The Academy

“What is the right tone when a student has died by suicide on your watch, but you have 239 other kids in your care who deserve a top-notch educational experience?”

Audre’s thoughts, as she tries to strike the right “tone” when greeting the students, introduces Cinnamon’s death, which will impact several students throughout the novel. Although Audre cares about her students, her primary concern is how Cinnamon’s death will impact the prestige of the school and, by extension, the performance of the other students. Because Cinnamon’s death is introduced at the start of the novel, it foreshadows how students like Dub, Davi, and Taylor will be impacted by this death.

“On her feet are boat shoes; Audre hasn’t seen a pair up close in decades. It looks like she stepped right out of The Official Preppy Handbook; if it were 1984, she would fit right in. But forty years have passed. […] Audre wonders if Charley watched some old movies—Love Story, perhaps, or Dead Poets Society—and thought this was what the kids would be wearing?”

The shifting perspective allows the reader to see Audre’s thoughts as she welcomes the new students. Here, she is judging the way that Charley looks, questioning her shoes, clothes, and books that she brings with her. This description is a jarring contrast to the air that Audre presents to others: while she projects the air of professionalism and care for her students, she inwardly judges them and the image they will project for the school.

“Simone raises triumphant fists over her head. Rhode can’t help noticing as her vintage Montreal Expos T-shirt pulls free from the top of her jeans, exposing a strip of flesh at her waist. Rhode peers down the bar, sees the guys with the tattoos checking out Simone as well, and feels a surge of protectiveness that verges on territorial.”

When Rhode and Simone go to the Alibi on the first Friday of the school year, the perspective shifts to Rhode’s point of view as he watches Simone. The diction here, particularly the words “flesh,” “protectiveness,” and “territorial,” is important in the tone that it sets for Rhode’s character. The words are designed to make the reader uncomfortable, creating an uneasy feeling for Simone and where their relationship will go.

“When Cordelia caresses Honey’s elbow, Honey yanks her arm away as though she’s been burned, and—almost too late—Cordelia sees that Simone Bergeron is just on the other side of Honey, holding a clipboard.”

The internal conflict that Cordelia faces throughout the text is introduced the first time that the reader is shown her perspective. Because of the values and prestige of the school, she is forced to hide her relationship with Honey, not necessarily because it is a queer relationship but because they are coworkers. The simile, comparing Honey’s reaction to being “burned,” emphasizes just how deeply they are both impacted by the need to hide their relationship—a fact that will impact them both throughout the novel.

“Tiffin exists in a bubble; it feels removed, sealed off from the rest of the world. Do traffic, pollution, poverty, pestilence, or the Olive Garden even exist? You would never know it from where Simone is standing. She is oh-so-fortunate to be here.”

Simone’s view of the school here conveys the theme of Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences. Everyone at Tiffin has a degree of privilege, emphasizing its unique setting as a boarding school for the wealthy. Additionally, it lends insight into Simone’s struggles throughout the text: She feels an immense amount of pressure to live up to the expectations of the school’s prestige.

“Charley Hicks causes her so much anxiety. She exposes Simone’s impostor syndrome. Simone isn’t a good teacher, she’s not qualified in the subject matter, she isn’t mature enough to stand up to the students, and, as the past fifteen minutes have just proven, she has grave moral failings as well. She let Andrew Eastman kiss her!”

Because the reader is given Simone’s point of view, it lends sympathy to her character. Here, she is struggling with her first few days of teaching, both because of her immaturity and because of her lack of understanding of the subject matter she teachers. In this way, although Simone’s actions in the text are egregious, there are also more factors at play that the reader is privy to, many of which are beyond her control.

“‘I’m stuck here. I figured why not create something legendary, something Tiffin students will be talking about for generations to come?’ East shrugs. ‘Plus, it’ll give me a sense of purpose. I’m fucking bored, man.’”

East’s character is described by others as being unintelligent or unmotivating. However, through his conversation with Chef Haz, the reader is given insight that the other characters do not have, creating dramatic irony. In reality, East is extremely intelligent, so much so that he is bored by the work he is supposed to do at school.

“After East leaves the room, Charley sits on her bed amid the chocolate crumbs and tries to steady her breathing. East is the antagonist to her protagonist: He’s leading her down a wayward path. He’s opening a speakeasy called Priorities in the basement of their dorm, and for some reason he wants her as his partner. Not Davi, not Tilly Benbow, not one of the Madisons or Olivias. He’s chosen her.”

Through the relationship of East and Charley, the novel introduces the internal conflict that Charley will face with relation to the theme of The Struggle Between Invisibility and Exposure. Initially, Charley is adamant that she likes to be isolated and does not enjoy school functions. However, once East shows an interest in her, she begins to value their relationship and the exposure that it gives her at the school.

