The Lords Of Discipline Essay, Research Paper
The Lords of Discipline
by Pat Conroy
?I wear the ring and return often to the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to
study the history of my becoming a man?, (Conroy, 1). The Lords of Discipline is
essentially the story of Will McLean growing up and learning what it really means to be
an honorable man. He began the book as one person: a young, naive cadet in his
senior year who used humor to keep everyone from seeing how troubled he was. The
book ends with Will as a wholly different person due to catastrophic events that
happened during the course of his final year at the Carolina Military Institute. Will
endured the ?plebe year? at the Institute, he fell in love with a pregnant girl, uncovered
a well-hidden misuse of power in the Institute and because of that discovery, suffered
the death of a close friend and the loss of many other people he thought he could trust.
All these events contribute in different ways to Will becoming an honorable man.
Will enrolled in the Institute because his father, on his deathbed, made him
promise to graduate from the Institute, just as he had. He went on a basketball
scholarship, unaware of the brutal initiation required for all freshman. Within the first
minute of him arriving at registration, he was beaten and humiliated by upperclassmen.
Then, he and the rest of his class were subjected to physical and mental torture
whenever and wherever possible. They were afraid to use the bathroom, so they used
the sinks in their rooms. The ?plebes? , as the freshmen were called, also had ?sweat
parties? every night. All the doors in the room were locked and the heater was turned
on. Then everyone lined up and followed the commands of the ?cadre?, upperclassmen.
?My body took asylum in a mental and physical paralysis,? (p. 147). The idea of the
hazing was to separate the strong and capable cadets from the flimsy and weak. If a
cadet whom was thought to be unworthy survived the hazing, they were treated to ?The
Taming?. The cadre would find the weakness of the plebe and exploit it. If they were
afraid of bugs, the cadre would cover the plebes body with insects until he agreed to
leave the Institute. One boy, Bobby Bentley had managed to survive all the cadres had
put him through. They picked on him because he wet his pants. All his classmate were
rooting for him and helped him whenever he was being picked on. The angered the
cadre more than anything. Then, all of a sudden, Bobby disappeared. All his
belongings were packed. He vanished from the Institute.
In the midst of all the turmoil around him, Will managed to survive, and even
make some friends. Dante Pignetti, a poor, muscled Italian from New York, Mark
Santoro, a loyal Yankee, and Tradd St. Croix, a wealthy Charleston aristocrat following
in the footsteps of his father became his roommates. These four would form bonds that
lasted all four years they attended the institute. Mark and ?Pig? were the defenders for
Tradd and Will. Tradd was teased for being effeminate and called ?the honey prince?.
Will got in trouble for his sharp tongue and unwavering loyalty to the Honor Code of the
school. The four of them made it to the end of the school year. There was twenty-eight
in their class. Thirty-two had dropped out along the way. There was a picnic to
celebrate the end of the year and the survival of the twenty-eight. The upperclassmen
were there. Will vows ?I will not be like them. I shall bear witness against them? (p.
206). He sensed something sinister and immoral under the surface, and decided he
would we the one to uncover it. The torture he endured in the plebe year made him
mentally and physically stronger. It also made him want to be all the more honorable
than those around him.
The book jumps ahead to Will?s senior year. It was time for him to participate in
the torture of the plebes. He showed little interest and tried to save who ever he could
from being overwhelmed by the cadre. He saw a fat kid name Poteete being singled out
for stronger punishment. Poteete cried whenever faced with the cadre. He refused to
quit the school, another southerner being forced to follow in their fathers footsteps. A
few days after meeting Will, he attempts to commit suicide. They find him hanging
precariously over the railing overlooking the courtyard. While trying to talk him down,
Poteete mentions something that catches Will?s attention. ?I thought I could make it. I
thought I was doing better until they took me to the house? (p. 117). It sounded like
another of the clues that were steadily adding to Will?s suspicion of the integrity of the
school. Mark and Pig forced Poteete to get off of the railing. He was sent to the
infirmary where he hung himself with his belt. He could not face the disgrace of quitting.
He would rather die.
