Summary
Vernon advises Bender to spend less time trying to impress people. Vernon leaves, saying the next time he has to come back in the detention room, he’s “cracking skulls.” Bender mouths the words as Vernon delivers them. As the door closes behind Vernon, Bender shouts "fuck you," the sound of his voice covered by the sound of the closing door.
A montage of the students entertaining themselves through their boredom follows. Bender lights his boot on fire, then lights cigarettes off it. Allison draws a detailed sketch of a cottage, then makes her hair release dandruff onto the scene, as though it is snowing. Eventually Vernon comes in and asks who needs the lavatory. They all raise their hands.
Bender tears pages out of a book, mispronouncing Molière. Bender overhears Claire and Andrew discussing a party that night and whether she is grounded. Bender asks which parent she prefers. Claire says she doesn’t think either of her parents gives a shit about her; they use her to get back at each other. If she had a choice, she would live with her brother. Allison suddenly shouts, “Ha!” Claire tells her to shut up. Andrew says she’s just feeling sorry for herself.
Bender asks Andrew if he gets along with his parents, saying he’d be a liar if he claimed he did. The two become heated and aggressive. Brian steps in to break it up, saying he doesn’t get along with his parents either. Bender insists Brian is a parent’s “wet dream” because he is a dork. Andrew says he has a name. After Brian says his name, Claire asks Bender his name. Bender asks hers, saying Claire is a “fat name” and says she’ll eventually have kids and get fat. He then leans over her and asks if she’s a virgin, or has ever even kissed a guy.
Andrew eventually walks over, telling Bender to leave Claire alone. Bender steps over the table and asks if he’s going to make him. Andrew says it’ll be two hits: him hitting Bender, Bender hitting the floor. When Bender raises his arm, Andrew quickly gets him in a wrestling hold and pins him. Andrew lets him up. Bender says he doesn’t want to get into it because it would be a big mess. He pulls out a knife and stabs it in a desk. Allison removes the knife from off screen. Andrew tells Bender not to look at Claire, or talk to her.
Carl, the janitor, walks in. He knows Brian by name. Bender asks Carl how one becomes a janitor. Carl, sensing he is being mocked, tells them he is the eyes and ears of the institution, and he hears their conversations and reads their letters. He leaves the room, telling them the clock is twenty minutes fast. The scene cuts to the students sitting in boredom. They spontaneously begin whistling a melody together when Vernon steps in and says, “Alright girls, that’s thirty minutes for lunch.”
Vernon allows Andrew to get drinks from the soft drink machine in the teacher’s lounge. He sends Allison with him. While walking together alone, Allison says her drink is vodka when Andrew asks. They stop in the hall to discuss why they are in detention. Andrew says it’s because his dad and his coach think he’s a winner. Allison asks why he’s really in there.
Back in the main room, Bender asks if Claire wants to see a picture of a man with elephantiasis of the “nuts.” She asks why he doesn’t just leave her alone. When asked, Brian claims he has had sex before—with a girl who lives in Canada. He insists to Bender that she lives in Niagara Falls. Brian also gestures toward Claire, insinuating that they’ve had sex. Bender gets Brian in trouble by telling Claire Brian’s claim. His lie irritates Claire. Eventually, Brian admits he lied because he didn’t want Bender to know he isn’t a virgin, because it’s private. Claire tells Brian she doesn’t think it’s a problem for a guy to be a virgin.
The students pass around cans of Coca-Cola and pull lunch from their bags. Bender widens his eyes in disgust at Claire’s sushi. Claire and Bender look on in disbelief as Andrew pulls out food item after food item from his bag. Sitting at the back, Allison removes the meat from her sandwich and pours sugar on the bread. Then she presses sugary cereal between the slices. The others watch in silent horror.
Analysis
Hughes continues building on the major theme of rebellion after Vernon gives up trying to fix the door Bender sabotaged. Continuing to defy Vernon’s authority and outwit him, Bender shouts “fuck you” in perfect time with the door loudly closing. In this example of dramatic irony, Vernon can’t quite hear the words the audience and the students know Bender speaks. However, Vernon appears to sense that something was said, suggesting that Bender is getting under Vernon’s skin, as intended.
In a comic interlude, Hughes includes a montage of the students killing time in detention. Rather than write the 1,000-word essay Vernon assigned each of them, they more or less twiddle their thumbs and watch the clock. Hughes uses visual imagery to establish Bender’s commitment to mindlessly reckless behavior, showing him setting fire to the bottom of his boot and then lighting cigarettes off the flame. Hughes also further establishes Allison’s peculiarity by showing her shake dandruff onto an impressive sketch of a cottage. The gross but creative result is that it appears to be snowing on the scene she has imagined.
The theme of family dysfunction arises with Claire’s discussion of her parents, both of whom she resents. As the child of an acrimonious divorce, Claire finds herself caught between her warring parents, who have learned to use Claire as a “weapon” in their conflict. Although Andrew and Claire have so far been natural allies as members of the popular set, it is actually Bender who comes to Claire’s defense when Andrew dismisses her complaints as indulgent. This moment foreshadows Claire and Bender’s growing intimacy.
Hughes continues building on the theme of family dysfunction with Bender’s comment that it would be a lie if Andrew claimed to get along with his parents. In an instance of situational irony, the bookish Brian even says he doesn’t get along with his parents. Despite the fact Brian is trying to prove Bender’s point, Bender’s simplistic view of Brian means he refutes the idea, claiming Brian would be any parent’s ideal child. In this scene, Bender betrays the resentment he feels toward apparently well-adjusted kids like Brian.
Hughes further establishes Bender’s resentment by showing him needlessly harassing Claire and stereotyping her as someone who will “peak” in high school and go on to live a dull life as an overweight mother. Reasserting their initial allegiance, Andrew defends Claire by disarming Bender and pinning him to the floor. The masculine struggle for dominance between the two young men reaches a stalemate when Bender reveals that he carries a knife. To dispel the tension of the heated exchange, Hughes follows the scene with a series of comic instances in which the students continue to kill time. However, in an instance of situational irony, the janitor tells the students the clock they have been watching is twenty minutes fast, meaning they must wait even longer for the detention to end.
