Essay Questions

What is the symbolic meaning of the title Con Academy?

The first impression of the reader is that this school only is composed of con artists only but the reality turns out that the expert cons here are Will and Andrea. The title represents the Ponzi business schemes by despicable youths such as Will and Andrea to defraud unsuspecting rich boys. Will has an opportunity to be in this wealthy academy and he discovers that he has more talents that can help him to defeat the efforts of Andrea who wants to kick him out of the school. Both Andrea and Will are trying their level best to outweigh each other by using various tactics to lure Brandt into their side.

How does the author use the deception motif in the storyline?

Any learning institution is expected to instill discipline and integrity in its students but the reality in this story is the opposite. Will and Andrea have left integrity and adapted scam activities. These two students have failed to understand that being fraudsters can make the society and the school to reject them if discovered. To avoid being discovered, Andrea and Will are fighting each other using dirty tricks to ensure one of them leaves the school before their secrets are discovered.

What is satirical about Will and Andrea as depicted here?

The male and female satire is evident throughout the novel. Andrea finds it ironic that there is a con artist like her in the same school and she does not like this idea. She tells Will to leave the school if she beats him in the set competition. However, the primary goal of these two con artists is to strategize on how to con the rich boys around using trickery and fraudster activities.