"Young people in my generation were sort of in lockstep, and it wasn't just the '40s, either. In the '30s and in the '50s it was the same. No one ever dropped out unless he got sick or got kicked out"

This quote by John Knowles speaks with the concept of conformity among youths in his generation. He suggests that it was not just a phenomenon of the 1940s, however that it was likewise present in the 1930s and 1950s. He suggests that young people were anticipated to follow a particular course which deviating from it was not socially acceptable. He suggests that the only method somebody might drop out of this "lockstep" was if they were either ill or were displaced. This quote speaks to the idea of the pressure to conform and the lack of liberty of choice that young people had in Knowles' generation. It also speaks with the concept of the effects of not conforming, as those who did not were viewed as outsiders.