Plagiarism And Relationships In Tobias Wolff's Old School

Tobias Wolff’s Old School is a novel surrounding themes of plagiarism and relationships. At a deeper look, this bildungsroman encompasses ideas of self-discovery as well as individual growth. The plot follows a purposely unnamed narrator through his journey at an all-male prep school in the late 1960’s. Authors are invited to the prestigious school yearly, fostering a bitter and excessive competition between the boys to win the audience of the aforementioned authors. Lacking in female figures around the school, every competition, award, and goal are feminized by the students. This drive creates an unwavering passion in the narrator to obtain the audience of one particular author, Ernest Hemingway. He does so by plagiarizing a piece; this occurrence

Each occurrence spurring self-discovery within the narrator has been a progression towards his plagiarism. “The headmaster reached across his desk and picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was the first page of “Summer Dance” as it had appeared in Cantiamo. The line below the title said by Susan Friedman” (142). The narrator has finally been caught in the act, this scene is his confrontation with the dean and teachers. Through this passage, the narrator discovers himself in a way he never previously had. He had thought of this work as his own until now as is shown when Wolff writes: “The name threw me, I’d completely forgotten it. It had flown my mind as soon as I’d begun reading the story that night in the Troubador office and seen my own life laid bare on the page, and in all the time since then I’d never thought of “Summer Dance” as anyone’s story but mine.” The narrator seems to be finding a piece of himself that he held so near and dear, wasn’t actually his. This realization is startling to him, as he perhaps feels that he has lost something so close to him. His plagiarism leads to him being expelled from the boarding school, another essential piece of his envisioned

This self-reflection lends itself to progression in his discovery and growth. So much of the narrator’s life was centered on school and writing. The scene where the narrator is invited back to the school, an overwhelming sense of alleviation floods over him: “ When the invitation came I felt an almost embarrassing sense of relief. I didn’t know I was waiting for it, though I must have been. But then I had second thoughts; I couldn’t make up my mind to accept. My family urged me on. Of course I should go! How could I pass up the chance to return in honor to a place I’d left in disgrace?” (169) This passage seems to be the first signs of true regret towards the narrator’s actions of plagiarism long ago. The narrator’s regret has metastasized itself in other ways, such as joining the army or punishing himself by not allowing himself to write. However, this sense of his relief, he directly links to his wrong doing. All of his other actions just seem to be an attempt to compensate as for his childhood at the school. His mindset has automatically been trained to drive and fight for winning at something, anything. Which is precisely what he has been doing leading up to this letter. The narrator has craved the security of his school for so long, the invitation back seems to be a blessing upon first arrival. When an opportunity arises to restore his honor, the narrator is elated. He desires almost