"...Not with a bang but with a whimper."

In T.C. Boye's "Admiral," recent college graduate Nisha reprises her role as dog-sitter to the Strikers, two childless lawyers that request her services again after their Afghan hound Admiral dies and is cloned into a puppy. Her task is to nurture this new dog the same way she did the old one so that he can mature into an exact replica of his namesake. Throughout the story, Nisha confronts an internal malaise that seems to have set in since she left college and returned home to care for her sick mother. This new reality sharply contrasts her days with the old Admiral when "thoughts of clothes and boys and the occasional term paper" were the only concerns (Boyle 8). However upon meeting the new house maid Frankie and journalist Erhard, who effectively appeals to "her sense of rebellion," she momentarily restores some of her former vigor (Boyle 15). Falling in love with Erhard, she takes part in his plan to replace the cloned Admiral with another hound. But when it fails after Mrs. Striker arrives home and recognizes the impostor, Nisha's newly cultivated youth is instantly destroyed. Succumbing to the same bitterness that had been acquired by other adults as they aged, she accepts her reality.

"Yes, she was living in the past and her mother was dying and she'd gone to college for nothing..." (Boyle 21)

Though Boyle's statement ends on an optimistic note as it indicates that Nisha wants to forge a better future, that doesn't necessarily mean that the particular status quo pervading her present life will change or shift significantly. What this moment of submission in Boyle's tale does is consolidate the current milieu that young college graduates inhabit. Costly loans, sick parents, and a turbulent job market have become modern conventions and their impacts longstanding. Even the final confrontation between Mrs. Striker and Erhard is so anti-climactic that it most likely didn't give Nisha the moment of rebellion she so desired. These experiences and obstacles typify the disposition of the emerging middle and lower classes that live today. Many of the once ambitious youths who dreamed to be the doctors, lawyers, and politicians of tomorrow must return home not having accomplished their goals. And because they can't afford to get their stories out to USA Today or Good Morning America, Boyle informs the reader of the tension and dissatisfaction that remains pervasive in their lives.

What other aspects of the emerging and/or permanent members of the middle class does Boyle's story explore?