Joyce Carol Oates' short narrative entitled, "Life After High School" depicted an uncomfortable friendship between two people finding their way and themselves through high school in the 1950's. The relationship seemed doomed from the start with an awkwardly chubby loner named Zachary Graff very persistently pursued the friendship of the town's virtuous all-American darling, Barbara Burhlman, better known as Sunny. On the surface, the two were as different as night and day. Zachary was anti-social, unpopular and regarded in most circles as strange. He did not have any friends, despite being very intelligent and participating in scholastic organizations at school. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Sunny was extremely popular and sought after by everyone. Girls envied and looked up to her and boys admired her. She was smart, agreeable and liked by all. Even though Zachary and Sunny were poles apart at first glance, they both shared a common burden. They both had expectations and reputations they were always up against and live up to. As a reader we are left to come to cloudy conclusions what issues Zachary was forced to deal with, but we all know that he was very desperate and ultimately could not successfully resolve them, which was evident when he takes his own life. Sunny carried the weight of her meticulous and agreeable reputation she was cursed with since the day her name was changed from Barbara to "Sunny" with painstaking effort. It was her secret vanity that drove her and motivated her to force herself, despite her reservations and those close to her, to befriend Zachary; it was her secret vanity which drug her and Zachary into this life-changing and life-ending ordeal.
             We never truly know the real motives for why Zachary Graff so unyieldingly pursued Sunny Burhlman. Was he really in love with her? Was it an elaborate plan to cover up his hidden confusions about love? What we ...