“In that moment, [Charley] feels strangely bonded to Davi. They both have secrets.”

In one of Charley’s first interactions with Davi, she discovers her eating disorder. As she leaves, she thinks of how their “secrets” are the things that make them more similar than either of them believes. This idea conveys the theme of The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip. One of the underlying ideas of this theme is the power that secrets hold, a feeling that Charley gets as she recognizes that she now knows one of Davi’s secrets.

“Saylem was like a siren who was luring Davi’s formerly cool and aloof parents to the underworld. (Davi had chosen The Odyssey for her summer reading).”

As Davi thinks about Saylem, her parents’ new girlfriend, she is reminded of The Odyssey by Homer. This epic poem details Greek hero Odysseus as he returns home after the Trojan War. In one part, Odysseus faces the sirens, mythological creatures that lure ships to them so that they will crash. This allusion lends insight into how Davi feels about Saylem. As she is struggling with the loss of Cinnamon, she also feels as though she has lost her parents to Saylem, unable to find comfort or support from them because of their fixation on Saylem.

“Now, however, Vik notices that the light in Davi’s eyes has dimmed—or perhaps just changed. It isn’t genuine, he can tell. He informs Ruby that he’s going to attend the seminar called Your Child’s Mental Health, a conversation facilitated by the school chaplain.

‘What on earth for?’ Ruby says. […] ‘She’ll kill you if you go to that seminar. […] Everyone will think she’s unwell. That’s the last thing she wants.’”

When the narration shifts briefly to Davi’s parents, the reader is given a new perspective on them. While Davi feels isolated and neglected by both, the reality is that her father also struggles with their relationship with Saylem and sees what Davi is going through. However, this moment also conveys the theme of Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences. Because Ruby holds the power in their parents’ relationship, Vik feels as though he cannot reach out to Davi or connect with her. His one attempt to try to do so—the mental health symposium—is shot down by Ruby because of how it will impact their social standing.

“Audre scoffs. Isn’t it just like Douglas Worth to tell them all how to do their jobs? He’s a Nervous Nellie, and an alarmist. He led Audre to believe there was something to actually worry about—and instead she’s being fed this nonsense about something called Zip Zap.”

When Audre receives an email from Worth warning her about the Zip Zap app, her reaction is full of irony and foreshadowing, creating a sense of impending danger for the reader. Instead of taking the warning seriously, she dismisses it offhandedly. This fact makes the reader concerned about what the Zip Zap app will do, creating a sense of foreboding as it is introduced into the school.

“Zip Zap seems intent on unearthing all of our secrets. It reminds some of us of the hypnotist who came to campus last winter. He chose people to go up onstage and put them under his spell. Some of them cried, one of them clucked like a chicken, and last year’s Honor Board chair, Vanessa Kendrick, told the whole auditorium that she still wet the bed.”

This metaphor, which compares Zip Zap to a hypnotist, lends insight into how the characters feel about the app. For them, it is controlling their lives, emphasizing theme of The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip. At the same time, the metaphor is flawed, as the app is only revealing how the characters’ truly feel, not forcing them to do something beyond their control.

“Half an hour later, [Charlie] gazes in the mirror. Her hair, which might generously be called ‘dishwasher blond,’ now has hints of honey as it flows over her shoulders. Is this her? She takes off her glasses. Her mother also sent her with five pairs of disposable contact lenses, but Charley hates them.”

When Charley changes her hair for East, it marks a change in her character as she begins to care about her appearance. The mirror that she looks into is a metaphor for this change. At this point, there are two versions of Charley just as she sees a second self in her reflection: she wants to remain true to herself by wearing clothes that remind her of her father and reading, yet she also begins to feel the alure of popularity.

“‘Limerence.’ Rhode was unfamiliar with the word, but when he looked it up (‘a desire to form a relationship with the object of love and also to have one’s feelings reciprocated’), he thought of Simone. He sees her all the time, every day, and when he’s away from her, he’s thinking of her.”

Rhode’s thoughts here come before his first date with Simone, as he has tried for weeks to get her to agree to go out with him. His thoughts create a sense of concern, as he has begun to be obsessed with Simone. This moment again emphasizes the sympathetic nature of Simone’s character: despite her repeated rebuffs of Rhode’s advances, he continues to pursue and obsess over her.

“[Charley] has no friends. Is East asking her to attend a school function with him? This is a prank or a gotcha, or something crueler. This is Stephen King’s Carrie being crowned prom queen before they dump a bucket of pig’s blood over her head.”

This quote is an allusion to Stephen King’s novel Carrie. The main character, Carrie, is bullied, secluded, and isolated in high school. However, she is invited to prom by Tommy, the school’s most popular boy. Once there, however, she realizes that it is a prank, as Tommy’s friends dump blood on her when she is crowned prom queen. This allusion lends insight into how Charley is feeling in this moment. She knows that she has isolated herself, yet East is pursuing her, in many ways a parallel to Carrie’s Tommy. Just as Carrie was part of a prank, Charley is hesitant because she feels the same may be true of her situation.

