The Academy

Throughout the course of the year at Tiffin, several characters struggle with the secrets that are shared about them, their home lives that they are trying to escape, and the conflicts they have with students or staff at the school. Several characters are forced into isolation as a result of what happens, like Charley who is alone after trying to fit into the social fabric of the school or Davi whose best friend, Cinnamon, died by suicide. Similarly, these characters deal with issues in their homes, like East whose father is constantly away on business, leaving him with no home to go to over break; or Davi, who struggles with the lack of support from her parents after Cinnamon’s death.

However, permeating the drama and chaos of the school year is the overarching idea that the students can find support in each other. For Charley, she has both East and Davi to rely on. She first fits into the school because East reaches out to her, then she changes throughout the novel as she learns the value of friendship and fitting in—rather than the isolation and separation she felt at the beginning. As she explains, on her return from Thanksgiving break, Charley thinks how “Tiffin feels more like home than her actual home” (252). Similarly, Dub faces an internal conflict over how to deal with his grief after Cinnamon’s death. Although Taylor is initially interested in him romantically, her acknowledgment that he is still grieving, and her subsequent decision to be only his friend at Priorities and return to Hakeem, emphasize the value that her friendship holds to Dub. As Cinnamon’s death repeatedly surfaces throughout the novel, Dub, Taylor, and Davi all struggle in their own way to grasp what happened and deal with their grief. Ultimately, once they are able to move past the drama of the Zip Zap app and come together at Priorities, they are able to begin their journey of healing with support from each other. While Priorities largely symbolizes status and privilege in the novel, it conveys a different form of “privilege” for the characters that gather there: they form lasting friendships that will allow them to continue to grow and heal in the next school year. The novel ends on a tone of hope for these characters as they gather on the Senior Sofa, a nod toward their future as seniors, a future they will face together.

Set in the exclusive world of a prestigious and expensive boarding school kept afloat by wealthy donors, The Academy explores a competitive world of privilege and power. Simone, a newcomer to this world, notices immediately that the school feels separate from the ordinary world: “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” (71-72). Each of the characters present at the school has some form of privilege, as they receive an elite education at a beautiful, modern school with an elite chef, new facilities, and a rigorous curriculum. However, even within this elite setting, students and faculty vie for advantage, using whatever tools they have at their disposal to gain leverage over others, then using this leverage to get away with toxic and harmful behavior.

The clearest example of this dynamic is East. From the beginning of the novel, several characters, including the staff themselves, acknowledge that East does not follow the rules the other characters are forced to follow. Because the school has become dependent on donations from East’s wealthy father, administrators look the other way when he misbehaves. Head of School Audre ignores evidence that East has built an illegal speakeasy on school property, determined not to lose his father’s patronage and pleased with the new campus facility, which she repurposes as an administrative office. The one adult on campus with incontrovertible evidence of East’s bad behavior is Simone, but East defuses this risk by initiating a sexual relationship with her, which he uses to extort her into silence. As Simone, Audre, and other adults protect their own interests, East enjoys near-total freedom from consequences.

Even Chef Haz breaks the rules to help East, jeopardizing his career by supplying alcohol to minors on the campus where he works. Aware of Haz’s gambling addiction, East leverages his personal wealth to gain power over Haz: He knows that the chef, deep in debt, will not be able to turn down the $30,000 he offers. Meanwhile, Haz escapes punishment by leveraging his own power, emphasizing the privilege he has as a valuable chef for the school. The presence of a renowned chef on campus boosts the school’s reputation, and Haz knows that even if he is caught, the school will cover up his involvement and keep him on staff.

Ultimately, East is only the most powerful player in an economy of privilege and impunity that involves everyone at Tiffin. As individuals prioritize their own personal gain over abstract concerns like justice and even the safety of the school’s students, they create an environment in which harmful and irresponsible behavior goes unpunished as long as the guilty party has the right connections.