51 pages • 1-hour read
Playworld
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Themes
Influence of Adult Relationships on Adolescent Development
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual harassment and child sexual abuse.
One of the novel’s primary themes is the influence that adult relationships have on adolescent development. Because Playworld is written from the protagonist Griffin Hurt’s first-person point of view, Ross explores the potential risks and results of such relationships on Griffin’s coming-of-age journey in particular. Griffin is 14 and 15 years old throughout the novel, but his closest connections are with individuals older than him. These connections include those with his parents Shel and Lily Hurt, his psychologist Elliott Barr, his wrestling coach Mr. Kepplemen, and his parents’ friend Naomi Shah. Over the course of his first two years of high school, Griffin’s relationships with these adults dictate how he sees himself and the decisions he makes. The adults in his life confuse his coming-of-age with their own agendas and insecurities, highlighting the impact that they have on his development.
While Shel, Lily, Elliott, Kepplemen, and Naomi offer Griffin advice, these adults also impose their beliefs and expectations onto Griffin in dangerous and/or limiting ways. As a result, Griffin often feels incapable of accessing his own emotions, acting out of his conscience, and pursuing his personal desires. Shel, for example, insists that Griffin begin acting when he is in the second grade. While Griffin has an innate talent for the art, he has no real interest in making a life of acting; this dream is his father’s. The same is true of the financial concerns that weigh on Griffin throughout his acting career—he can’t stop acting because he is “pay[ing] for [his] private school” and signed a contract with Shel to ensure his salary would go to his education—concerns that originate from Shel’s economic insecurity (63). Furthermore, he can’t appeal to his mother to escape this arrangement because Lily is loyal to Shel first. Griffin is forced into an adult world that he didn’t choose and burdened with adult responsibilities when he is still a child, circumstances that preclude him from enjoying his childhood.
Griffin’s relationships with Kepplemen and Naomi are the most toxic and dangerous to his adolescent development. Griffin suffers sexual harassment, abuse, and violence at the hands of both these characters. He feels incapable of escaping these abusive relationships because he has learned that staying silent is less painful than the repercussions of revealing their exploitation. Worse still, Kepplemen and Naomi pose as loving, protective guides, confusing Griffin’s sense of who they are, what they want from him, and how he should behave around them. Meanwhile, while Elliott, as Griffin’s psychologist, offers him the illusion of guidance and safety, their connection fails to healthily usher Griffin from childhood into adulthood.
Overall, Griffin’s adult relationships muddy the metaphoric waters of his coming of age and catalyze his meandering journey of self-discovery. Because Shel, Lily, Elliott, Kepplemen, and Naomi all take advantage of him and impose their experiences onto him, Griffin is often left wondering “[w]hen would it be [his] turn to speak” (44). He isn’t able to actualize his identity until he stands up to the adults in his life and begins establishing boundaries in these relationships. The adults in his life keep him from claiming his own voice and experience, confusing him with their private motivations and agendas until he feels confident enough to recognize their limitations and move beyond them.
Dichotomy Between Public Image and Private Reality
Playworld uses Griffin’s child acting career to launch its theme exploring the dichotomy between an individual’s public image and their private reality. Griffin begins acting when he is only in the second grade. After he gets the spot on Candid Camera, he secures a role in The Nuclear Family, and his experiences taping this particular television show feature throughout the novel and come to define much of Griffin’s adolescent life. Griffin is also compelled to keep a regular audition schedule, which is directly inspired by Shel’s insistence that Griffin devote himself to acting. He does television commercials and radio segments, and stars in films throughout his first years of high school. Cumulatively, these experiences comprise Griffin’s public persona: He often embodies an alternate, curated version of himself in order to succeed at his job. However, Griffin doesn’t simply inhabit the roles he’s playing while on set. He also begins to adopt his alternate persona off-set to navigate his complex world. Griffin describes this phenomenon as a space “open[ing] up between my thoughts and my face; and the conviction that, so long as I hid behind this mask, I’d be safe” (30). Griffin’s public image is not only a way for him to succeed as an actor—it also becomes a way for him to survive his adolescence.
