There is no doubt that Alexis ends up being in love with Craig by the end of the story. But the aspect that I am the most interested is would their relationship have blossomed into what it is today if Alexis wasn't feeling isolated and alone at Lehigh.
In the time period that Alexis was chatting online and later initially meeting Craig, she was not very happy at Lehigh.
In the time period that Alexis was chatting online and later initially meeting Craig, she was not very happy at Lehigh.
"I was feeling somewhat isolated and lonely the months I found myself chatting online with people. I feel like most of the students at Lehigh are drowning in apathy and that no one cares about anything outside their circle of friends. They don't know the outside world exists, never mind care about it... I felt like no one cared here and that I was really different from everyone else. I felt unable to relate to anyone in that capacity. Plus, I wasn't doing too well in school... I was having trouble with my best friend on top of all that, so I guess that's why I became so totally engrossed in the random chat thing."
I feel that if Alexis was happier and not feeling ostracized at Lehigh, she would never of even starting chatting on the Internet, and certainly would not of wanted to spend every night taking to Craig, who initially already had a girlfriend. No matter how engrossing your online persona may be, it still cannot compare to what can happen in real life. In my mind, Alexis would of had a much better chance meeting someone interesting by spending every night in Hawksnest or the library, instead of talking to random people on the Internet hoping to have an intelligent conversation. We go to an elite university, and she wrote off the entire population, instead preferring to hide behind the anonymity of her computer screen.
I agree that Alexis definitely could have been spending her time at Lehigh doing more constructive "real life" things. She ultimately got incredibly lucky to find a man that she actually did fall in love with. My brief experience with late night chatting involved a lot of weird people saying weird things. I wonder what people did at Lehigh before the existance of the internet when they felt isolated and alone.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good question Alex, and one that applies to people all over the world. The internet has given people an outlet to express themselves with complete strangers, which grants a sense of comfortability.
ReplyDeleteCare to elaborate more on your own late night chatting experiances?
Hey Matt,
ReplyDeleteI have to say, Alexis may have been "turned off" by the Lehigh social culture. I don't play a collegiate sport, but I have friends that do and it is really really intense, especially in-season.
Also, while some people "hang out" at Hawk's Nest, most students are usually there late-nighting after a party, and the vast majority of students go to the library for a quick homework assignment or a more-drawn out study session...I think the "easiness" factor plays a big role too -- Alexis knew that everyone in the chat room was there to meet other people, and she had that guarantee on her side.
The Hawk's Nest didn't exist before '06 (IIRC), it was just Lamberton Hall and they only seldom held events there. There weren't really any late night options, no centralized gathering places. Pretty much all of the Lehigh social life revolved around the frats and the off-campus parties. 1998 would've been in the early years of the infamous Project Impact:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.higheredcenter.org/prevention/examples/models/lehigh-university
Campus culture was very different back then!
Maybe Lehigh was a different place back then, so I guess I can't blame her for turning to the internet. But does anyone think that she would of fallen in love so completely if she had been happier at school?
ReplyDeleteI don't think we can know if she would've been more or less in love had her Lehigh experience been better for her. Alexis discusses how her and Craig were "soul mates". If this in fact is true than her happiness at Lehigh would have had nothing to do with how much she fell in love...at least as far as this guy is concerned.
ReplyDelete