Less Than Zero

This novel, as someone put it, "sounds like the rantings of a spoiled rich kid." Sad as it is for me to say, I must agree. I see this so often in the schools and my education classes that this topic really interested me about the novel. I would say that the main character probably suffered from being what we deem in the education lingo as a latchkey kid. Those would be the students that go home on their own, and do not have parental supervision until the parents get home later from work. Latchkey kids are deemed high risk students, because from 3 om when they get home from school until 6 pm or later when their parents arrive home is the time frame when the most risk-taking behavior takes place for teens. It is also the time frame where most teenage pregnancies are consummated. I think this could explain the main character's drug behaviors. He has been seduced into the drug world because he had little else to do in his time, and lacked the parental involvement to really make his see the consequences for his actions.