Chapter 10: Why does Finny act the way he does? What is really going on inside his head? How is this a reoccurring theme throughout the novel?

During this chapter, Finny acted in a reflection of how he has externally acted throughout the book. Throughout the novel, Gene could easily predict how Finny would act next but he had trouble understanding Finny's internal thought-process. At the end of the trial, Finny displayed the entirety of his internal conflicts. Finny acted that he really trusted his friends and didn't believe that they would do anything to harm him.

When Finny and Gene went to the beach in the summer, Finny told Gene that Gene was his "best pal (p.48)." Finny exposed himself to show Gene that he trusted him entirely. When Gene told Finny that he had purposely pushed him off the tree limb, Finny told Gene that he "makes [him] sick (p. 70)." Finny showed Gene that he hated the thought of the person he trusted the most being untrustworthy. Throughout the second half of the book, Finny endured the external pressures that Gene was out to get him. At the trial, Brinker brought the climax of these external pressures and caused Finny to push back. Finny told the court that he "just didn't care (p. 177)."

Finny ran away from the truth by simply standing up and walking away. In Finny's mind, he was on the edge of a cliff. During the novel, Finny found ways of overcoming the wind and the weight of his own body (Brinker and Finny's internal conflicts) by climbing close to the ultimate summit of the cliff where he was on top of the world (best friends with Gene). In the trial, Finny finally pushed away the wind permanently and pulled himself to the top of the cliff.

How should Gene respond to Finny's tremendous internal efforts? Have you ever felt pulled down from something and the urge to overcome it? How did your peers respond to your external efforts? Also, how does this relate to Atticus Finch's efforts to overcome racism in the deep south?

Chapter 5: What is the symbolism of the fact that Finny’s leg was “shattered”?

The word shattered comes with a large amount of imagery. You think shattered glass, shattered dreams, but most importantly, you think of something that can never be put together again. If you've ever seen shattered glass, you know immediately it can never be fixed back to the way it was originally. After Gene jounced the limb and Finny fell off the tree, everything in Gene's life seemed shattered. Shattered is worse than broken; this is because broken can be fixed. Finny's shattered leg symbolizes their shattered friendship. By the end of this reading, we can tell that they are not comfortable in the presence of one another. Gene is afraid to be honest with Finny. Their trust was always broken glass, held together by glue with a few cracks, yet their trust wasn't shattered until Finny fell off the tree.

At the end of the chapter, Gene went to visit Finny in attempt to piece together what Gene already knew was a broken friendship. Finny would not allow himself to accept the fact that his best friend Gene made him fall and shattered his dreams of being an athlete. He would not allow himself to believe that all the trust he had put into his best friend was shattered. "I would have to make every move false (p. 71)", Gene tells the reader while trying to get out of the conversation. Gene is now aware of their shattered, hopeless friendship. This seems to be a foreshadow for many lies soon to come. The action Gene made can not be forgiven, and an apology will not fix this. Check out this image of shattered glass. Do you think if it were not for the tree, this friendship would have lasted? Will Gene and Finny ever be able to be good friends again? If you believe good friendships are built on trust, do you think they were great friends in the first place?