Reading almost like a novel about a serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer, Robert Musil's The Confusions of Young Torless explores the dark secrets of adolescent psychology. The protagonist, Torless, is struggling to make sense of his sexuality while studying at a private military boarding school. When a fellows student -- Basini -- steals from him and his two friends, the three of them decide to coerce Basini into confessing and begging forgiveness. They soon discover that Basini is adamantly silent, so they start devoting nearly all of their free time to planning elaborate and disturbing punishments for the thief. Eventually they start sexually abusing Basini, an activity in which Torless willingly participates despite his earlier objections. He's attracted to Basini and takes pleasure in raping him. It seems that Basini reciprocates his feelings somewhat because he takes great pains to demonstrate favoritism for Torless and flatter him with unwarranted sexual favors. Eventually Torless figures out that he cares more about a person's character than his looks, so he loses interest in the demure, timid Basini. He advises the boy to turn himself into the school authorities, which he does. The investigation finds evidence against Basini alone, but the headmaster writes to Torless' parents encouraging them to educate their son from home with a tutor. Torless has arrived at this conclusion on his own already.
The main question of the book is whether or not a kid can be evil. Torless understands that the abuse of Basini is wrong and unwarranted, but he considers his identity as a member of the group more important than the ethical concern. As time goes on, he starts to indulge his sadistic side by participating and even advising his friends on how to better humiliate Basini. He starts out a reluctant third party, but he ends up being an avid participant in the abuse. At the conclusion he doesn't even advise Basini seek help from the headmaster because of concern for Basini but because of his boredom in the situation.
Torless is a boy of peculiarly sharp intellect. He challenges his teachers, parents, and even social convention repeatedly throughout the book. Trying to make sense of his complicated sexuality, he decides to join in on Basini's sexual abuse in order to prove to himself that he is or is not gay. To him it's a calculated risk with promise of great personal gain. Is he evil? More likely he's impulsive and incredibly smart, but his actions are inexcusable nonetheless. Torless is motivated by boredom most of the time since his education is not satisfying his craving of intellectual stimulation which is what his headmaster finally realizes. Torless is trying to solve his mental problems with limited resources and experience, which explains his visit to the prostitute Bozena. When he feels like he understand himself better as a result of the ongoing Bazini incident, he stops the project with one conversation. He's not subject to his friends because he's much smarter, but he does rely upon their social status to accomplish many of his goals which is why he participates in the abuse in the first place.
