Summary The Lords of Discipline is a best-selling novel by Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, Beach Music and The Great Santini. The novel takes place in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1960's. The hero, Will McLean, is a cadet at the military academy called The Institute. The novel is modeled after Conroy's own experience of plebe hazing and “four years of fear” as a cadet at The Citadel from which he graduated …showed first 75 words of 756 total…

…showed last 75 words of 756 total…himself becoming a man. He makes it through the institute and gains the respect of many, and in the final scene he approaches Colonel Berrineau (Bear), who is the high ranking at the institute, and asks him to sign his diploma. Will claims that he wants the signature of a man he can respect on his diploma. Bear looks at him and says that there already is, and then he points to will’s name.