407 ctl1.* Initiation by Sylvia Plath

Millicent was made to follow Bev's orders. They were as follows;

"Into the house, gopher. There's a bed to be made and a room to be cleaned at the top of the stairs."

"The "gophers" had to do a Charleston step all the way to school, and each one had her own song to sing, trying to drown out the other four. During school, of course, you couldn't fool around, but even then, there was a rule that you mustn't talk to boys outside of class or at lunchtime ... or any time at all after school, so the sorority girls would get the most popular boys to go up to the "gophers" and ask them out, or try to start them talking, and sometimes a "gopher" was taken by surprise and began to say something before she could catch herself. And then the boy reported her and she got a black mark."

"It's fifteen minutes before the bus gets into town, Bev was saying then. "I want you to go up and down the bus asking people what they eat for breakfast. Remember, you can't tell them you're being initiated. "