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Chapter 6: The Forked Tongue
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Old School, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honesty and Honor
Identity and Belonging
The Power of Literature
Competition, Masculinity, and Pride
Education, Failure, and Growth
Summary
Analysis
One morning a few days later, Mr. Ramsey asks to have a word with the narrator. He pulls him aside and remarks on how marvelous a story “Summer Dance” is—how it lacks self-consciousness and is a truly superior piece of writing. Mr. Ramsey then informs the narrator that Ernest Hemingway chose his story. He tells the narrator not to say anything until it’s announced in the paper the next day.
The narrator’s lack of honor in publishing the story becomes even more severe when Mr. Ramsey reveals that he has won. Even though the narrator published it as a way of grappling with his identity, it also affords him an unearned opportunity to meet Ernest Hemingway.
Themes
That afternoon, the narrator climbs up the nearby Mount Winston. He is relieved and exhilarated to have won, but he is also nervous about having his life broadcast to the school. He looks over the grounds, observing the chapel and the river and boys chasing balls. He is graduating in a month, but he already feels nostalgia for the school.
Here, the narrator illustrates his complete lack of honor and his self-delusion about his identity. He worries what his classmates will think about him, even though the story is not actually about his life.
Themes
The newspaper comes out in the morning so the boys can pick it up before breakfast. The narrator picks up a copy to read what Hemingway says about him. Hemingway states that his story is “pretty good” and that it’s clear when a work is honest. He understands that the narrator knows what he’s writing about, and suggests “he should go out and know some other things to write about.” Hemingway also gives some advice: to be careful about drinking, to not talk about your writing, and to hold on to your friends.
Like Robert Frost’s advice to George Kellogg that he should go to Kamchatka, Ernest Hemingway’s declaration that the narrator should go out and “know some other things to write about” emphasizes the value of practical knowledge in writing, implying that traveling and having real experiences is the best way to learn and grow as a writer.
Themes
The narrator is a little annoyed that Hemingway’s praise is so muted, that much of the interview is comprised of advice, and that Mr. Ramsey seems to have censored some of Hemingway’s words. Still, the narrator is excited about the prospect of meeting Hemingway. Students and teachers come up to the narrator in the dining hall to congratulate him. George says he’s disappointed but glad for the narrator. George comments that he wouldn’t have thought the story was the narrator’s if he hadn’t seen the narrator’s name on it.
The narrator continues to take advantage of winning the competition, excited by the mark of superiority that it has afforded him in the eyes of students and teachers. However, George’s statement that he wouldn’t have thought the story was the narrator’s foreshadows the fact that the narrator’s deception will be discovered.
Themes
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With only a few weeks to go until graduation, the narrator feels that he grows even closer with his classmates. He knows that people thought he’d been holding back, and now they understand a little more about him. Purcell also gives him a first edition copy of In Our Time. Bill is angry with the narrator, however. He says that the narrator can’t really know what it’s like to be a Jewish person, and that the story was Bill’s story. The narrator doesn’t correct Bill, but after dinner, he realizes he should explain his side of the story. He looks for Bill in the library, but Bill isn’t in his usual study. Instead, he reads the notebook on Bill’s desk, and he is overcome by its “nakedness and misery.”
The other students’ reactions to the narrator demonstrate how being open about his identity allows him to grow closer to them. Ironically, Bill’s reaction shows the damage that the narrator’s lies about his identity have had as well. Even though the narrator does have Jewish heritage, he has been lying so successfully (and only recently discovered his own Jewish heritage) that Bill thinks the story is simply taking advantage of an identity that the narrator doesn’t fully understand.
Themes
After classes on Friday, a boy comes to the narrator’s room and says he should go to the dean’s office. The narrator figures that Dean Makepeace wants to give him tips about how to handle himself with his old friend Ernest Hemingway. When he arrives, the headmaster is in the dean’s office, along with Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Lambert, and Goss, the president of the Student Honor Council. Dean Makepeace isn’t there.
The narrator is so self-assured and deluded about his dishonest actions that he doesn’t realize why he is being called into the dean’s office. Additionally, the reference to Dean Makepeace’s connection to Ernest Hemingway and the fact that the dean isn’t there foreshadows his own dilemma over Hemingway’s visit, which is explored in the final chapter.
Themes
The headmaster asks the narrator if he can think of a reason why he’s been called to the office, but the narrator cannot. The headmaster then shows him a piece of paper: “Summer Dance” by Susan Friedman. The narrator is shocked to remember that it isn’t his story: since reading the story the first time, he has only thought of it as his own.
The narrator being called into the office because of his plagiarism reveals the cost of his dishonesty and how much he has risked losing. The narrator’s reaction also highlights the irony of the situation: he was using the story as a way to be more honest but went about it dishonestly.
