The Lords of Discipline

“I want to tell you how it was. I want precision. I want a murderous, stunning truthfulness. I want to find my own singular voice for the first time” 

Here, the older Will, as narrator, describes the kind of book that he wishes to write in evoking his years at the Institute. He aspires to natural strengths of autobiography, such as “precision” and “truthfulness.” Only later does it become apparent why exactly Will sees his time at the Institute with some strongly negative (“murderous”) emotions.

“‘You have a home in Charleston now, Will,’ she had said. ‘You can use that key anytime you want to, whether we’re here or not’ ” 

Will finds a surrogate family with Tradd, Commerce, and Abigail St. Croix, prosperous Charlestonians who welcome him despite his different social class. In essence, their home is his home, a fact that Abigail symbolizes through the gift of a house key.

“I have never had to look up a definition of honor. It is something I had the day I was born, and I never had to question where it came from or by what right it was mine” 

These words, which are directed at Will, underscore one of the fundamental differences between the duty-bound General and the more skeptical cadet he addresses. Will is resistant to the mythology of honor and community that the Institute promotes; the General, in contrast, is the ultimate human embodiment of that mythology.