Lee Is in the Trap: A Close Reading of "Prep" Weihang Zhou College

Prep, written by Curtis Sittenfeld in 2005, was a New York Times bestseller. This narrative gives a glimpse of the prestigious boarding school experiences of a poor girl named Lee Fiora who comes from Indiana. The author directly reveals struggles involving social classes and race relations at the end of the novel by arranging an interview between Lee and New York Times reporter Angela Varizi. The resulting article suggests that differences created by social class disparities make Lee become an outsider on the campus. After all, Lee says that she feels she is left out by the wealthier classmates. It is indeed possible that Lee gives out her negative ideas about Ault, her school, for revenge. However, Lee’s preparations before the interview and her reactions to the consequences show that she unconsciously gives a negative picture of Ault.

Lee intends to say something positive to benefit Ault. She prepares standard answers to the questions Varizi may ask: “I’d developed two standard answers to this question, which I varied depending upon my audience” (357). Both answers to the question “Why did you go Ault?” are not Lee’s real thoughts about Ault and both answers are white lies. Lee initially answers that she went to Ault...