“Fifth-form English students are assigned Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. A ‘crucible,’ Mr. Rivera tells them, is ‘a test designed to bring about change or reveal an individual’s true character.’”

This allusion to Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible foreshadows the impending danger that Zip Zap will cause while conveying the theme of The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip. The Crucible is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials, where dozens of women were accused of being witches and subsequently killed, usually without any concrete evidence. This plot reflects what is happening within Tiffin: The students are turning on each other due to anonymous posts (and no evidence) on Zip Zap.

“But now, Audre feels defeated. All she wants for Christmas, she thinks, is for things to be like they were last Christmas: Before Cinnamon Peters killed herself, before Cordelia Spooner and Honey started quarrelling, before Audre hired either Mr. Rivera or Miss Bergeron, before Tiffin was ranked number two and became the subject of an official inquiry. Before Zip Zap. Is that too much to ask? She wonders. She fears the answer is yes.”

This version of Audre stands in stark contrast to the one who opened the novel. At the start, she is cheerful and optimistic, especially after the release of the new rankings. Now, however, after everything she has been through, she dreads the rest of the school year. Ironically, Audre feels this way and thinks about it, yet does very little to address the issues at the school or solve the problems. Instead, she simply “wishes” for thinks to get better.

“She hears Olivia P. in the hall say, ‘Buh-bye, Miss Clavel; hello, Dolores Umbridge.’ In Charley’s mirror, Simone sees the other girls huddled around Charley, watching as Simone rifles through Charley’s boat shoes and L.L. Bean moccasins.”

This quote contains two allusions that help the reader to understand the change that has occurred within Simone. The first, “Miss Clavel,” is a reference to the popular children’s book series Madeline. Throughout the series, a young girl, Madeline, is at a boarding school in Paris that is run by Miss Clavel, a kind, caring woman who wishes the children goodnight in each book. The second, “Dolores Umbridge,” is a reference to the cruel, controlling woman who takes over for Dumbledore as headmistress at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. Where before Simone projected kindness and caring, she now viciously tears apart Charley’s room out of jealousy.

“‘How are you going to handle it?’ Charley asks.

East pulls out his phone and starts texting.

As soon as Audre gets off the phone, she hurries to the admissions office to find Cordelia.

‘I just hung up with Big East,’ she says. ‘He’s sending a computer forensics expert to the school over spring break.’”

While Audre struggles for weeks to handle Zip Zap and the chaos it is causing, it is ultimately East who handles the situation. When he takes out his phone, presumably to message his father, an IT consultant is immediately sent to the school. This moment emphasizes the theme of Privilege as a Source of Protection From Consequences: When East wants something changed at the school, it happens immediately, even faster than the head of school can do it.

“‘They found out who’s behind Zip Zap,’ [Tilly] says. Her forehead crinkles. ‘But wait, I’ve never heard of these people. Grady Tish and Levi Volpere? Do they even go here?’”

This quote, “Do they even go here?,” is an allusion to Mean Girls. When the girls are forced to share their feelings with the school, a student who does not even attend gets in front of the school and explains how she feels. In response, one of the students calls out, “She doesn’t even go here,” a line that has become iconic with the film and musical. This allusion emphasizes The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip. It is not restricted to just the popular students or even to students in general, instead impacting everyone.

“‘I care about you,’ Charley says. ‘Or I did. Because what I learned about you, Davi, is that you are way more than your persona on social media. You have edges, which you try to hide, but that’s my favorite part of you. You let me see past the hair mask and lip gloss to your humanity.’”

This moment, where Charley and Davi mend their relationship, emphasizes what Charley has learned throughout the novel with regard to The Struggle Between Invisibility and Exposure. As she makes clear to Davi, it is important that a person holds on to who they truly are. While Charley lost this in her pursuit of popularity, the opposite is true of Davi: She began to discover who she was once she let go of her fame. Ultimately, their renewed friendship lends hope that they will both find a balance, as well as support with each other.

“It’s so unfair, Simone thinks. Rhode behaves badly, Honey behaves badly, and Simone pays the price. With nothing on her docket all day, Simone is free to go to the weight room and start working on her ‘summer body,’ or she can write prompts for her students’ final papers. But why waste a rainy Sunday being productive? She rummages through her stash in the closet.”

Despite being a somewhat sympathetic character, Simone’s thoughts after she learns of Priorities emphasize her lack of understanding and her immaturity. Ironically, she fails to see what she did wrong and, additionally, fails to address it. Instead, she turns toward alcohol to ignore the problem while insisting that she is being treated unfairly.