Surprised by Joy

At Wyvern, Lewis found himself in an intricate social system. The school, known to the students as the “Coll,” was divided into Houses and ruled by an elite known as the Bloods. Bloodery was determined not on social class or academic achievement as it was at some schools but on popularity, seniority, athleticism, and charm. Beneath the Bloods were the Tarts—pretty and effeminate boys who did sexual favors for the Bloods—and the “fags”—low-ranking and younger students who worked as de facto servants for the Bloods. 

Lewis records the abuses of this system with heavy irony. Recalling an instance in which he was flogged for believing misinformation a Blood had given him, he considers why the Blood didn’t own up to his lie before Lewis was beaten: “By coming forward he would have imperiled his social position, in a community where social advancement was the one thing that mattered; school is a preparation for public life” (92). Lewis remembers being constantly exhausted. Between having to serve as a “fag,” managing his own schoolwork, and dealing with severe dental pain, he barely slept.

Although he looks back on this system and the students who upheld it with a jaded eye, he adds this note: “Peace to them all.