Class Privilege in Off-Campus Book 3: The Score (Mitten ins Herz)

Defining a Thematic Claim

In The Score, class privilege operates as an invisible divider that Dean Di Laurentis and Allie Hayes must navigate. The novel argues that privilege can both empower and isolate—while Dean’s family wealth grants him freedom from financial worry and a safety net, it also feeds his father’s expectations of a legal career and blinds him to the struggles Allie faces as a middle-class art student. The tension climaxes in the figure of Allie’s father, Joe Hayes, a former NHL player whose early retirement from hockey left him physically and financially limited, and who distrusts Dean precisely because of the wealth and ease Dean embodies.

Tracing the Theme Across the Plot

1. Conflicting Upbringings in Chapter 14

In Chapter 14, Dean and Allie have sex for the first time since their drunken hookup and then talk intimately. Allie mentions her Thanksgiving trip to see her father, whose NHL career ended early due to injury. Dean, in turn, reveals that he enjoys coaching a kids’ hockey team. The conversation exposes the chasm between their backgrounds: Dean’s family owns a chain of hotels and a house on St. Bart’s, while Allie grew up in Brooklyn with a single father. Allie teases Dean about his privilege, but her tone is warm rather than resentful. This scene establishes that their different economic realities are not just backstory—they are present in every casual remark about holiday plans, housing, and future security.

Allie’s awareness of her own modest upbringing contrasts with Dean’s obliviousness. He treats privilege as a neutral fact, while she instinctively frames it as something to joke about, a strategy that protects her from feeling inadequate. This early exchange sets up the class dynamic as a source of both attraction and potential friction.

2. Coach O’Shea and the Weaponization of Class Resentment

In Chapter 5, Dean learns that his former high school coach, Frank O’Shea, has been hired as the new defense coordinator for the Briar hockey team. O’Shea holds a grudge against Dean because of the relationship Dean had with his daughter, Miranda. O’Shea assigns Dean to a lower playing line and forces him into an unpaid volunteer coaching role with a middle school team—punishments that go beyond fair coaching decisions. The subtext is clear: O’Shea resents Dean’s entitlement. He explicitly says to Dean, “The Dean Di Laurentis I knew only cared about one person—himself.” This accusation echoes a class-based judgment: that rich athletes like Dean don’t have to work for their success and hurt others without consequence.

O’Shea himself comes from a different class background. He is a career coach without Dean’s family connections or wealth. His attempt to humble Dean by making him serve a community program reveals how privilege can become a target for those who feel they have been wronged by it. Dean, though angry, ultimately accepts the punishment because he recognizes that fighting it would confirm O’Shea’s stereotype of the spoiled rich boy.

3. Money as a Solution in Chapter 35

In the climactic chapter of the novel, Dean’s privilege takes center stage as a concrete force. Dean buys airplane tickets for Allie’s father to move to Los Angeles, assuming that the reason Allie is hesitating about a FOX pilot role is because she cannot bear to be away from her injured dad. The gesture is generous but reveals a blind spot: Dean believes that all problems can be solved with money. Allie has to explain that she is actually declining the role because she dislikes the project’s sexist premise and the seven-year commitment. Dean’s offer came from a good place but also from a place of economic power that Allie does not share.

This moment forces both characters to confront the asymmetry in their relationship. Dean learns that his privilege, while useful, cannot buy understanding of Allie’s artistic values and personal autonomy. Allie, in turn, learns to accept help without losing her own agency. The scene underscores that class privilege is not inherently evil but can create misunderstandings when one partner assumes wealth is a universal cure.

Character and Symbol Connections

Dean Di Laurentis

Dean’s identity is inseparable from his family name. He grew up with parents who expected him to attend Harvard Law like his father and brother. His decision to play hockey at Briar instead of Harvard was a small act of rebellion, yet he still plans on law school after graduation. His privilege buffers him from the consequences of failure—if hockey doesn’t work out, law school is waiting. This safety net allows him to be playful and carefree, but it also makes him unaware of how serious Allie’s financial decisions are. His character arc involves learning to see his advantages as a perspective, not a universal baseline.

