Mario and Avril; the Dean’s office (pp. 762–763)
‘I determined years ago that my position needs to be that I trust my children, and I’d never traffic in third-party hearsay when the lines of communication with my children are as open and judgment-free as I’m fortunate they are.’
Context
This is the trust-ideology recited aloud, and the scene has already shown its underside. Moments before this speech Avril has been working the whole surveillance apparatus: "I've been trying to buttonhole your brother. He's not in your room. The Pemulis person was seen by Mary Esther taking their truck before Study Period. Is Hal with him, Mario?" She knows Hal saw Zeggarelli, knows he skipped pears for peanut-butter apple, knows he left two messages unanswered — she has him tracked to the minute. And then she declares she'd "have no problem waiting to hear about Eschaton, teeth, and urine from your brother, who'll come to me the moment it's appropriate for him to come to me." The professed never-check-up trust and the actual minute-by-minute tracking run at the same time, in the same person, without friction — because in this system surveillance is the love, and the ideology of open lines is precisely what makes the surveillance invisible, even to her.