fitzgerald.

Three writers are scheduled to visit campus: Frost, Rand, and Hemingway. Of these three, Rand clearly is the most criticized. It could reasonably be argued that this is because of her political ideology and writing style. However, she is the only successful female writer who appears in the novel, and she largely faces disapproval.

The issue of literary patriarchy is not explicitly criticized until the narrator meets with Susan Friedman. The narrator notes Friedman’s criticism, stating:

Susan considered my caper with her story a fine joke on this ivy-covered stud farm, and on Papa (Hemingway), as she acidly called him, and on the idea of literature as some kind of great phallic enterprise like bullfighting or boxing (161).

After dinner, when they part, she says that writing “just cuts you off and makes you selfish and doesn’t really do any good.” Back at home, rather than considering reasons why she felt this way, the narrator simply chalks up her comment to her having a problem with men.

It could be argued that the author, Wolff, is taking a jab at the literary patriarchy by having the narrator plagiarize a girl’s story, which is then celebrated by the male establishment.