51 pages • 1-hour read
Jake, Reinvented
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Themes
The American Dream
Jake’s hope of winning Didi’s heart and rising in popularity represents his version of the American Dream: the belief that any person, though hard work and determination, can achieve prosperity, happiness, and upward social mobility. Jake, once a bullied and unpopular nerd, is convinced that his reinvention can take him to the height of popularity and acceptance. If he tries hard enough, he is sure that anything is possible. However, Jake’s underhanded tactics while pursuing his dream, along with his ultimate failure, suggest that the American Dream may be just that—a dream—impossible in a society defined by selfishness.
Starting from the lowest rungs of high school popularity, Jake goes to extreme lengths to achieve his dream. He radically changes his appearance, practices for days to get on the football team, convinces his father to buy the right house, and throws incredible parties, all so that he might one day be with Didi. In a sense, this plan succeeds. Through his reinvention, Jake becomes popular, mysterious, and sought-after, able to hang out with the most popular students at his school. He rises from obscurity to become famous, bringing him to the precipice of his dream of Didi.
To get that far, Jake turns to dubious methods to complete his reinvention. To finance his parties and impress Didi, he begins ghost-writing essays for the students at Atlantica University. The college students pay Jake to write their papers and then turn in his work as their own, in violation of the college’s ethics policy. Jake also relies heavily on alcohol to boost his popularity, seducing his classmates to break the law by drinking under the age of 21. These underhanded methods of achieving social progress indicate a corruption in the American Dream, hinting that the dream may not be attainable without resorting to immoral behavior.
Despite sinking into dishonesty, Jake’s dream itself remains pure, as it comes from what appears to be a true love for Didi. Unlike most of the other characters, who cling to popularity for its own sake, Jake sees popularity as merely a means to an end: being with Didi. The purity of Jake’s romantic dream is the reason that Rick thinks that Jake is “worth more than the lot of them put together” (144).
Jake’s dream is never fulfilled; it falls apart in the face of Didi and Todd’s selfishness. His failure suggests that the American Dream may be unachievable, even for someone as smart and hardworking as Jake. However, the novel’s conclusion complicates this pessimistic view. Jake must leave F. Scott Fitzgerald High, but his life isn’t over. He will find a new home and a new school where he can try once again to be whoever he wants to be. High school will not last forever, and his dream for love and a better future is still out there to someday grasp.
Appearance Versus Substance
The characters of Jake, Reinvented are obsessed with outer appearances, especially physical beauty. They care about who has the coolest clothes, the hottest girlfriend, and the most outlandish parties. Those surface appearances are often deceiving, with beautiful exteriors masking rotten behavior and immorality. By mismatching appearance and substance, the novel critiques the superficial pursuit of outer perfection at the expense of internal value.
Appearances are important for the students of F. Scott Fitzgerald High. They are intoxicated by Didi’s hotness, Todd’s projected confidence, and Jake’s fancy car and stylish clothing. Rick underlines the value of looks when he begins the novel by rating the aesthetic appeal of Jake’s party on a scale of 10, the same way he rates the beauty of Didi and other girls at the party. Caught up with appearances, the students often equate beauty with merit. They view Todd as a better person because he has a hot girlfriend, while they devalue and pick on Dipsy because his body is large.
The novel demonstrates that the association between appearance and substance is often false. Didi—the most beautiful girl around—is vain, selfish, and careless, toying with Jake’s love and then leaving him out to dry. Todd—the popular quarterback—is likewise self-serving and egotistical, cheating on his girlfriend and putting other people in danger to cover up his infidelities. Dipsy, in contrast, has a strong inner sense of morality, showing up to support Jake and Rick during their times of need.
While Didi and Todd’s desirable appearances hide empty cores, Jake puts on a desirable exterior to hide his better self. Having learned that his peers value surface over substance, Jake gives them what they want, hiding his real self behind a cool-guy façade. This transition comes with real sacrifice, and Jake is at risk of losing his authentic personality in the process of becoming popular.
Rick’s journeys with Jake and Jennifer underline the novel’s critique of superficiality, showing that a person’s inner values mean more than their appearance. Rick, like everyone else, is initially caught up in Jake’s outer persona. However, his true admiration for Jake only comes when he learns about Jake’s hidden past. Rick sees that Jake is more than Todd: not just a handsome exterior but also a smart student, a hard worker, and a devoted romantic. Likewise, Rick only decides to be with Jennifer after she demonstrates her empathy by attending Jake’s trial, having learned that a person’s conscience matters more than their looks.
High School Hedonism
The novel goes to great lengths to describe the hedonism of Jake’s legendary parties. The partiers dance, drink, celebrate, and hook up, demonstrating the wild impulsiveness of teenagers who feel like they have nothing to lose. While the narrative at times revels in the party atmosphere, it slowly begins to reveal the dangers of this hedonism. In the escalating chaos, the narrative demonstrates that carefree behavior can lead to negative consequences when taken to excess.
Jake’s parties provide an outlet for the students to embrace the exuberant happiness and optimism that define their high school experience. Supported by their parents, and with their whole futures in front of them, the partiers feel untouchable. For example, Todd hooks up with Melissa without caring that her boyfriend, Nelson, might find out. Meanwhile, Nelson and other partiers happily cause mayhem around the house, while the football team repeatedly and gleefully steals Dipsy’s pants. Alcohol amplifies the wild behavior, providing an intoxicating and irresistible atmosphere of recklessness that increases as the parties go on.
At first, Rick enjoys the parties as much as everyone else. He likes watching the party antics and laughs along with everyone else as the hijinks get wilder and wilder. At a certain point, things change. As Rick learns more about the selfish and conceited nature of his classmates—especially Todd and Didi—he begins to see the parties in a different light. No longer finding humor in his classmates’ antics, he now views the partiers’ crazy and reckless behavior as devoid of meaning: a dangerous and pointless wild abandon in which people lose their sense of morality and responsibility.
Rick’s negative view of his peers’ hedonism comes to fruition during Jake’s last party, during which the dangers of such careless behavior become clear. Jake’s house is almost burned down and Jake and Nelson are nearly killed. None of the attendees showing the empathy or intelligence to stop the chaos. They continue to cling to the idea that they are untouchable, refusing to accept any culpability in what happened.
Though a hedonistic mindset comes at a heavy cost, at least some of the characters—like Rick, Jake, and Jennifer—come away having learned the dangers of such careless abandon. They end the novel with a newfound sense of responsibility: a step on the way to growing up.
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