Themes
Mr. Ramsey asks how this happened. The narrator doesn’t answer. The headmaster says that a teacher at Miss Cobb’s recognized the story in the school’s paper. He says that the story has exposed the school to contempt and ridicule. Goss chimes in that he can’t believe the narrator would plagiarize from a girl. Mr. Ramsey says it’s a good story regardless of who wrote it. The headmaster says that Hemingway will be embarrassed. The narrator can only say that he is very sorry.
Here, Mr. Ramsey and the headmaster illustrate the sweeping consequences of the narrator’s dishonesty—how it has brought dishonor on the school and has also made a fool of Ernest Hemingway. In this way, Wolff emphasizes the far-reaching nature of dishonor and how much the narrator has risked through his dishonesty.
Themes
The headmaster says that Mr. Lambert and Mr. Ramsey will collect what the narrator needs for the trip home—his father has already been notified. The headmaster also says that he will have to tell Columbia that the narrator failed to complete his studies, and that Columbia will withdraw their offer. After everyone leaves, the narrator sits and listens to laughter and faint music from the quad, feeling very distant from the boys outside. The narrator is covered in sweat.
After affirming the negative impact that the narrator’s dishonesty has had on the school, the headmaster also reveals how much of an impact the narrator’s actions have on his own life. Not only does he lose his place at the school, but he also loses his acceptance to college and his friendships with the other boys. This failure and total devastation on his life illustrates how his dishonor has cost him everything.
Themes
Mr. Ramsey returns with the narrator’s suitcase, and the two get into Mr. Ramsey’s car. As they drive, they discuss Hemingway, and the narrator says he’s the greatest writer of the century. Mr. Ramsey says that Hemingway’s interview was quite rambling, and that he is an unhappy man. The narrator says he shouldn’t have censored the interview, and Mr. Ramsey replies that the narrator shouldn’t be correcting him about honor. He then apologizes for using the word, saying that breaking the rules doesn’t necessarily mean losing one’s honor—but the narrator says that the Honor Code is important.
Here, Mr. Ramsey makes a distinction between honor and honesty, but the narrator’s reaction is telling. Even after breaking the Honor Code himself—or perhaps because of this—he recognizes that honesty and honor are both valuable in life, and that only by maintaining both can one find success. Without them, the narrator understands, a person can lose everything.
Themes
When the narrator and Mr. Ramsey arrive at the station, the narrator asks what his father said when he found out. Mr. Ramsey says his father didn’t believe it—that the narrator was the most honest person he knew. Mr. Ramsey then buys the narrator a ticket and waits for the train. He takes out a cigarette and starts smoking, but when he offers the pack to the narrator, the narrator doesn’t take it.
The fact that the narrator’s father thinks that the narrator is the most honest person he knows, even while the narrator has admitted that he often lies to and about his father, illustrates how much lying has permeated his entire life and created a different persona. The narrator is so good at lying that his father thinks he is completely honest. Additionally, Mr. Ramsey offering the narrator cigarettes demonstrates how the narrator has changed. Whereas before he smoked cigarettes because he wanted to skirt the rules, now he doesn’t feel the need to take them. This suggests that the narrator’s plagiarism caused him to grow up in a big, albeit uncomfortable, way.
Themes
The narrator asks why Dean Makepeace wasn’t there. Mr. Ramsey says that the dean had personal matters to attend to and left the school that morning. Then the two sit. The narrator thinks about how Mrs. Ramsey had carried on a long flirtation with Bill the whole year—which the narrator had read in Bill’s notebook. It hadn’t gone past a kiss, and he figures that Mr. Ramsey knew about it.
The reference to Dean Makepeace again hints at a deeper story, and Mr. Ramsey’s vagueness here illustrates that dishonesty isn’t isolated to the narrator’s story. Bill, the Dean, and Mrs. Ramsey are all deceptive. With this, the book illustrates that everyone can be dishonest, but it is how one chooses to engage with or overcome that dishonesty that is important.
Themes
The train arrives. Mr. Ramsey tells the narrator that he’ll work things out and sticks the pack of cigarettes in the narrator’s shirt pocket. Then Mr. Ramsey walks away, and the narrator claims a forward-facing window seat with his suitcase, takes out In Our Time, and heads to the smoking car.
The description of the narrator here suggests that he is going to try to use the failure to learn and grow. Taking a forward-facing seat implies that he is looking toward the future rather than dwelling on the past, and returning to In Our Time hints at his continued admiration of Hemingway and connects to Hemingway’s earlier advice to go out and know more. Lastly, the cigarettes and the smoking car show how the narrator has grown up in such a short amount of time. No longer does he have to hide the cigarettes like the other students; he has fully left the world of his school and moved into the world of adulthood, though this shift was spurred by a painful learning experience.
Themes