Allie Hayes and Joe Hayes

Allie comes from a middle-class home where money mattered. Her father, Joe, is a former NHL player whose career ended after a hip injury—an injury that left him with chronic pain and limited earning potential. Joe’s distrust of Dean stems partly from class resentment: he sees Dean as another entitled rich boy who could break his daughter’s heart without consequences. Allie shares her father’s wariness of wealth but also loves Dean for who he is. She represents the bridge between two worlds, forced to balance her father’s protective instincts with her own feelings.

Hockey as a Symbol

Hockey functions as a symbol of class mobility for some and inherited status for others. For Joe Hayes, hockey was a ticket out of working-class Brooklyn, but an injury cut that dream short. For Dean, hockey is a passion he pursues despite his family’s disapproval—he could have easily become a lawyer without ever touching a puck. The sport exposes the class divide: Dean’s family can afford private coaching and elite equipment; Joe Hayes had to fight for every opportunity. When Dean coaches the middle school Hurricanes, he begins to see hockey from a less privileged angle, learning coaching as a form of service rather than entitlement.

The Strawberry Rose Perfume and French Soap Opera

Allie’s signature scent, strawberry rose perfume, and her love of a French soap opera are symbols of her artistic, modestly bourgeois tastes. These are not luxury brands; they are accessible pleasures. They contrast with Dean’s world of expensive hotels and St. Bart’s vacations. The perfume, in particular, becomes a sensory marker of Allie’s identity, something intimate and unpretentious that Dean learns to cherish, hinting that class differences can be bridged through personal connection.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel does not paint Dean as a villain for his privilege nor Allie as a victim for her lack of it. Instead, it shows that both characters grow by acknowledging their differences. Dean’s privilege allows him to be generous and solve practical problems, but his initial assumption that money can fix everything is a flaw he must unlearn. Allie’s pride sometimes prevents her from accepting help, and she must learn that accepting Dean’s resources does not make her less independent.

Joe Hayes’s distrust is understandable but also partly misplaced—Dean proves himself loyal and kind by the end. Yet the novel does not fully resolve the systemic issues of class; it personalizes them. The final happy ending—Dean getting a teaching job in Manhattan and Allie landing a TV role in New York—still depends on their careers working out, which is itself a form of privilege compared to characters who lack their connections and talent.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Dean’s family background influence his expectations for the future, and how does this differ from Allie’s?

Dean’s family expects him to become a lawyer, and he has a safety net of wealth and connections. Allie does not have a guaranteed career path; she must audition and take whatever roles come her way, often facing rejection and financial insecurity. Dean can afford to joke about his future while Allie must work for every opportunity.

2. In what way does Coach O’Shea’s treatment of Dean reflect class resentment?

O’Shea comes from a less privileged background than Dean and believes that Dean got away with mistreating his daughter because of his family’s wealth and status. O’Shea punishes Dean by assigning him to a lower line and a volunteer coaching job, hoping to humble him. This shows how privilege can make an individual a target for those who feel powerless.

3. Why does Allie’s father Joe distrust Dean, and is his distrust justified?

Joe distrusts Dean because he sees him as a wealthy, entitled young man who might take advantage of Allie, just as he assumes rich people always do. His distrust is partly justified because Dean initially behaves casually about sex and relationships, but it is also based on class prejudice. Joe’s own injury and lost NHL career make him sensitive to people who seem to have everything handed to them.

4. How does Dean’s purchase of airplane tickets for Joe Hayes reveal his privilege, and what does Allie’s reaction teach him?

Dean buys the tickets as a solution to what he assumes is Allie’s problem (caring for her father), but he never asked her what she actually wanted. This reveals that his privilege makes him think money can solve emotional and ethical dilemmas. Allie teaches him that she is capable of making her own career decisions and that his wealth does not give him the right to intervene without consent.

5. Does the novel ultimately critique class privilege or reinforce it? Use evidence from the ending.

The novel critiques privilege through Dean’s growth—he learns to see beyond his own assumptions and becomes a PE teacher rather than a lawyer, choosing passion over status. However, the ending also reinforces privilege because Dean and Allie both achieve their dream careers in New York City, which requires considerable social capital and luck. The novel suggests that privilege can be used for good when accompanied by humility, but it stops short of a broader systemic critique.