Darth Vader marks the entrance of Jared’s friends’ house, and the cardboard poster is a symbol of childhood innocence and freedom in several ways. First, the character is from
Star Wars, a sci-fi franchise that a kid like Jared would have grown up with. Second, his “POWDER HOUSE RULES” sign exhibits a teenage exuberance in having a place independent from adults. In this way, the Darth Vader poster symbolizes the carefree nature of adolescence—a lightheartedness that Jared seems to yearn for and tries to escape to whenever he can.