The Lords of Discipline

The Lords of Discipline (published 1980) is a novel by Pat Conroy. The narrator, Will McLean, attends the fictional Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1963 to 1967. As a Georgian, Irish, and not rich, he is an outsider and finds life as a "knob" or "plebe" (a first-year cadet in training) at the Institute to be physically and emotionally brutal. But he finds solace in three boys who become his

Related Topics:
1980 - Pat Conroy - Charleston, South Carolina - 1963 - 1967

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great friends: Tradd St. Croix, an "old Charlestonian" (from a very rich and respected family); and Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro, two brawny, loyal boys of Italian descent. He also respects the tough-talking, cigar-chomping Colonel "Bear" Barrineau, who asks the senior cadet McLean to look out for the Institute's first black cadet. But McLean's journey to manhood is full of twists and turns, as he meets a girl whose life he can never be a part of and hears rumors of The Ten, a mysterious Institute gang that ensures certain cadets are run out by any means necessary.

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Although Conroy drew on his experiences as a cadet at The Citadel during the 1960s to create the setting for the story, he has explicitly stated that the novel's plot is a product of his imagination.

Related Topics:
The Citadel - 1960s

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The novel was adapted for the screenplay of a 1983 film of the same name starring David Keith as Will McClean and Robert Prosky as Colonel "Bear" Berrineau.

Related Topics:
David Keith - Robert Prosky

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