Rules of Attraction Group

Amanda Ladanyi

English 313 HON. M-W 12:30-1:45

Professor Wexler

11 November 2009

The Rules of Attraction

            Bret Easton Ellis', The Rules of Attraction is a controversial novel about the sexual, emotional, and chemical interactions of a group of wealthy and amoral college students. Sean Bateman is a student at Camden College, a well-respected private school on the East Coast. Sean is attracted to Lauren Hynde, a high-minded and seemingly unapproachable coed, while Lauren is infatuated with Victor, a handsome but self-centered ladies' man. Lauren's empty-headed roommate, Lara, is also attracted to Victor, while he has no qualms about being involved with both. Lauren used to date affected snob Paul Denton, but Paul, a bisexual, currently lusts after Sean. Meanwhile, friendly campus drug dealer Rupert finds a ready market for cocaine among his classmates; Sean, a steady customer, finds himself financially embarrassed and begins dealing drugs to help pay off his debts, while leading Paul on for his ready supply of marijuana.

            In our group presentation we decided to assign everyone a category and to write ten questions that would fit into your category. I then took on the job of compiling the whole power point presentation together. I kept in touch with my classmates and made sure that they all were completing their questions in a timely manner. We all met two times out of class to discuss what our approach was going to be. After the last meeting we decided on a date for everyone to e-mail their questions to me and I received all of them within the time slot. I read through all of the questions and picked out which questions I thought would engage the class and make some deep conversations. I looked up pictures to go along with our power point so it would keep the class interested. I also bought candy to try to motivate the class to answer questions. I think that overall our group had a good presentation and we were all happy at the end of the day on how well it went.