User blog comment:MichaelDiaz101/An Invitation/@comment-31129923-20180530033710

The keyword I looked for in this story was "conform". Sure enough, I found it.

One of the biggest dilemmas in high schools is the concept of conforming with the norms of the social atmosphere or clique. Bully itself has some focus on this theme but is more about bringing cliques under one leader by force and doesn't divugle much details on how certain people joined theirs.

I found it interesting that Brandon was having a hard time trying to follow the rules set up by the clique's leadership as I've recently been reading a book in which the author studied conforming and it seems to be common for newcomers of a group to feel the way he was. Malcolm's own opinion on why being part of the Preppies is worth it, while glossing over the fact that you lose the freedom to be yourself, kind of sticks out to me as the massive flaw in the cliques: they want to have a group they can call friends even if they're not.

Also, the final line made me laugh because it reinforced my thoughts on the inconvenience of conformity.