During that same time, Will met a young pregnant girl. Her name was Annie
Kate. She was one of the Southern aristocrats like Tradd. She only lowered herself to
be friends with Will because she was banished from the rest of society. Her mother hid
her from everyone to avoid the scandal of an unwed pregnant girl. The family
pretended she was in California and hid her away at their beach home. Will visited her,
wrote her, and called her whenever possible, falling in love with her in the process. She
was the first girl he had ever loved.
In the incoming plebe class there was a black student, the first in the history of
the Institute. No one wanted him there. Will was specially assigned to keep him safe.
They developed a secret system of communication, leaving notes in a designated book
in the library. Pearce, the black cadet, and Will?s roommates are the only ones to know
about the system.
While Will was at a party at Tradd?s house, Annie Kate called and said she was
having the baby. He rushed over to her house and took her to the hospital. Her mother
was passed-out drunk on the couch. At the hospital, everyone treated will like the
father, and he loved it. Then he found out that the baby was born dead, the umbilical
cord had strangled it. Annie Kate never tried to contact Will after that, and he was
unable to see her for weeks. When he finally saw her, she treated him as an
impersonal neighbor. He begged for her to recognize his love but she refused, and left
for California the next day. The rejection and hurt made Will mourn for weeks. When he
finally recovered he was stronger and wiser that he had been before. He would always
love her, but he knew he would find another.
Will met with Colonel Reynolds, an English teacher from the Institute to discuss
his suspicions about the bad things going on at his school. Reynolds confirmed his
worries with stories about a secret group within the school called ?The Ten?. Reynolds
had written about it in his history of the Institute, but the section about The Ten
magically disappeared when it reached the printers. Will decided to contact Bobby
Bentley to see if he could add anything to the story. Bobby told Will about being taken
to a house and abused beyond the reaches of humanity. The Ten poured gas on him
and tossed matches dangerously close. They made him faint and revived him by
throwing buckets of water in his face. It didn?t end until he agreed to leave the Institute
immediately. He was able to give them the name of one of the men that had done it to
him, Dan Molligen.
Mark, Pig, and Will found Molligen and kidnapped him to find out more
information about The Ten. They laid him on a set of deserted railroad tracks that ran
parallel to working tracks. They left him there until he gave up the information they
needed. He told them that the house the torture took place in belonged to General
Durell, President of the Institute. When they returned to the school, they found out that
Pearce had been taken from the school. Will decided to go to the house to find out
what was going on. When he arrived there, he found s basement window to look in.
There were ten masked men standing around Pearce, who was tied to a chair. He was
being electrocuted. Will recognized a few of the ten torturers. While he was watching,
the phone rang. The men, after listening to the person, went directly to the window Will
was at. He ran away, and came back and broke the window. They gave chase down the
beach. Pig and Mark appeared and fought the guys off.
The next day at school Will was approached by Cain, a representative of the
Ten. He was threatened, as was his roommates. The Ten did nothing for a few months.
Then, Pig was caught trying to steal gas from Will?s car. He was put on trial and
convicted of being dishonorable and was kicked out of school. He had to go down ?The
Walk of Shame?, where all the cadets turn their backs on him as he passes. After going
down the walk, he went directly in front of a train, for all the cadets to see. It broke
Will?s heart. Then, he knew The Ten were serious about getting him quiet. Will and
Mark became the subject of attention for all the commanding officers. Their room was
searched randomly and they were given huge numbers of demerits. A senior was
allowed 100 demerits and they accumulated over 100 within weeks. They too were
kicked out of school.
Will broke into Tradd?s house to see if his dad, Commerce, a graduate of the
Institute, knew anything about The Ten in his journals. He found lists of people in The
Ten, including Tradd?s father, Gen. Durell, and Tradd himself. He also found out that
Tradd was the father of Annie Kate?s baby, and that he had shunned her and put her to
shame. He used the information about The Ten to blackmail General Durell. He and
Mark were allowed to graduate with their class. He promised to write an accurate
history of the school. He also confronted Tradd about being a member of The Ten. He
lost two of his best friends with in months of each other, on the victim of another.
Will always did whatever he could to be and honest and honorable cadet. Even
though he detested the Institute, he remained there to follow through with the promise
he made to his father. In The Lords of Discipline we see Will go from a shy plebe, to an
admirable graduate. It cost him his friends, his love, and almost his education, but Will
was finally a man.