Lords of Discipline Essay

A invigorated based on his experience soldiery experience at The Citadel, Pat Conroys The Lords of retard takes place at the South Carolina Military bring (a fictitious military school). Like most military schools without the United States, The make for prides itself on its ability to transform douche bags to whole men. The authoritative figures amenable for this transformation are the cellular telephone (upper classman), carriers of the ring (alumni), and General Durrell (the president of the represent). similar to the supremacist nature of the city of Charleston, The instal also has an illustrious history of rejecting m each(prenominal). The recognise of vesture the ring, the ring universe a symbol of graduation, does not postdate easy and for any(prenominal) does not come at all. Whether it is the dark shin Pearce, the pants pissing Bobby Bentley, or scour Dante boarnetti some cadets are plainly not allowed to tweak from the school. No matter how intelligent, strong, or determined some students are forced to leave the play in order to advance the reputation of the bring in strong. bequeath McLean, an Irish Roman Catholic and the novels protagonist, did not belong at the institute. However, because of his status on the hoops team, like most other athletes, he was overlooked by the system allowing him to experience the institute with no real danger of expulsion. entrust noticed, through his experience in the plebe system and curiosity for Then cardinal, that this school was wrong. pull up stakes realized that the rules inside the Gates of Legrand were different from the liberalisation of the United Sates. leave alone McLean along with his roommates, trail and Pig, rebelled against the institute, disagreeing with its hotity and abuse of selected students. As in most military schools, a system is put in place, to promise desired results. For The comprise there is three stages to achieving the desired result of go a whole man Pl ebe Year (freshman year), the cadre (upperclassman), and takeing the ring (graduating from the University). During a cadets plebe year at the institute their mind, body, and personality are all completely destroyed. The cadet is unsheathed of his ndividualism and is turned into clay ball for molding.The cadre, for the most part, is responsible for the initiation to the institute. They, being the upperclassman, are delegate by the General to pick out the worn out and unworthy and run them out of the institute. Whether, they give the unworthy individual superfluous thrashings, sweat parties, or emotional abuse the cadre almost invariably succeeds in the removal of such selected subjects. However, as long as a cadet does not have any disgraceful qualities, such as crying, food allergies, dark skin t 1, or limited bladder control, The Institute will allow him to graduation.As long as one isolates the institute from the rest of the world, subscribe to all of its requests and necess ities, and defend to protect its honor (even if that factor leaving against ones own morals) he will graduate form the South Carolina Military Institute. Will McLean, tolerated submission to the institute, the physical effort, and everything else the institute asked. However, Will would not abandon his moral compass, by physically abusing and emotionally destroying 18-year-old boys and he says this at the end of his plebe year I Will not be like them. I will not be like them.I shall bear witness against them (Conroy 232) Although, the brutality of the cadre was more(prenominal) than formidable, the institute often faced a strong willed individual that they could not break. For example Bobby Bentley, the pants pissing extraordinaire, refused to leave the institute and when Pig asked him wherefore said I had make up my mind that no one in the world was going to run me out of that school. I had made a vow to myself just like you guys must have make during the year sometime. (Con roy 407). Although Bobby Bentley was receiving the very worst that the cadre had to offer, he was never going to leave the school.With the pride of the Institute at stake and the reputation of the cadre on the line, the institute needed a guaranteed dismissal from the unbreakable boy. The ten-spot designed by the institute in generations past, was designed to remove any problem student from the school no matter what. After Bentleys mysterious departure Willy says, according to legend, No one could survive the attending of The Ten (Conroy 192). This is where the institute crosses the line. As if the viciousness of the plebe system is not enough, The Ten breaks the law.The Ten is un-Ameri fire and against the very foundations on which America was established. This is what makes Will rebel this is what made him betray The Institute. Will assembled a free radical of friends to neutralize his shortcomings. Will, lacking physical strength and Charleston status, selected two meatheads ( Mark Santoro and Dante Pignetti) and a legacy at the school and the city of Charleston (Tradd St. Croix). Although this seems like an coercive perverted way of selecting friends, this group of paisans had an inseparable bond.Subsequently, after Will was assigned to protect Pearce (the schools first African American student) his roommates became heavily involved. Although seemingly Will had everything under control, the involvement of The Ten, coerced his roommates to intercede. Throughout the final 200 pages of The Lords of Discipline, Will, Mark, and Pig step further and further outside of the boundaries of respectable cadet behavior. They grab of Molligen, they witnessing The Ten torturing a student, and they were planning to confront the General. These men were in way over their head.Although the system of this military institute is brutal, inappropriate, and even illegal it does, in fact, produce whole men. Honesty, honor, discipline, strength, loyalty, and brotherhood are all facets at the heart of The Institutes curriculum. These characteristics were instilled into the hearts and minds of the paisans. These characteristics are what inspire Mark, Pig, and Will to fight The Institute. They knew that they were extremely outnumbered and even outwitted, but believed that their bond, their brotherhood could withstand anything.As Pig says after physically dismantling Cain Gilbreth The Ten We stick in concert like brothers and go on secret mission for her majesty. We have adventures and bang-up times. That was the most fun Ive ever had out there on the beach with you boys (Conroy 442). Ultimately, neither the paisans nor the South Carolina Military Institute won. Pearce, Will and Mark all graduated, much to the chagrin of The Institute and Pig died. Pigs death is a example of a consequence to rebellion. Although Pig, committed suicide, it was The Institute that killed him.By expelling him from the school, The Institute destroyed Pigs goals, passion, marriage, and life. By having the characteristics of a whole man, Pig would have rather killed himself than submit himself to dishonor. Although, Will had information, credible information, along with first hand sources, to ruin The institute he didnt. While speaking to Tradd, in regards to why he can no longer say Pigs name Will says I cant say it, I cant say it because the Institute is that strong within me. It is in me so racy Ill never get it out, Tradd. It is strong (Conroy 550).The South Carolina Military Institute was responsible for the death of Wills best friend, the humiliation of himself, and the terrorization of many plebes before him, but Will still wanted to wear the ring. Will still wanted to graduate. Without a doubt, The South Carolina Military Institute was wrong. Their treatment of students were not only morally unacceptable, but illegal. Had the United States brass received information about Pearces torture or even the way plebes were treated General Durrell would have been imprisoned and The Institute dismantled.