Chapter #8 (pages 103-122) What does Finny and Gene's conversation about enlisting show about their relationship?

When Finny learns that Gene is considering enlisting in the war, Finny immediately thinks that Gene is deserting him. He becomes upset and tries to divert the conversation by changing the topic. Finny changes the focus of the discussion from war to showers in an attempt to hide his astonishment, but Gene sees through it. While Finny is certainly surprised by the fact that he may be losing his friend to the war, Gene is also just as surprised at realizing what he means to Finny. On page 108 Gene comes to the conclusion that " Phineas was shocked at the idea of me leaving. In some way he needed me... He wanted me around," and that is when Gene understood that he would not be enlisting, and that he was going to stick with Finny.

The reaction that Finny has to the whole situation shows Gene that Finny needs him there. Their relationship used to make Gene feel as though he was blessed to have Finny as a friend. Now, it seems like the tables have turned and that Finny, not Gene, is depending on this friendship.

Do you think that Finny secretly always needed Gene, or that this is a recent development?

Is Gene going to regret his decision about now enlisting in the army?

How does this scene (pg. 107-108) blow open a new door into the relationship?

This section is explosive! Finny is just getting back and now he has to deal with Gene telling him that he is willing to enlist in the war. Finny obviously feels hurt because Gene didn’t even tell him. What makes it worse is that Gene was planning to do this before Finny got back to school. Finny reveals his surprise when he says, “‘Enlist!’ cried Finny at the same time. His large and clear eyes turned with an odd expression on me.”(pg. 107) By Gene getting that look from Finny, it reveals that Finny is completely caught off guard by the decision that Gene and Brinker made to enlist. Finny reveals that he feels that he is in charge of Gene because when he wasn’t told of the choice, it was as though he had just been betrayed by his best friend.

Gene described how Finny reacted to the thought of him leaving. “‘I can manage all right,’ Finny repeated with a set face.”(pg. 108) Finny is trying to get under Gene’s skin by saying, “Oh yeah. I can do perfectly well with or without you!” Finny starts to reel a bit and realize what he is putting his best friend through. First, though it is debatable, he makes Finny fall out of the tree; now he’s leaving an injured Finny to go to a war he didn’t originally support.

Gene tries to go back on what he said and argue with Brinker that he won’t enlist. They go back and forth with Gene saying that he wouldn’t enlist even if Brinker was related to some famous person in the war. They go to the point where Finny thinks up a new nick name for Brinker. Gene is obviously regretting what he has said so he tries to make it up, but he doesn't do a good job of it.

Why does Finny try to prove that he can take care of himself even with a shattered leg? Why does Gene suddenly go back on what he had first planned?

Chapter 7: Part of this reading focuses on Leper. How is he characterized? What do we learn about him?

In this chapter Leper is first seen looking out at the woods while the other students are out shoveling snow to clear the way for a train. He is ignorant of what is going on because he is so preoccupied with what he is doing. Gene approaches Leper and learns that Leper is trying to find a path for his skis so that he can tour the woods. Leper rants about how skiing is "for useful locomotion" (95) and not for going fast down the hill before he tells Gene that he is trying to find a beaver dam, which was moved because of the oncoming winter. Later on in the chapter Leper returns and describes his expedition to Gene while being ignorant of Brinker Hadley's mocking comments.

In this chapter Leper is given a personality by John Knowles. Leper is an innocent seventeen-year old boy who is an outcast in his group of friends. We learn that he doesn't care about his appearance in the eyes of others and therefore wears bland, but practical, clothes, such as, "a dull green deer-stalker's cap, brown ear muffs, a thick gray woolen scarf" (94). It is obvious from what he wears that Leper is the type of person who isn't afraid to go against common beliefs, or styles. This trait is seen more conspicuously when he blatantly argues about how downhill skiing isn't what skiing was intended for. Leper knows that when people think of skiing, they think about downhill skiing, and not touring, but instead of just letting the people think what they want, Leper argues about his beliefs, what he thinks real skiing is, and is not afraid to go against the crowd. We also learn that Leper is an especially curious person. He enjoys observing nature and how other creatures live, and he expresses his thoughts openly to Gene when he says, "I just like to go along and see what I'm passing and enjoy myself." (95). In this respect, Leper is also similar to Phineas; he's open-minded, and isn't afraid to express himself through his words and actions. He is also just plain innocent. Leper enjoys life and doesn't care about what other people think about him, such as when Brinker mocks him and he doesn't react to his comments. Phineas, too, is like this. Earlier in the book he was even described as someone who could speak his mind openly and had a "simple, shocking self-acceptance" (16) of himself.

If you were in Brinker's position, would you mock Leper for being different, or would you accept him like Gene does? Do you think you are more like Leper or more like Brinker? Do you think this quotation, "Leper stands out for me as the person who was most often and most emphatically taken by surprise, by this and every other shift in our life at Devon" (93) is foreshadowing something that will happen in the future? If so, what do you think will happen?

