Life after High School

Zachary, better known as Zach, hides behind a mask throughout the entire story. From the beginning of the story the author continuously lets the reader know how Zach feels about Barbara. Zach’s interest in Barbara seemed a bit strange. The two had been class mates since the first grade, but Zach had not discovered her until the spring of their senior year. He also had never to anyone’s recollection asked a girl out before, but there was something about Barbara that captured Zach’s interest. At one point in the story, he even says to Barbara, “If you go to Cornell… maybe I’ll to there too?” He was around so much to the point where he was a border line stalker.

Zach later shows the reader just how much he loves Barbara by asking her to marry him. He even spent over half of his college fund on the engagement ring. When Barbara rejects his proposal, Zac

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This rejection also played a part in Zach suicide, despite the fact that he was actually a homosexual. He tells Barbara that the night that Zach went to her window, he came to his window afterwards, but Tobias would not go with him. Although he finds himself attracted to other guys, he never acts upon it. When she says no more than once, he then grabs her and tries to force her to go with him. Once Sunny discovers that Zach likes her, she is shocked but begins to hold conversations with him because that’s the kind of person Sunny is.

Towards the end of the story we find out that Zach was indeed hiding behind a mask. Come to find out, Zach was a homosexual, but back in those days it was not acceptable for people to be gay. When she went downstairs to see what he wanted he said he had to talk with her. She also went back to being plain old Barbara Burhman again. He had to find a quick way to cover it up. From fourth grade all of the way through her high school career Barbara wore the mask of Sunny. With all of the stress caused from trying to hide his sexuality and trying to get Barbara to love him but constantly getting rejected, Zach settled for the last resort, suicide. In the words of Zach, “It would mean so much… life or death. They are already out of college and living separate lives when she discovers the big secret that both Zach and Tobias had been hiding during their senior year in high school.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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