Prep

Cross Sugarman is Lee’s romantic interest and a central part of her experience at Ault. She meets him at the mall freshman year, tries to get to him via Assassin, and senior year she starts a sexual relationship with him. Lee’s preoccupation with makes him seem like a king or a heartthrob, and she describes him as “the tallest, coolest guy in our class, a white guy who was an even better basketball player than Darden Pittard” (67). Cross symbolizes the pinnacle of the Ault word. If Lee can be with Cross, she has powerful validation.

When Lee faints at the mall, he doesn’t just help her, but he gets her food and invites her to hang out with him and his friends. He’s relatively witty, telling Lee that he’s not “a meathead” and can “use silverware. At least in public” (79-80). He’s got an independent streak. While the students at Ault all but line up to let Lee cut their hair, Cross asks her, “Lee, what are your credentials?” (223). After The New York Times article, Cross insightfully tells Lee, “I bet things would be easier for you if you either realized you’re not that weird or decided that being weird isn’t bad” (539).

Cross’s character has faults. He manages the list that demeans female students, and his preoccupation with oral sex arguably connects him to obnoxious masculinity. He can seem inconsiderate of Lee’s feelings, and, at times, the reader might feel like he’s using her. Then again, as Cross notes, Lee asked him to keep the relationship a secret. Nevertheless, Lee is vulnerable, and Cross, provides limited emotional support for her.

Lee meets Martha Porter through Conchita, and the two hit it off in the limousine. They become roommates sophomore year and stay roommates until they graduate. They’re best friends, but Martha is more of a mentor than a sidekick. She tries to help Lee make better choices, and Lee can “easily picture her as a therapist” (210). Martha doesn’t sugarcoat her advice or thoughts. Concerning the haircuts, she tells Lee, “[Y]ou deserve better” (210). Regarding the Cross situation, Martha says she doesn’t think Lee will ever be his girlfriend. Martha isn’t mean but doesn’t want to lie to her best friend. She gives her what she believes to be the truth, and the two have a trusting relationship.

As Martha comes to Lee’s rescue during the math exam, Martha is also something of a hero. If Martha hadn’t helped Lee cheat, Ault would have likely expelled her, which would have ended Lee’s existence in the world of Ault. Lee describes Martha as “smart and dependable and nice to everyone” (355), and, arguably, helping Lee cheat reinforces her qualities. Letting Lee fail comes across as cruel and apathetic. Lee isn’t a random person but her best friend.

Before her suicide attempt, Sin-Jun comes across as a flat or static character. Lee’s representation of her is rather stereotypical. She doesn’t speak standard English, and the squid incident furthers the fraught othering. Yet Sin-Jun becomes a dynamic character when Lee learns why she wanted to kill herself. Sin-Jun isn’t passive or meek but sexual and assertive. She a lesbian who wanted to have sex with a girl, so she pursued Clara. Through Sin-Jun, Curtis Sittenfeld subverts the Girls versus Boys theme, demonstrating that girls can pursue sex like boys do. 

Before coming to Ault, Lee has a solid relationship with her mom (who remains nameless) and dad (Terry). They are loving and can joke about things, like her mom’s supposed affair with an older widower. Her mom was a bookkeeper at an insurance office, and her dad owns a store, Mattress Headquarters, and Lee’s favorite place to reflect is in the storage room. Lee appears closer to her dad than her mom, as they have more inside jokes. His bawdy comments endear him to Lee’s friends, but they embarrass Lee. Their closeness arguably makes the fight worse at parents’ weekend. They don’t hold back—verbally or physically. The fight later becomes a joke.

Lee’s mom tends to yield to her dad, so there’s a stereotypical power dynamic in which the wife follows the husband’s lead. Lee’s dad wants to leave parents’ weekend early, and Lee tries to convince her mom to stay, but her mom replies, “Lee, I can’t. He wants to get on the road” (293). Yet Lee’s mom isn’t a flat character. She also talks to Lee about safe sex and writes Lee letters—she has agency.

Before Lee becomes friends with Martha, she’s friends with Conchita. Conchita teaches Lee about Bob Dylan, and Lee helps Conchita learn how to ride a bike. Their friendship falls apart after Lee becomes friends with Martha, and they decide to be roommates. Conchita turns into a mean girl—an antagonist—and accuses Lee of stealing her friend.

Conchita’s mom is Mexican, and her dad is a white American oil baron. Her dad met her mom when she was working as the cleaning person at the office. Lee calls her “extreme, comical, unsubtle rich” (156), which is ironic. Initially, Lee thought she was a scholarship student. Conchita rebukes Lee’s statements in the Times article, adding more irony, as Conchita criticizes Ault, and, though she is Latinx, she’s also one of the richest students at Ault.

Lee describes Aspeth as “the queen of our class” (355) and a “blond mean girl for whom Dede functioned as an acolyte” (61). The characters go together, with Dede worshiping and copying Aspeth. While Aspeth is beautiful, Lee says Dede “simply wasn’t that pretty” (68). Aspeth and Dede are antagonists, with Aspeth trying to get Lee to convince Martha to drop out of the prefect race and Dede accusing Lee of stealing and then, when Lee catches her looking into Sin-Jun’s stuff, Dede browbeats her into not telling Broussard. Yet the characters share moments of camaraderie. Lee cuts Aspeth’s hair, and Dede lets Lee stay in her hotel room during senior week.