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?

Explore the dynamics and undertones of Finny and Gene’s first conversations upon his return. Does it feel “realistic” to you? Why or why not?

Finny is back after the absence due to his 'shattered' leg, and suddenly everything changes- as written on page 102, "Everything that had happened throughout the day faded like that first false snowfall of the winter. Phineas was back." The minute after they share very brief greetings, the first thing that Finny tells Gene is how he should never have left him there to advertise how badly dressed he is.

I find that the first conversation between Finny and Gene rather ironic and unrealistic; instead of Gene asking Finny whether he is feeling all right or Finny asking Gene how he was doing, the first thing they discussed was how dreadful Gene's choice of clothing was. It's as if the two of them both are avoiding the topic of asking of each other's welfare. Finny's got a shattered leg and it's obviously not fine. Not only that, they both know that Gene purposely jounced the branch, which made Finny fall off the tree in the first place. It seems that neither of them want to face that guilt and unavoidable fact yet. They both know, however, that they must do that in the end, but they want to hold it off as soon as possible.

Soon after Phineas' return, Gene becomes a follower of Finny again, no matter how much pain, both physically and emotionally, Finny must be feeling with all of this. I think this shows how much influence Finny still has over Gene. Or, rather, how used to obeying Finny's words Gene is. He might realize later on that his popular best friend does not have as much power over him as he used to, but that Gene is so accustomed to listening to Finny that he just goes along with it.

Brinker intercepts the two friends' talk with the already-stated accusation that Gene got rid of Finny on purpose, which was partly true but put onto a very exaggerated scale. Instead of outright saying it, Brinker says as quoted from page 106, "'So,' Brinker curled his lip at me, 'your little plot didn't work so well after all.'" Gene, of course, goes into a right state of panic and passes it off as Brinker persuading him to enlist, which perhaps surprisingly, Finny reacts negatively to.

Eventually Gene realizes that Finny doesn't want him to enlist, and quickly reassures him that he wasn't even considering it (indirectly), which was most definitely not the truth. In doing so, he insults Brinker, effectively convincing Finny and humiliating Brinker at the same time. Later on, during one of their idle chats, Gene finds out that Finny doesn't believe that the war is really going on at all, and is really just a false idea that the high-class "fat old men" are putting into their minds while stuffing themselves with the best steaks.

This really shows how much Finny's view on the war has changed- first, he is encouraging it, relating his many games to the war and even wearing the pink shirt as an emblem for it. Now, it seems, he is in denial about it, and is trying to convince himself and everyone around him that it does not, and has never, exist(ed).

Why do you think that Finny has had such a sudden change of view? What's Gene's reaction to this? And, more importantly, what has the training that is triggered by the sudden disbelief symbolize in the plot?

Explore the Significance of the Butt Room Scene

As the book continues, Gene's guilt builds up piece by piece. Its continues in this reading with Brinker confronting Gene about hurting Finny purposely. Gene starts to freak out and pointlessly gives himself tasks as they discuss so.

Eventually Gene try's to stop the conversation by heading off to the butt room with Brinker. From what I understand the butt room is a place where Gene is at ease and free to be himself, a symbol for a place where he feels no guilt or remorse. This wall of peace is ripped apart by the other boys in the room confronting him about the "crime". He makes up some something else telling and comforting himself that he didn't actually hurt Finny. Finally after he composes a fake alibi he tries to throw pushing Gene in to his scheme as something made up as well. But he can't, he simply can't because in his head he knows that he did move that branch and hurt Finny. In conclusion the whole butt scene was a symbol to prove Gene's unavoidable guilt.

Why does Gene continue to hide away from the truth? Will somebody catch on to him like Brinker almost did? Will Gene and Finny stop lying to themselves about what really happened?

3.) Explore and explain the significance of the scene in the Butt Room.

The tree incident has scarred Gene severely. Every second of his life he thinks of his evil deed. An epidemic in his brain has spread around him, the thought of Finny. The truth is not known by anyone except him.

In the scene in the Butt Room, Gene is pressured by his friends to tell the truth, even if they unknowingly do this. They were just joking around, making fun of the matter. Gene goes along with the joke, and just wants to get out of the Butt Room so nothing suspicious arises. He does not want the reality of the matter unfold in front of him and scatter all around the school. He would get an immense amount of heat, and not be looked at as a smart, intelligent boy. Negativity would attack him like a shark. His wishes of being head of the class would diminish right in front of his eyes. The truth is would be alarming or deeply unpleasant to most of the boys at Devon, as well as the teachers. Gene's hopes and dreams would be lost.

Do you think the truth will come out? When? What would be the reaction? How will this affect Gene's psychological challenges? How will Finny and Gene's friendship fare out once the truth is confirmed and known by all? Will this force Gene to join the army?