Getting it on

Getting it on is the central, recurring phrase in Charles Decker's first-person narrative, serving as his personal idiom for the escalating, deliberate acts of violence and psychological confrontation that define the hostage crisis at Placerville High School. It evolves from a private, almost playful description of setting his locker on fire into a formal declaration of his state of mind, a challenge to authority, and finally a collective, ritualistic act of destruction that engulfs his classmates.

Origin and First Use

The phrase first appears in the narrative as Charlie Decker describes the moment he decides to act after his confrontation with Principal Thomas Denver. Having provoked Denver into a rage and then humiliated him in front of the secretary and Al Lathrop, Charlie feels a surge of power. He realizes Denver is frozen, unable to cope with a personal attack, and that the principal will soon be dangerous. Charlie waits for Denver to charge out and grab him, but when Denver does not come, Charlie narrates, "And when he didn't, I went ahead and got it on" . This initial use frames "getting it on" as a decisive, solitary act of rebellion, a step taken when the system fails to respond. He immediately begins to "get it on" by setting the contents of his locker on fire , a destructive but contained act of personal defiance.

Declaration and Expansion

Charlie formally introduces the phrase to his hostages immediately after shooting Mrs. Underwood and Mr. Vance. As the stunned class sits in silence, he announces, "'This,' I said pleasantly, 'is known as getting it on'" . This transforms the phrase from a private thought into a public label for his actions, defining the entire hostage situation as a single, coherent event. He later uses it to taunt Principal Denver over the intercom, saying, "We haven't finished getting it on down here yet" , and when asked what they are going to do, he replies, "Just get it on. That's all" . The phrase becomes his mantra, a way of asserting control and purpose in a situation that has no clear plan.

Psychological Warfare and Collective Action

The phrase's meaning deepens as Charlie turns his attention to the school psychologist, Don Grace. Before beginning a brutal interrogation over the intercom, Charlie says, "All right, Don. Let's get it on" . Here, "getting it on" becomes synonymous with psychological torture, a verbal assault designed to break a figure of authority. The phrase reaches its most complex and disturbing application when Charlie's classmates turn on Ted Jones. After Charlie tells his story of assaulting Mr. Carlson and fighting his father, he asks the class to identify the "final order of business." One by one, they raise their hands, and Carol Granger articulates the goal: "We have to help show Ted where he has gone wrong" . As the students begin to physically and verbally attack Ted, Charlie observes, "I had time to think: We have got it on. Now we have got it all the way on" . The phrase has now shifted from a personal act to a collective one, a shared ritual of violence and humiliation that binds the group together against a single target.

Thematic Significance

"Getting it on" functions as a euphemism that allows Charlie to frame his escalating violence as a kind of performance or game, a deliberate act of "getting it on" rather than a loss of control. It is a phrase of empowerment, used to claim agency in a situation where he feels powerless. The phrase also carries a dark, ironic echo of sexual slang, connecting the violence of the day to the repressed sexual tensions and adolescent anxieties that surface during the hostage crisis. Ultimately, "getting it on" describes the process by which Charlie and his classmates cross a line, moving from passive victims of circumstance to active participants in their own destruction. The phrase encapsulates the novel's central theme: the thin line between sanity and madness, and the terrifying ease with which ordinary people can be drawn into extraordinary acts of violence.