What is the significance of Gene and Finny’s training? How is related to their conversations about war? What does it reveal about their relationship?

Finny's back! He has returned to Devon and is sharing a room with Gene. On the first day of classes Finny wants to skip class. He promised that he would be good about grades, but he wanted to see Devon. Finny wanted to see how Devon has changed and wants to see the gym. He and Gene take the long quarter mile walk over ice to the gym. Once they get there they went to the locker room. They walked by the trophy case. Finny thought back to how he wanted to be in the Olympics for 1944, but now that he cannot do that, he wants Gene to. Thus, the training begins.

Gene and Finny's training is significant in many ways. It shows the determination of the two of them to reach the goal of the olympics. Finny feels it at first, and when Gene finishes his race course, he breaks through. "Then, for no reason at all, I felt magnificent. It was as though my body until that instant had simply been lazy, as though the aches and exhaustion were all imagined, created from nothing in order to keep me from truly exerting myself. Now my body seemed to say, 'Well, if you must have it, here!' and an accession of strength came flooding through me." (p. 120) It reveals how Finny wants Gene to do good in both athletics, and that all he wants to do is support him. A scene that stood out to me was when Finny told Gene to start doing 30 chin-ups. At first Finny probably expected Gene to end up doing 10, maybe 15 at the most, but even Gene was surprised when he did all 30. It wasn't just Gene responsible for doing the chin-ups, it was Finny too, urging him on to keep going. I think that this reveals how supportive and helpful they are to each other. They know each other so well that they both know what they are capable of. I think that that is key in a friendship, and can show a lot about how close together the friends are. This chapter reminded me a lot of the training scene in the movie Rocky. It had the same kind of power. What do you think gave Gene the strength to finish the race fast, and to do all 30 chin-ups?