Social Media Symbol Analysis

Even though the student body of Opportunity High School is trapped in the auditorium during the shooting, they communicate with the outside world using cell phones and social media. Some, like Steve, call loved ones with desperate pleas for help; others, such as CJ, tweet updates and feelings throughout the day. Having stayed home from school, Jay tweets in solidarity with his endangered friends, and Mr. Jameson’s daughter Mei updates her blog regularly, trying to stay hopeful even as it becomes clear that her father is dead.

In the midst of crisis, all these people use social media to stay connected to each other, and their actions illuminate the ties that bind Opportunity residents together. CJ’s feed is flooded with comments, sometimes with strangers, sending prayers and reporting on the actions of the police; the anguish that Jay expresses on Twitter shows his deep sense of connection to other students. Mei uses her blog to report on the parents outside the school, who support and comfort each other despite their previous differences. At the same time, CJ, Jay and Mei receive many comments, often by anonymous users, mocking their grief or questioning the veracity of their accounts of the shooting. Social media isn’t just a tool of connection but a means by which community members tear each other down and sow division. Nijkamp presents Opportunity’s insular, tight-knit spirit as both positive and negative, a source of security and an entrapping force. This duality is further represented in the novel’s omnipresent social media.