Saw a comment about aging them up, but I felt I should just make my own topic on how I feel about it instead of writing an essay in their comments. _______________________________________________ I'd agree that aging the characters up sometimes has no affect on a story and would make it less weird if they were adults, but I think them being in high school actually fits really well with the narrative of this story.
I think the fear of being "caught" by their parents/school played into a bigger symbolic fear of being "caught" as now being almost non-human in a sense. I felt sympathy for these scared teenagers who don't have all the answers, going through changes they can't tell anyone about, forcing them to act "normal".
If they lived alone as college students or adults, it just wouldn't hit the same. They could just hole up at home the whole time, would probably have a better grasp on how to handle their emotions, and would likely have more resources to find others going through the same thing.
Being teenagers makes them powerless and that loss of control is exactly what makes the story great. And fwiw, they're 17, so they are near-adults, but that distinction is also important. They're soon going to have to navigate those exact major life changes (moving away for college [probably together now], becoming more independent, getting jobs, etc.) WHILE dealing with this issue, rather than just dealing with it after they've already established themselves as adults. I think the reader should be left to ponder these things. It's an open-ended conclusion with an actual purpose, which is rare in this genre.
tl;dr I think being teenagers was important for the plot in this story.
Saw a comment about aging them up, but I felt I should just make my own topic on how I feel about it instead of writing an essay in their comments.
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I'd agree that aging the characters up sometimes has no affect on a story and would make it less weird if they were adults, but I think them being in high school actually fits really well with the narrative of this story.
I think the fear of being "caught" by their parents/school played into a bigger symbolic fear of being "caught" as now being almost non-human in a sense. I felt sympathy for these scared teenagers who don't have all the answers, going through changes they can't tell anyone about, forcing them to act "normal".
If they lived alone as college students or adults, it just wouldn't hit the same. They could just hole up at home the whole time, would probably have a better grasp on how to handle their emotions, and would likely have more resources to find others going through the same thing.
Being teenagers makes them powerless and that loss of control is exactly what makes the story great. And fwiw, they're 17, so they are near-adults, but that distinction is also important. They're soon going to have to navigate those exact major life changes (moving away for college [probably together now], becoming more independent, getting jobs, etc.) WHILE dealing with this issue, rather than just dealing with it after they've already established themselves as adults. I think the reader should be left to ponder these things. It's an open-ended conclusion with an actual purpose, which is rare in this genre.
tl;dr I think being teenagers was important for the plot in this story.