Essential Elements 1: Escapades, Adventures, and Rule-Breaking
Essential
Elements
1)
Late
Night Escapades, Adventures, and Rule-Breaking
Introduction
There’s something
about a boarding school setting which lends itself extremely well to late night
or after-hours adventures. Perhaps it’s the illicit appeal of sneaking out of
dorm rooms to hunt for hidden passages, or the joy of defying school rules and
regulations, or even the thrill of doing something to relieve the stress of
academia. From the subversive pranks and secret society meetings in The Disreputable History of Frankie
Landau-Banks, to the steam tunnel excursions and skinny-dipping sessions of
Without Annette, there’s no shortage
of action taking place after curfew, or in restricted, even forbidden, parts of
these schools.
Relevant passages
1)
The autumn air was chill and the Alabaster heating system was already running when Frankie first explored the tunnels. She brought a flashlight with her to avoid flipping any light switches, but within minutes she was sweating so badly she had to leave. She returned later that night with a tank top and shorts under her clothes. In her pocket she had a compass and a ball of twine.
The autumn air was chill and the Alabaster heating system was already running when Frankie first explored the tunnels. She brought a flashlight with her to avoid flipping any light switches, but within minutes she was sweating so badly she had to leave. She returned later that night with a tank top and shorts under her clothes. In her pocket she had a compass and a ball of twine.
She looped and knotted the twine on a spigot attached
to a pipe near the door, switched on her flashlight, and walked quickly into
the tunnels, ignoring the pricking feeling down her spine and reminding herself
she wasn’t being watched.
It was only the panopticon that was making her feel so
paranoid, she said to herself. That, and the guilt of systematically lying to
her boyfriend since the day she had first followed him.
--The Disreputable History of Frankie
Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
Passage
analysis
In this passage,
the protagonist, Frankie Landau-Banks, takes her first steps into the steam
tunnels running under the Alabaster Prep campus, in preparation for yet another
prank to be pulled by the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound, whose leadership she
has secretly usurped from the actual president. While she’s taken a number of
independent actions before, challenging the status quo, breaking unwritten
rules of social conduct, and otherwise pushing the boundaries expected of her as
a 15-year-old girl, this represents another major step forward as she journeys
into a forbidden place, both during daytime and at night. It’s a physical
challenge as well as a cultural one—to be caught would put her at risk of
disciplinary action, not to mention exposure as the secret mastermind of the
Order’s new pranks. Little does she know that these same tunnels will
ultimately prove her downfall, after she’s burned by one steam pipe, and after
she comes forward to take blame/responsibility for the pranks.
Note also that
she’s defying the so-called panopticon, a theme which recurs throughout the
book, the idea that everyone is watching and being watched, the idea that
inmates in a prison can be arranged so as to “feel as if they were constantly
being watched by an omniscient being,” creating “a sense of paranoia so
pervasive that its inhabitants became practically self-governing.” In short, an
ideal allegory for the closed, intimate, even oppressive feel of a boarding
school. In her explorations alone at night into restricted areas, which will in
turn help to facilitate the Order’s pranks as dictated by Frankie, she escapes
the eye of the panopticon and proves how easy it is to break the rules. This
expedition represents her success, her ambition, and her eventual defeat.
2)
I heard a soft click behind me, like a latch coming undone. “All clear,” Hank whispered as Sam swung the door open. I peered beyond him and saw a long tunnel with giant pipes running along one side at eye level, disappearing into the darkness. A wave of stale, dry, but slightly sweet heat whooshed out to greet us.
I heard a soft click behind me, like a latch coming undone. “All clear,” Hank whispered as Sam swung the door open. I peered beyond him and saw a long tunnel with giant pipes running along one side at eye level, disappearing into the darkness. A wave of stale, dry, but slightly sweet heat whooshed out to greet us.
All at once I understood. Sam had just unlocked a door
to the steam tunnels, and we were going in.
“In we go.” Penn made an “after you” gesture with his
hands. I stepped back slightly, trying to ignore the opening’s resemblance to a
giant black maw. “Um, quickly,” he added.
I felt a little woozy as I stepped into the hissing
darkness, instantly swathed in a dank heat.
--Without Annette, by Charlotte Huang
3)
The consequence was what they’d assign to the first guy who lost his way out of the game. It was usually innocuous and embarrassing stuff, like the time they made Joey Cosentino run around the rugby pitch naked in the middle of the night, and then, when he snuck back into the room, they made him do it again because he accidentally ran counterclockwise, something the team never allowed; or the time they made Kevin Cantrell swim across Pine Mountain Lake in his boxers (also in the middle of the night). Of course, all the consequences had to be performed in the middle of the night since just playing the poker game after lights-out would get the guys into a lot of trouble. And getting caught by anyone from school during the commission of the consequences was sure to be even worse.
The consequence was what they’d assign to the first guy who lost his way out of the game. It was usually innocuous and embarrassing stuff, like the time they made Joey Cosentino run around the rugby pitch naked in the middle of the night, and then, when he snuck back into the room, they made him do it again because he accidentally ran counterclockwise, something the team never allowed; or the time they made Kevin Cantrell swim across Pine Mountain Lake in his boxers (also in the middle of the night). Of course, all the consequences had to be performed in the middle of the night since just playing the poker game after lights-out would get the guys into a lot of trouble. And getting caught by anyone from school during the commission of the consequences was sure to be even worse.
--Winger, by
Andrew Smith
Multimodal works
Annotated
Scholarly References
Stewart, Eric A.
(2003). School social bonds, school climate, and school misbehavior: A
multilevel analysis. Justice Quarterly,
20(3), 575-604.
Here, Stewart
looks at how the level of attachment a student has to their school, via commitment
or adherence to school rules, can affect their level of misbehavior or rulebreaking.
This is reflected in the pranks, adventures, and late night escapades
perpetrated by fictional protagonists, who are often disaffected,
disillusioned, or disgruntled in their current school setting. For instance,
the students in Winger, Looking for Alaska, or Without Annette, who party, play
pranks, or sneak out on a regular basis to relieve their stress or to act out
against rules and regulations.
Finn, Jeremy
D., et al. “Educational Sequelae of High School Misbehavior.” The
Journal of Educational Research, vol. 101, no. 5, 2008, pp. 259–274.
A look at the role of
misbehaving, both in and out of the classroom, and how it affects grades, test
scores, and graduation rates. This can be applied to the concept of after-hours
adventures and escapades, as seen in many YA books, where said rules-breaking
can jeopardize a character’s academic standing or scholastic success.
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