Charming as a Verb

The teenagers in Charming as a Verb experience pressure in different ways. They attend an elite high school in New York City where they are taught that hard work will get them anywhere in life. FATE Academy is a highly competitive environment that has high standards for their young students. FATE treats their adolescent students as adults; the students at FATE do not have adult supervision for their extracurriculars, for example, because they are expected to behave with maturity. FATE Academy represents a valuable education, but it is also an institution that symbolizes the complexities of privilege and the pressures of young adulthood.

In America, high schoolers often compete to gain admission into elite universities. They often adopt the idea that where they go to college will impact their future. Henri has internalized this message; he believes that his future is secure if he can get into Columbia University. He also believes that if he does not get into Columbia, his rejection will be a personal failure. In this way, Henri equates his worth with his college admissions, and eventually succumbs to the pressure of the college admissions process, a pressure so intense he sacrifices his ethical code.