Julia Snyde refused to accept the simple truth: she would never be accepted into St. Oswald’s School for boys. Her intelligence, desire to be involved, and determination were not enough. Julia Snyde could never be accepted, but Julian Pinchbeck would. And so, Julian Pinchbeck is created, a false identity used by Julia Snyde to infiltrate St. Oswald’s. Throughout Joanne Harris’s Gentlemen and Players, Snyde created false identities and rarely let her own personality show. She lacked a stable and an emotionally fulfilling family, allowing herself to be influenced by external forces. Snyde - desperate in search for freedom, comfort, and a home - directed herself to St. Oswald; gradually, the school became the target in her war against order and authority and invoked in her a sense of superiority to her peers. Julia Snyde, while searching for an alternate home (as hers was neither stable nor nurturing), discovered St. Oswald’s School for Boys and Leon. With Leon, her only friend, she found refuge and love. Her father, John Snyde, was abusive and oblivious towards her troubles. Although the karate lessons show John Snyde attempted to be the father his daughter needed, he fell short and instead allowed Julia to be led astray. By the time Julia’s mother, Sharon Snyde, offered to adopt Julia, it was already too late. Julia was attached; she had found comfort in St.…show more content… Oswald’s, making the school both the playing field and the opponent in her game against order and authority. It first began when she read the “NO TRESPASSERS” sign as a nine year old. Julia rebelled and trespassed, and when her act of defiance went unnoticed and unpunished, felt betrayed. At that moment, Julia Snyde realized how pinchbeck St. Oswald’s really was, and thus began her war. As Julia grew, so did her hatred to the school, reaching its highest point after the deaths of Leon and her
