Life After High School Summary

Life after High School Joyce Carol Oates Analysis of Theme “Zachary’s attentiveness to Sunny had begun with no warning”(Joyce Carol Oates, 572), attentiveness without warning? What a mystery! So put on your detective hat and buckle up your shoes! Two unlikely candidates that knew of each other all their lives and were given numerous opportunities to connect, yet it is not until the second half of their senior year that Zachary dare breathe a word. If that is not the synopsis of a story written by John Green, I am unaware of what is. Why has Zachary chosen now to show an interest? Joyce Carol Oates groundbreaking short story of the 20th century “Life after High School” presents us with the mystifying themes of our search for penance,

That’s to say-good” (Oates, 572). What a colossal emphasis put on how good Sunny Burhman was, “She was too good to indicate impatience, or exasperation; too good to tell him, as her friends advised, to get lost.” It seems as if she was so good that any bad could not exist with her and all the while Zachary’s phoning her every scummy minute and she is just too good to tell him off. “Oh Mom. I just feel so bad. I just feel so-bad” (Oates, 572). Never could it have been feasible for such a saintlike creature to forced to resign to such a scummy thing as telling him off since “Such words were not part of her vocabulary” (Oates, 572). So pure a soul could cure a person of any scummy thought, it becomes obvious that Zachary became compelled by this same idea. “Zachary confided in Tobias that he prayed every morning of his life-immediately upon waking, he scrambled out of bed, knelt, hid his face in his hands and prayed, For his sinful soul, for his sinful thoughts, deeds, desires. He lacerates his soul the way he’s been taught by his mother to tug a fine-toothed steel comb through his coarse oily hair, never less than once a day” (Oates, 572). What a fellow! He changes from Zachary the scummy obsessive juvenile to Zachary the devout Christian in search of penance. What fitter way to cleanse yourself of sin than with a sacrifice? He sets his eyes on Sunny, after all, “She was a virgin, and virginal in all, or most of her thoughts.” (Oates, 572) What madness! What could drive a person to this decision? Fear, “Zachary was afraid of hell” (Oates, 572). And being a homosexual is one sure way to earn yourself a one way ticket to hell. Now here comes the good part, Zachary failed in convincing Sunny to flee with him , and so he lost his sacrificial lamb, however, he could still atone for his sin with the blood of the one who cause him to sin. Even more interesting is the method