Word: sectioning
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Branded for Life. Perhaps after a few years, the whole thing would blow over. I could get a job where the boss didn't suspiciously glare at me if I commented about how much I hate neon-colored paper. I could eat in the smoking section of a restaurant without having a waiter usher me out, saying, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we've been instructed to never let you light an open flame in this establishment." My mother would start talking to me again. I could become successful, maybe even famous. But even if I won the Pulitzer...
...shared unpleasant experience often draws people closer. My pre-med friends always chat about the guy that always asked questions in Chem 10 lecture, and now always asks questions in BS I lecture. My economics friends talk about their section-mates who worship famous professors--such as Stone Professor of International Trade Jeffrey D. Sachs '76 and Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein '61. Friends who share academic interests and acceptable section behavior can commiserate about their experiences...
...overall remember that, although the behavior is pretentious, you can always count on these people. They're going to talk for sure, so if you skimmed the reading over your flyby in Loker the hour before section, you can just sit back. For all the times that one of the talkers has saved me, I can put up with my temporary boredom or annoyance. Unfortunately, I am rarely only temporarily annoyed--rather, the irritation lasts about an hour...
...desperate students, over the course of a long first year of heat and studying, Jane begins to change. She becomes detached from herself, mechanically enduring the labors of classwork while her personality (finally freed from her parents' over-whelming influence) plays with the primitive imagery of the island. This section of the book almost resembles Apocalypse Now--it depicts a slow, insane voyage punctuated by the methodical expulsion of students around her, picked off one by one by the sniping, brutal and pitiless teachers. These teachers are every premed's nightmare--a series of Nurse Ratcheds bent on tormenting...
...Keefer is marked out by the teachers as a failure and tortured more than anyone else. His only solace is Johan, a partially tame shark he keeps in a sea-pen not far from his cabin. Schulman attempts to use Jonah as a sort a of underpinning for this section of the novel, bringing Jane, Keefer and Jonah together again and again as a sort of touchpoint by which we can measure Jane's change. As Jane slowly decides on success, she becomes able to face her fear of Jonah, and as Keefer sinks into depression and loneliness, he loses...