Lords Of Discipline By Pat Conroy Essay

, Research Paper

The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy .I wear the ring and return often to the

city of Charleston, South Carolina, to study the history of my becoming a

man., (Conroy, 1). The Lords of Discipline is essentially the story of Will

McLean growing up and learning what it really means to be an honorable man. He

began the book as one person: a young, naive cadet in his senior year who used

humor to keep everyone from seeing how troubled he was. The book ends with Will

as a wholly different person due to catastrophic events that happened during the

course of his final year at the Carolina Military Institute. Will endured the

.plebe year. at the Institute, he fell in love with a pregnant girl,

uncovered a well-hidden misuse of power in the Institute and because of that

discovery, suffered the death of a close friend and the loss of many other

people he thought he could trust. All these events contribute in different ways

to Will becoming an honorable man. Will enrolled in the Institute because his

father, on his deathbed, made him promise to graduate from the Institute, just

as he had. He went on a basketball scholarship, unaware of the brutal initiation

required for all freshman. Within the first minute of him arriving at

registration, he was beaten and humiliated by upperclassmen. Then, he and the

rest of his class were subjected to physical and mental torture whenever and

wherever possible. They were afraid to use the bathroom, so they used the sinks

in their rooms. The .plebes. , as the freshmen were called, also had

.sweat parties. every night. All the doors in the room were locked and the

heater was turned on. Then everyone lined up and followed the commands of the

.cadre., upperclassmen. .My body took asylum in a mental and physical

paralysis,. (p. 147). The idea of the hazing was to separate the strong and

capable cadets from the flimsy and weak. If a cadet whom was thought to be

unworthy survived the hazing, they were treated to .The Taming.. The cadre

would find the weakness of the plebe and exploit it. If they were afraid of

bugs, the cadre would cover the plebes body with insects until he agreed to

leave the Institute. One boy, Bobby Bentley had managed to survive all the

cadres had put him through. They picked on him because he wet his pants. All his

classmate were rooting for him and helped him whenever he was being picked on.

The angered the cadre more than anything. Then, all of a sudden, Bobby

disappeared. All his belongings were packed. He vanished from the Institute. In

the midst of all the turmoil around him, Will managed to survive, and even make

some friends. Dante Pignetti, a poor, muscled Italian from New York, Mark

Santoro, a loyal Yankee, and Tradd St. Croix, a wealthy Charleston aristocrat

following in the footsteps of his father became his roommates. These four would

form bonds that lasted all four years they attended the institute. Mark and

.Pig. were the defenders for Tradd and Will. Tradd was teased for being

effeminate and called .the honey prince.. Will got in trouble for his sharp

tongue and unwavering loyalty to the Honor Code of the school. The four of them

made it to the end of the school year. There was twenty-eight in their class.

Thirty-two had dropped out along the way. There was a picnic to celebrate the

end of the year and the survival of the twenty-eight. The upperclassmen were

there. Will vows .I will not be like them. I shall bear witness against

them. (p. 206). He sensed something sinister and immoral under the surface,

and decided he would we the one to uncover it. The torture he endured in the

plebe year made him mentally and physically stronger. It also made him want to

be all the more honorable than those around him. The book jumps ahead to

Will.s senior year. It was time for him to participate in the torture of the

plebes. He showed little interest and tried to save who ever he could from being

overwhelmed by the cadre. He saw a fat kid name Poteete being singled out for

stronger punishment. Poteete cried whenever faced with the cadre. He refused to

quit the school, another southerner being forced to follow in their fathers

footsteps. A few days after meeting Will, he attempts to commit suicide. They

find him hanging precariously over the railing overlooking the courtyard. While

trying to talk him down, Poteete mentions something that catches Will.s

attention. .I thought I could make it. I thought I was doing better until they

took me to the house. (p. 117). It sounded like another of the clues that were

steadily adding to Will.s suspicion of the integrity of the school. Mark and

Pig forced Poteete to get off of the railing. He was sent to the infirmary where

he hung himself with his belt. He could not face the disgrace of quitting. He

would rather die. During that same time, Will met a young pregnant girl. Her

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