Sex, Setting, and Split Infinitives

"As you'd expect, sex was different at the Cottages from how it had been at Hailsham. It was a lot more straightforward -- more 'grown up'" (127).

I wanted to choose a quote that reflected the idea that the new setting of the Cottages is a new experience for all of the characters. I figured this would be the most awkward one.

Now that Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, and other, less significant characters are at the Cottages, they have to make adjustments. It's hard to adjust to a "new life" (131), which Kathy expressed in chapter eleven. Hailsham was more sheltered under teachers like Miss Emily. Some things like donations and sex were mysterious, hushed topics. At the Cottages, the characters have more opportunities to freely talk about things that were previously forbidden for them.

I think the setting of the Cottages is a kind of bridge for the characters, connecting childhood at Hailsham to adulthood (and I figure I'm supposed to have a bunch of questions about what happens to adults in this book). I'm not sure if it's appropriate to compare it to college because I don't think academics have been discussed at all, but I suppose it's kind of like that. It's an awkward transition period, and I think I'll get to learn a lot more about things I'm not quite sure about yet.

Also, there are two split infinitives in chapters eleven and twelve: "to first violate" (129) and "to just listen" (143). It could be Kathy's "voice" or something silly like that, but I think I'm going to blame all of these insignificant-to-most-people errors on British publishers.

(Also, title alliteration? FTW.)