Life After High School And The Bustle Of University Life

High school life is like a butterfly coming out of the pupa and ready to fly. It is the beginning of the happiest moments of life with less workload, more fun and happening life. It symbolizes the time when a child sheds their baby skins and come into their bodies as a young adult. During the period of adolescence, body undergoes numerous changes. Boys are transforming into young men and girls are flourishing into young pretty women. During the teen’s years, people involves a better understanding of their own sexual feeling and whom they are attracted to. Sexual orientation is just a natural part of who a person is; there is nothing wrong about being LGBT. It just depends upon how everyone believes that. Just because of social stigma some teens fail to tells about their sexual orientation to society.

Fear of rejection, prejudgement or bullying hinders people to talk freely about their emotions, feelings. Then they pretend to feel things that they don’t actually feel in order to fit into their group, family, and community. Such adults are at greater risk for emotional problems like anxiety and depression. Some LGBT teens without the proper support system can be at higher risk of dropping out of schools, living on streets, indulging in drugs and alcohol, and trying to commit suicide as a result of emotional distress. Joyce Carol Oates in “Life after High School” narrates the story of teenage sexuality, how the teenage boy fell in love with the girl; hiding his real identity of being gay just because of fear of society and ended in taking his life. The writer talks about three main characters: Sunny, Zachary and Tobias in the story.

The first character Zachary Graff who is eighteen years old, six feet one and a half inches tall, weight 203 pounds, IQ 160, a bright student with excellent academic records. He is a kind but a slightly obsessive young man. He had a little interest in talking with the girls except for Sunny. He falls in love with her a perfect, ideal girl in high school. But in reality, he loves his best friend Tobias but the constraints of 1959’s judgemental society lead him to believe that Sunny was the perfect girl for her in order to hide his homosexual character. His character hides behind his physical appearance i.e. oversized head, massive body, deep - set eyes and tallowed coloured skin. He is developing character throughout the story because of the different aspects of his character. He lived a conflicted life until his death, after being rejected by both Tobias and Sunny, he felt as though death was the only escape from this world of rejection and way to his freedom. Zachary owned a “plum colored 1956 Plymouth car which other boys envied”; this represents the masculinity that he lacks. The color purple symbolizes sexual passion and penitential suffering. The irony is seen when the car becomes his coffin instead of expressing his sexuality. Zach chooses golf as his sport even though he doesn’t like it just because it was an acceptable sport for the boy. This shows that he was forced into ideas and action which he did not personally support.

He became unhappy about unable to reveal his real identity and with the rejection from both Sunny and Tobias ended with taking this life. The second character, Barbara “Sunny” Burhman known as the popular “too good to be true” Christian, is a confident, sweet, good looking girl and a cheerleader. She is too kind to deny Zachary and tell him to move on or to go away. She just lets him show his affection and let him try to prove love for her which is illustrated by the statement “Sunny could not tell Zachary Graff to get lost. Such words were not part of her vocabulary”. The only reason why she lets all this happen because she wants to remain sweet and sunny. If she does not remain sweet and kind, she doesn’t feel that she deserves the name given to her. She is a developing character because she changes during the story. She always tried to save Zachary from her family getting to know about them. She is very caring in nature as when Chuck Crueller was injured in a game, it was she who encouraged other cheerleaders to pray for him. After rejecting the Zachary engagement proposal, she prayed to god for him to realize that he doesn’t love her. But when got to know about the news of Zachary death, she blamed herself for his death. She drops all the “Sunny” facets of her life that trapped her and she became an esteemed instructor and writer which is illustrated by the statement that “Zachary Graff had freed her of hers”. Sunny character had evolved greatly from the beginning to the end when the character finally “takes off their masks” and lead her life in her terms and conditions.

The third character, Tobias is an insignificant character, only really becomes important near the end of the story. He also explains some of the deeds that Zachary did. Tobias is not really a developing character; he never hid nor explained the potential reasons for Zachary’s affections towards Sunny. In 1959, when the society was not accepting homosexual characters Tobias was forced to live a life of secrecy. And after the Zachary death, Tobias secret was safe from his high school friends. He also changed his name to T.R.Shanks. He is able to come out and put forward his topographic point in the world as a homosexual adult male. He goes on to a successful playwriter and director of experimental drama and had won many awards. However, in the end, it all becomes clear, Tobias’ character becomes more significant.

Life after high school is all about the 1950’s society views that affect the life of the three characters of the story. In order to survive in society, each character wears a masked identity. Zachary hides behinds his true sexuality and Sunny hides behinds what others want her to be and who she truly wants to be. Each character struggles with the ideals of themselves society has forced upon them and in which Zack fails and free himself form the norms of society by taking his life. And the other two characters came out of their shells and excelled in their carriers.