Schooled

Anonymity and visibility reflect where kids stand on the school’s social hierarchy. Being visible or invisible to others can be a positive or negative experience depending on the situation. Thus, “being seen” symbolizes the precarious nature of popularity. At the beginning of the novel, Zach Powers craves visibility: “This was my time—eighth grade, captain of the football and soccer teams, Big Man on Campus” (13). When the response is positive, he wants to be noticed. However, when Zach Powers becomes the most hated man on campus, visibility is the last thing he wants. As he sits across the lunch table from Hugh, a kid that Zach once dedicated his time to tormenting, Zach wants to disappear.

Hugh, who has spent the last eight years being harassed by the likes of Zach, craves the anonymity that would offer him relief from the constant barrage of spitballs and wedgies. For Hugh, visibility is like wearing a permanent bull’s-eye. Capricorn’s presence offers Hugh something he has never had before: anonymity. To Hugh, this fact is his “birthday, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all wrapped into one” (70).

Only Capricorn seems unaffected by his high visibility. Unaware that all eyes are on him, he, unlike Hugh (and eventually Zach) avoids the pain of constantly receiving negative attention.