Write a letter (not addressed to anyone in particular) commenting on the section you read for class: ask questions, point out what you think is important, make predictions about what's to come, etc.
I thought that this section was very interesting. I thought that Gene's ideas about Finny wrecking his grades could have been true, but they definitely weren't. I think that it was just Finny's manner. He doesn't like to study and likes to have people with him when he does things. And also, Gene is his best friend. Why would he try to sabotage his grades? I thought the reason for teachers not paying attention to the student is because it's summer and these classes aren't normal so no one's taking them seriously. I also thought Gene overreacted when Finny told him Leper would jump, and he could have stayed and studied. You could kind of expect what was going to happen on the tree because Gene's mind was on other things and they were going together. I think now Finny can feel like Gene was in that he sabotaged his athletic career.
This section was overflowing with a bunch of things that could start great discussions. A lot happened in this section and it all seemed really important. The main thing in this section is Finny falling of the branch. Why did something so big happen this soon? There was foreshadowing leading up to when Finny fell. How Gene pointed out that Finny whistled off key, and when Finny was falling Gene described it as the first time he had seen Finny look clumsy. It was Gene's fault that Finny fell because he made the branch move. Does that mean that Gene is the problem in their friendship? Him over thinking everything and being jealous is what is ruining the relationship or "making Finny clumsy". Finny acted without thinking, but this time it got him in trouble, Do you think Finny even feels slightly happy about his jealousy fueled victor? Or is he feeling guilt? To address Nick's question, Gene is his best friend. Why would he try to sabotage his grades? If you look at the huge jealousy Gene feels towards Finny about sports and social skills, which are things Gene isn't horrible at doing he is just slightly disadvantaged in those fields compared to Finny. But Finny is really bad at school and so just like Gene secretly wants Finny to get in trouble, Finny is secretly wanting to bring Gene down academically. Because really we only know what Gene is thinking and when he is talking about Finny he isn't to reliable. Or it could be Gene over thinking the situation and being paranoid. Finny and Gene would be closer friends if they were willing to open up and share the emotions they have to each other. If they were up front about how they were both jealous of each other they could move on. They both try to hide all envious feelings because that would make them seem weak, but those feelings will get bigger and bigger until they're too big to hide and then it will ruin their friendship. They need to be more honest with each other, and they need to trust each other. If they did that their friendship would be real and not a bunch of hidden feelings of spite and fear that the other one will try to sabotage or hurt you.
i think the events of this section were very odd. It seemed weird to me that gene was so mean, and also that he admitted to jouncing the limb. It seems to me that gene is unable to keep his emotions within him anymore, even though he did for a very long time. Also it seemed unlike Gene to be late to Devon just to see finny, i thought that he would never break the rules without urging from Finny. Another thing that i found odd in this chapter was Finny's reaction to Gene telling the truth. He seemed very naive in not believing that his best friend would do anything to ever harm him. I was wondering what other people thought of this. Also the quote ""You aren't going to start living by the rules, are you?" I grinned at him. "Oh no, i wouldn't do that," and that was the most false thing, the biggest lie of all." was really confusing to me. It seemed as though he and finny were back to being friends, at least in finny's mind, but gene was still lying to him. This reinforces my view of gene as a person who over thinks things and spends too much time inside his own head. I am confused also about why this scene was so anti climactic.
I see a lot of scenes in this section about Gene relfecting about two things: 1)the pureness of Finny, and 2) Gene missing Finny. Here are my points, reflected as such:
1) The pureness of Finny was represented with the symbolism of the rivers. Finny being pure and clean, and Gene being dirty and open towards the real world, while Finny is niaeve.
2) The antiFinny was showed through with Quakenbush, making him miss Finny more. Plus, Gene being caught from breaking the rules.
3) Another thing about not breaking the rules, and how that would be the biggest lie of all. Now Gene is trying to keep the rules, to curry favor with his students and teachers, even though Finny told him not to. Katherine Kingma
I think Gene doing something to Finny was creeping up on us for a while. The envy of Gene has been stressed througout the novel, is was about to end to something.