Griffin’s private reality contrasts with his public image because when he’s alone, he’s able to access more authentic facets of himself. For example, when Griffin is at home in his apartment by himself, the way he experiences reality is more raw than when he is in public or surrounded by others:
When I returned to the apartment and no one was home, I climbed into my top bunk and reveled in the silence, pretending, with some guilt, that everyone in my family had died and I, unbeknownst to anyone, not even the doorman, lived here all alone, and it made me feel strangely at peace (79).
The image of Griffin lying in bed alone in his empty apartment captures both his loneliness and his desire for solitude. Although he is pretending that his family is dead, he feels “strangely at peace” because he is drifting into his imaginary world (and not one that’s been scripted for him) (79). By way of contrast, when Griffin is in public, he gets into character according to what his audience expects of him. He’ll change his voice or body language when he’s with his teachers, Naomi, Kepplemen, and even at times with Elliott and his parents. This habit of performing distances Griffin from his true self. Although he initially adopts these personas to cope with the demands of his public and private lives, Griffin eventually recognizes that the loneliness that results is more damaging, and once he quits acting, his identity feels less divided and more holistic.
Navigating Challenges in a Fast-Paced Environment
In Playworld, author Adam Ross explores the theme of navigating life’s challenges in a fast-paced environment, highlighting how environment, relationships, and obligations all shape Griffin’s journey to adulthood. Griffin’s adolescent reality is defined by a network of physical settings, interpersonal relationships, and weighty responsibilities. He lives in New York City, a bustling metropolis defined by constant external stimuli and activity. To Griffin, the city’s “skyscrapers,” twinkling lights,” “corner offices,” “rooftop gardens,” and “luxurious apartments” each offer “a promise of some greater future in which you might revel in height, in roominess, from a purchase wherein you might regard all you had achieved, once you’d decided where to land” (15). From a young age, Griffin understands that his external environment, busy New York City, poses an immediate network of challenges. The novel frequently depicts Griffin on the move from place to place (taking buses or trains, walking or biking, or racing between appointments); such scenes convey the high-pressure lifestyle imposed on Griffin from a young age. He knows that he’ll have to work hard to survive and secure the life he wants; He sees these financial and vocational dynamics playing out in his parents’ relationship and feels their weight in the context of his acting career. He is still a teenager, but the city acts as a constant reminder that he must do well to succeed there.
Beyond the challenges posed by his lifestyle in New York, Griffin’s academic, athletic, acting, and relationship concerns pose emotional and psychological challenges for him as he strives to fulfill all his obligations. Although he got into one of the best private schools in the city, Griffin struggles to do well at Boyd. In particular, his simultaneous wrestling and acting commitments deter him from his schoolwork. Because these athletic and vocational realms aren’t always safe for Griffin, he hesitates to commit to either of them full-time but knows that he must remain involved to fulfill his obligations. Meanwhile, his complicated relationships with his friends, coach, family, psychologist, and Naomi highlight further internal turmoil for Griffin. He can’t authentically confide in anyone in his life and doesn’t have the guidance he needs to navigate this network of conflicts, leaving him alone to face these challenges.
In the end, Griffin’s fast-paced life compels him to lose his innocence before he’s ready. The novel is dominated by scenes of Griffin rushing from school to wrestling to acting to home, but these scenes are interspersed with scenes of Griffin playing games with his friends and brother—antics that represent his childishness and innocence. Through this juxtaposition, the novel highlights that Griffin is still fundamentally a child and emphasizes how his coming-of-age is forced upon him. Griffin does want to grow up, but he is thrust out of his childhood prematurely by living in New York City and negotiating the various demands of his interests. Further, he is surrounded by adults whose motives he doesn’t trust, leaving him with no mentor to guide him to adulthood. The narrative shows how Griffin’s lifestyle, shaped by environment, relationships, and interests, has conspired to shape his premature advent into adulthood.
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