Old School Tobias Wolff Analysis

Writings Do Not Only Entertain and Educate
He tells Ayn Rand, an author, “Miss Rand, I just want you to know your books have completely changed my life” (Wolff 86). By telling her, the narrator of the novel Old School by Tobias Wolff expresses writers can have impact on their audience, and therefore, have control over their audience’s perspectives. The main character, the unnamed narrator, dreams of becoming a writer because of the power and respect authors have, during the 1960s in his prep school. Later, he gets a chance to win a private audience with Ernest Hemingway, a writer honored by many people. As he tries to write his story for the contest, he reads a story of another student and plagiarizes the plot because he feels such a strong connection to the story. Hemingway chooses his piece, but once the school finds him plagiarising,
Like how Susan’s writing influenced the narrator, literature can have strong influences on readers, which gives the writers a sense of power. Literature can influence people negatively. Writings impacts the reader’s thoughts and actions by influencing their beliefs and emotions. While the headmaster explains how he relates his childhood memories to the poem “After Apple-Picking,’ he notes,” [...] a true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life” (Wolff 47). The headmaster’s saying connects to when the narrator plagiarizes. After he reads the story “Summer Dance” by Susan Friedman and starts to copy the story, he points out, “How do you begin to write truly? [...] These thoughts [are] my thoughts, this life my own” (126). Here, Susan’s true piece of writing, ‘Summer Dance,’ puts the narrator in danger by evoking him to write and share his secrets. Revealing his secrets could change his life since the people surrounding him would form a different views of him. Also, the story made an impact on his emotions as he made heartfelt connections to