My main question about this section was why the author put in Quackenbush into this particular section. I don't understand why he was even in the book, because it doesn't seem like his character will be further developed or brought back into the story later. He didn't seem to have that big of an impact on Gene, except for the fact that Gene got angry enough to fight someone. Also, why was Mr. Ludsbury in this section? I thought he was in this section to remind Gene of his friendship with Finny and how things were before Finny had his accident (" 'I don't know who it that would have been.' Nights of black-jack and poker and unpredictable games invented by Phineas rose up in my mind."), but that's just my opinion. Anther question of mine was why were people so vocal about how being assistant crew manager is such a bad thing to do? Quackenbush and Finny started a fight over it and Finny told Gene he was crazy for wanting to do and wondering why Gene would want to be a manager.
(to continue) Gene sort of seemed to open up a little more and not be as scared as he used to be in this section because he fought with Quackenbush to seemed to a be a pretty beefy guy so I think this means that in the future of this book Gene will show more courage possibly tell Finny that he did purposefully hurt him with taking it back right after by saying he's out of sorts.
I was really suprised about Leper in listing in this section, I always thought that he was the most child like and innocent one but suddenly he in listed in the war. I think that this shows that the war makes people grow up to quickly and makes the boys become men too fast. Also Lepper being the most innocent one going into the war is probablly not ready for the responceablititeis and I dont think Leper would kill anyone. I think he is sort of going on the war as a touring like when he was touring around Devon just in a more sped up way. Also the line that says, "Its like a test, isnt it, and only the things and the poeple who've been evolving the right way can survive. Lepper seeing the war as a test shows that he is still a school boy inside and too young to be fighting and killing people. The part about evolving is also important because it shows how you have to change yourself in order to kill people, and Im not sure if I want to see that change in Lepper.
I was wondering what everyone thought of the winter carnival idea. At first, I was a little confused about how they can just make ski jumps in the middle of a snow covered park. I guess it just seems really unrealistic. Also, I was wondering what everyone thought about the separate peace quote. " It wasn't the cider which made me surpass myself, it was the liberation we had torn from the grey encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace. I thought that quote meant that the winter carnival was their separate peace because it was the one time that they got to regain their innocence.
I think that the description of winter receding was important, just like all of the other place descriptions, because Gene is seeing himself in the world. In the winter carnival, Gene said that the Ski jump was actually on a little hill. I was wondering, though, why Leper so suddenly decided to enlist. I under stand they appeal of being a Ski-trouper, but for Leper to just say, "Oh, I understand! Down hill skiing doesn't brake the rules because you need to get down in a hurry," really seems like an excuse for Mr. Knowles to put in the telegram part in the end. Also, I thought it was interesting that Finny automatically assumed that it was the Olympic Committee because in Finny's commandments it is stated that everyone wins at sports, but he was hosting a Ski-jumping COMPITION.
I don't know if it is just me, but I think this book is getting "weirder" by the chapter. This is just not my type of book. I find a lot of the events in this book to be irrelevent. Anyways, I was shocked when I read that Leper enlisted. I really surprised. I thought it was going to be a big problem for Gene and Finny because they were close friends with him, but that reaction never really came. I would like to talk about the winter carnivel now. I thought the winte carnivel was an act of Finny trying to get back into sports any kind of way he could, and this was it. I didn't really understand the part about Brinker. I thought he enlisted , but then it said something like he didn't want to travel alone. I really like Finny's drive. He wants to be in sports any way he can, and he is doing it by coaching Gene for the olympics. I do wonder why Finny thought the telegram was from the Olympic committee. I wonder where Leper is an if Gene can find him. He's a strange guy.
To respond to Jared's comments about the winter carnival a few sections ago, I think Finny was using it as an escape. He's really very saddened by not being able to participate in sports anymore and by the war around him, but he ignores all of it by distracting himself and denying the bad things around him.
