Tropes
Trope where a character transitions from a naive, idealistic worldview to a complex, often harsh understanding of reality. It is the driving force of most coming-of-age narratives.
What is Loss Of Innocence?
Character who became a writer in New York, was proposed to by Zach, and was very good in school.
Who is Barbara "Sunny" Burhman?
Life After High School major turning points.
What is Zach's Suicide?
What is Tobias and Sunny's talk?
What is Zach's proposal?
The estimate of the amount of novels Oates has published.
What is 58?
A story, typically a journey, that is both forwards and backwards to discover who a character is.
What is Quest for Identity?
Character who proposed to Sunny but was secretly in love with Tobias. Killed himself through carbon monoxide poisoning in his car.
Who is Zachary Graff?
Zach was...at his school
What is Valedictorian?
Joyce Carol Oates wrote Life After High School to...
What is explore societal conformity?
Trope centering on a character’s realization of their queer identity, culminating in a pivotal moment of self-acceptance and revelation.
What is Coming Out Story?
Character who wrote plays in New York and was in a homosexual relationship.
Who is Tobias Shanks?
Themes of Life After High School
What are sexual identity, weight of expectations and guilt?
Oates strives to expose the...
What is friction of strict environments?
Trope suggesting that profound suffering, trauma, or hardship is a necessary catalyst for a character to mature, gain humility, and step into adulthood
What is Misery Builds Character?
The moments of foreshadowing Zach being heterosexual.
"...who had never to anyone's recollection asked a girl out before..."
Sunny told Zach it was a free world, and he responded "Oh no it isn't Sunny. For some of us it isn't."
The time period Life After High School is written in.
What are the 1950s?
True or False...Oates was born in New York