The Topeka School

Jane, Adam’s mother, describes how she once forgot to buy plane tickets for a trip to visit a grown Adam and his family, even though she believed up until the day of departure that she had in fact bought them. The knowledge of her mistake was “just beneath the threshold of consciousness” (77)—something she knew deep down, but could not allow herself to consciously acknowledge. This experience of unconscious knowledge is similar to what she calls “the memory of what my father had done” (78)—implying sexual assault that is never explicitly described in the book. Jane first regained the memory of her assault through therapy with her friend and colleague Sima. Jane and Sima became fast friends after arriving at the Foundation, and developed an “intimacy [that] was quick and intense” (80).

Sima and Jane have children around the same time (Jason and Adam, respectively). One day, when Jane’s parents are visiting, Sima notices that Jane is reluctant to leave her father alone with Adam, leading Sima to suspect a traumatic event had occurred in the past. However, Jane’s memory is only fully jarred during a visit to her parents several years later. During the visit, Jane’s mother acts nonchalant after observing young Adam accidentally watching a sexually explicit animated film. Several days later, Jane’s mother confesses to Jane that she once stole a painting, which she describes as “the worst thing that I’ve ever done” (87). After the trip, Jane tells Sima of these two incidents; Jane then recalls her mom once leaving her alone with her father, who assaulted her. Jane calls this “the worst thing [her mother] ever did” (88). As Jane attempts to articulate her trauma, her “speech started breaking down [and] accelerating as if I were chasing after meaning as it receded” (88).

Jane describes the threatening phone calls she received after publishing a bestselling psychological self-help book and appearing on television. Jane calls her harassers “the Men”—anonymous men using violent and misogynistic language, including rape threats. Adam frequently answers the phone when these men call, and some of these Men also angrily approach Jane in public when Adam is present. As a result, Adam develops a fear of the Men, and acts out as a result. In one instance, Adam wakes his parents in the middle of the night to show them that he has completely covered his penis with chewing gum. Jane then describes a physical trauma Adam experienced when he was eight—a severe concussion and lost memory.

The fame resulting from her book has affects Jane’s personal relationships, with many individuals, including her husband, who believes Jane acts as if she “was too good” for them (102). Though Jane’s relationship with Sima is initially unchanged, it alters following a trip Jane and Sima take with their families to New York for a speaking event at the Ninety-Second Street Y, where Jane asked Sima to interview Jane about her book. At the event, Jane feels that Sima has suddenly changed: “There was a coldness now, a distance to her smile, trace amounts of bitterness” (104). Sima begins the conversation by asking Jane about her parents, which Jane perceives as an attempt to remind Jane of her abuse. After the event, Sima continues to act coldly to Jane, leading to the slow dissolution of their friendship.

Darren often helps his neighbor Ron Williams with housework. Ron’s son Cody is a schoolmate of Darren’s. One night, Ron invites Darren to have a beer with Ron, Cody, and Cody’s friends. While Cody’s friends usually ignore or outright bully Darren, they now act friendly. As Darren becomes more and more inebriated, he undergoes “a widening delay […] between experience and its conscious recognition” (113). Darren drives with a group of the teens to Clinton Lake. At the lake, Darren vomits from the alcohol he has consumed while the other teens chant his name.

Adam narrates that Darren has begun to be included in high school social life after years of ostracization by his peers. For Adam, the sudden embrace of Darren reflected years of parents prompting kids to treat him better: “Hadn’t they always been told to include him?”­ (117). Still, the high school seniors’ changed attitude towards Darren is only an “ambiguous joke of his inclusion” (121). Adam sees this joke as his peers’ way of “modeling and mocking their own parents” (119).

At a party, a drunken Darren accidently stumbles into Reynolds, an athlete from a rival school. The interaction leads to a full-out brawl between boys from the two schools, both groups inflicting intense violence on each other.

Adam is very interested in poetry. When he was a child, Adam’s mother would recite for Adam a short, comedic poem about a Purple Cow before putting Adam to bed each night. As Adam grew older, his mom began to recite for him a second poem by the same author, in which the poet rues the first poem’s fame. The young Adam was fascinated “by the notion that a verbal object could circulate and become famous and destroy the man who made it” (126). For Adam, poems are a kind of magic. Though Adam’s interest in poetry would typically alienate him from the boys in his school, he channels his verbal skills into freestyle rapping, which impresses other boys.

In addition to debate and poetry, Adam partakes in “extemporaneous speaking, the freestyle of nerds” (134). Otherwise known as extemp, the competitive activity involves having to spontaneously give a speech on a randomly chosen political topic. Adam excels in extemp, which is less about actually presenting one’s knowledge on a topic than it is about “project[ing] an image of erudition” (136). Another activity Adam excels at is Lincoln-Douglas debate (L-D), debate that focus on moral questions. Though L-D ostensibly prizes speaking ability over the use of evidence  and spread, Adam feels that L-D ultimately rewards style over substance, encouraging individuals to develop a clear style of communication with little regard to the content of what they are saying.

Adam’s debate coach is Peter Evanson, a former Topeka debating champion who returned to the city after graduate school and is known as “the greatest extemper of all time” (137). Often in their training sessions, Adam and Evanson debate their own political positions; Evanson takes a right-wing stance, and Adam a progressive one. Though Adam frequently loses to Evanson, Adam feels that Evanson’s conservatism is on the “wrong side of history,” and will naturally disappear from American politics and society as the electorate “grow[s] increasingly diverse” (142).