I'm going to talk about the section from 165-177. When Gene and Finny are first being led into the empty building at night by Brinker, it's mentioned that above the door it says "Here boys come to be made men." I thought this was important, and probably foreshadowing for what was to come inside the building. When Gene and Finny are taken from their beds in the middle of the night, it seems as if something big will probably happen, and many things that happen in this book affect people in ways that make them need to grow up, whether they like it or not, such as Leper enlisting or Finny's broken leg or just the effect of the war in general. I wondered why Gene focused on the oil paintings in the Assembly room, maybe it's because he's been thinking more and more about his future and decision time is coming, so he's looking to all these people whose accomplishments throughout their lives have related to Devon. I thought it was really weird how Finny couldn't remember where Gene was at all around the tree at the time of the accident. In scenes prior to this, he seemed to know that Gene was on the tree with him, just not that he had jounced the limb. I'm not sure, but maybe it's because he's been convincing himself more and more that Gene is innocent. What do you guys think? My last few questions are: Why do you think Leper didn't care anymore what happened on the tree when just recently in the book Gene and him had a heated discussion about it? Why did Finny have such a strong reaction to being interrogated? and Why would John Knowles have Finny fall down the stairs, especially at this point in time when he's just been questioned and become upset about his previous accident.
Hello everyone, (especially Weezie because it is your letter that I am answering with a letter of my own),
I agree with what you said about the part where Finny couldn't seem to remember whether Gene was beside him in the tree or not, even though he was the first person to accuse Gene of pushing him out. Finny's confusion and denial kind of reminded me of that bit in "What Happened to Lani Garver" about convenient recollection. All through the book we've seen just how much Finny loves Gene and respects Gene and trusts Gene, so I imagine it was probably easier for Finny to warp his memory so that he believed that falling out of the tree was his own fault, rather than admitting to himself that it was his best friend who intentionally sabotaged him.
To address the question "Why would John Knowles have Finny fall down the stairs, especially at this time when he's so upset?": I know that in my experience, I don't think as straight when I'm upset, and I'd imagine that after realizing that his best friend tried to kill him, Finny was feeling a bit overwhelmed, stressed, and confused. Falling down the stairs and feeling our of control of both your body and your future could be a metaphor for that.
A question of my own: I thought that having the Assembly Hall be muddled and dense while having the hallway be crisp and clear might have symbolized something, maybe about how lots of people together trying to agree on one thing gets muddled up, but I wasn't sure. What did you guys think?
In response to Weezie’s comment on the same section I thought that the reason Finny didn’t “remember” whether Gene was on the tree with him was because he seemed to see that this was a bad situation so he wanted to protect Gene from what the boys were doing. I mean I think Finny knows what happened but he just doesn’t like to think about it. Also Finny doesn’t seem like the type of guy who likes people who help him out or think lesser of him because when Brinker asked him if he need help taking a shower he said no, so when all the seniors were trying to help him get all the details and the story all and completely right he might of felt threaten by it. I think Leper didn’t care anymore was because maybe he has grown up so much that he feels like he is above it all. But it could also be that he feels like he is just being used so he doesn’t care anymore he wants people to think he’s important instead of Finny or Gene. I think that this was the climax of the book so the author had him fall down because I’m sure that it will cause all the seniors to become men just as the sign said, and also have a terrible affect on Gene. Also there’s the second important place since that Gene wanted to visit. I think that Finny probably got really hurt or he isn’t going to make it. Now the reason I think that is because when Gene went to visit the steps he said, “they had this exceptional hardness… it was surprising that I had overlooked that, that crucial fact.” Which leads me to believe that Finny has really hurt now.
So I thought that this was a really important section in the book not just because I feel it’s the climax is because it develops finny character a little more. Now the reason I say that is because I do believe that this is the first time we’ve seen Finny snap. I think that this whole issue of Gene pushing him out of the tree is causing finny to feel trapped because I think it’s a little too much for Finny to deal with at once. So I thought that this also showed how Brinker really wanted to be in charge of things. I wonder if Brinker is full of jealously that Finny want Gene to be his best friend instead of him or that Gene won’t go to war with him because he would rather be with finny. I don’t know what do you think about it? One last thing I kept wondering why does gene keep thinking that the seniors were doing a prank? It just made me wonder was it older or younger Gene speaking during this section?
