How does Bennett use the character of Posner to explore ideas about belonging?

Posner is a Jewish boy of small stature and the youngest student in his sixth-form class. He is gay and harbors an unrequited crush on Dakin. He struggles after finishing school, dropping out of Cambridge and never really finding a career path. He is also the only one of Hector's students who truly remembers everything Hector ever taught him.

Bennett presents the struggle to come to terms with one's sexuality from two different viewpoints. First, we see it from the perspective of teenage boys (primarily Posner) at the dawn of their sexual desire, with all of the awkwardness that comes with adolescent yearning. The second experience is that of older men (Hector and Irwin) who have been conditioned by society to repress their natural inclinations. Hector is married to a woman and resorts to fondling his teenage students on motorcycle rides, while Irwin remains completely mum on the subject of his sexuality. Both men are therefore lonely.