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Ault symbolizes a separate world, and Lee feels like she has to be someone else when she’s in the Ault universe. As parents’ weekend arrives, and the outside world clashes with the Ault world, Lee states, “[N]o matter what my parents might think, this—my Ault self—was now my real self” (251). Lee’s identity precludes who she was in Indiana before Ault. To fit into the distinct world of Ault, she becomes someone new, and she doesn’t want her parents to corrupt who she thinks she is at Ault. The parents become foreign bodies or others. They’re not a part of the Ault world, and, as working-class people, they don’t belong there. Lee admits, “If we left campus, it would be different. If we went into Boston, say—in Boston, we’d get along” (266). Boston represents another universe—a place that doesn’t have to adhere to the rules and standards of Ault—so Lee and her parents can get along there.

During senior week, Lee returns to Boston again and exclaims, “The world was so big!” (570). In other words, there’s an entire world beyond Ault, so maybe she didn’t have to make it seem Ault equaled the universe. Lee’s distorted sense of Ault perpetuates its

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