Life after High School In Life after High School by Joyce Carol Oates, Zachary Graff hides behind a mask to cover his true self. He uses religion, a girl too good to refuse him, and a false personality to hide his sexuality. He will do anything to keep the mask intact, even resorting to darker themes such as violence and obsession. Zachary Graff uses Sunny Burhman, “an all-American girl too good to be true,” as a cover for his sexual orientation. The author writes, “ Zachary Graff, who had never to anyone’s recollection asked a girl out before, let alone pursued her so publicly and with such clumsy devotion , seemed to have fallen in love with Sunny Burhman.” He pursues Sunny so publicly because he wants people to know he loves a woman. Zachary also masks his sexuality with religion. He goes to church every Sunday to prove his Christian values to his parents and…show more content… Oates writes, “immediately upon waking he scrambled out of bed, knelt, hid his face in his hands, and prayed.” He tells his friend Tobias Shanks, when he asks what he prays for, he responds with the vague reply, “To get through the day. Doesn’t everyone.” Zachary prays to get through the day and seem like everyone else in the sense of his sexualaty and keeping his mask on.
He also uses a false personality as a mask, such as his “Clifton Webb style.” This personality makes his peers view him as popular, yet at the same time they fear him. The fear tactic may be a way to protect himself from people discovering his true self.
Using a different personality along with his six-foot-one and two hundred three pound stature creates the perfect cover. Although he does not participate in school sports, he takes up golf even though he does not do well while participating in the activity. Zachary says, “I have no natural talent for it, and I find it profoundly boring, but golf will be my game.” He wants to seem like a jock in some
