Old School

Does the narrator seem genuinely sorry for offending Gershon? Why/why not?

The narrator derides Grandjohn and Patty. However, after Ayn Rand’s campus visit, we see a change in how he views them. What has caused this shift? Does it reflect a broader transformation in the narrator’s perspective? How so/why not?

In what ways does social class impact the narrator’s friendships? Use specific examples.

After leaving the prep school, the narrator wants to escape his persona. In what ways has the narrator created a persona? Why does he want to shed it?

When the narrator is charged with plagiarism, to what extent is he aware that he has committed this offense? Does he realize that the story is not his? On some level, is the story his? How so/why not?

Later in life, the narrator is invited to return to the school as a visiting writer. He is relieved by the invitation but declines it. What in him does this invitation alleviate? Why doesn’t he accept?

Susan Friedman tells the narrator that she no longer writes because it “just cuts you off and makes you selfish and doesn’t really do any good” (163). How does the narrator react to this claim? Why does he react in this way?

Dean Makepeace has allowed the campus community to believe he is Hemingway’s friend. How does this deception compare to the narrator’s? Why does the narrator face harsh punishment, while Dean Makepeace is not punished at all?