The Lords of Discipline

The house where the members of The Ten hold meetings and conduct torture is a symbol of Institute tradition and selectivity at their absolute worst. Mentioned in rumors at first, then confirmed as the property of General Durrell, this house signifies that the Institute has a tangible dark side. As a site of mystery and terror, Durrell’s plantation house also serves another purpose: it introduces motifs from literary genres such as Southern Gothic into what is primarily a coming-of-age campus novel. Southern Gothic masterworks such as Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” revolve around traditional houses that hold disturbing secrets; Conroy’s depiction of the General’s house situates The Lords of Discipline within this literary mode characterized by deviousness and dark histories.

The first train that is depicted prominently in The Lords of Discipline—the 11:42 train that passes by the Institute at night—is not especially menacing in its connotations. If anything, it is a symbol of order and regularity—odd and dreamlike in its nighttime passage, but still predictable. However, trains turn into one of the most important motifs in the novel as the final section, “The Ten,” unfolds. Will, Mark, and Pig use a train to frighten Dan Molligen into revealing information about the Ten; this stage of the narrative transforms a nighttime train into a symbol of rough, improvised justice. Then, Pig kills himself by stepping in front of a train; this nighttime train has a different meaning, overpowering Pig’s seemingly unstoppable body and delivering the young man from a lifetime of perceived dishonor.