(195-end) I thought that this was a really important section for a lot of reasons because the last section is always really important. I was sort of confused at the beginning of this section because it went into a long description of the school, and I'm not sure why this description doesn't appear earlier in the book instead of at the end. Why do you guys think it is in the book at this point? Also on page 196, he mentions a lot of things about the Jeeps, why do you guys think he did that? I wasn't exactly sure. I think it was important how Gene mentioned a lot of times about how no one ever really talked about Leper or Finny. I think the characters almost want to believe that nothing really happened to Finny, and that nothing changed. I think that Gene doesn't talk about Finny because it would hurt him too much to. I thought an important quote was on page 197: "Peace lay on Devon like a blessing, the summer's peace, the reprieve, New Hampshire's response to all the cogitation and deadness of winter."I thought it was important because it's the summer again and everything is more peaceful again. And I think the part about the deadness of winter being gone was like Finny's death was in the winter, but now no one ever talks about it again. I thought the whole scene with Brinker and his Dad was really important because it showed how Brinker really tried to impress his Dad, and how his Dad always expected more of him, and that part is really important because I think that Brinker might be the way he is because he wants to be the best to impress his Dad. Also another important line was on the last page where it says that Gene's war ended before he went into the war and that he killed his enemy at school. Was that line supposed to be saying that Finny was his enemy and that he killed him? Or that he killed the jealously inside of him once Finny died? What did you guys think? Throughout this section, you can see that Gene still admires Finny, and how good of a person he was, I wasn't really sure about how to take the last line, what did you guys think it meant?
I hope i can dispel a little of your confusion with this last chapter because emotionally i can somewhat relate to gene. One thing I have gained out of this experience is that i am noticing the world a lot more. as for the relevance to the book it seems as though every time he introduces us to a new area of school he goes into deep description of that area. One thing that is a recurring theme is within these descriptions of the school is that there is always one line that has a deeper meaning than meets the eye, such as when the sign said above the first building, "this is where boys come to be made men." i thing in this chapter that line about the other field being too polished for devon to use and i think that it means that finny was too pure for devon, what do you think? it is also interesting how you mention the trucks because i believe they symbolize how finny, like the trucks, never got to fulfill his true abilities. as for the fact that no one wants to talk about finny or leper because they are all in denial i mean having one friend die and one go crazy is a lot to deal with for anyone much less someone our age. I hope i helped some with what i wrote,
I thought that this section was very interesting. I thought that Gene's ideas about Finny wrecking his grades could have been true, but they definitely weren't. I think that it was just Finny's manner. He doesn't like to study and likes to have people with him when he does things. And also, Gene is his best friend. Why would he try to sabotage his grades? I thought the reason for teachers not paying attention to the student is because it's summer and these classes aren't normal so no one's taking them seriously. I also thought Gene overreacted when Finny told him Leper would jump, and he could have stayed and studied. You could kind of expect what was going to happen on the tree because Gene's mind was on other things and they were going together. I think now Finny can feel like Gene was in that he sabotaged his athletic career.
ReplyDeleteThis section was overflowing with a bunch of things that could start great discussions. A lot happened in this section and it all seemed really important. The main thing in this section is Finny falling of the branch. Why did something so big happen this soon? There was foreshadowing leading up to when Finny fell. How Gene pointed out that Finny whistled off key, and when Finny was falling Gene described it as the first time he had seen Finny look clumsy. It was Gene's fault that Finny fell because he made the branch move. Does that mean that Gene is the problem in their friendship? Him over thinking everything and being jealous is what is ruining the relationship or "making Finny clumsy". Finny acted without thinking, but this time it got him in trouble, Do you think Finny even feels slightly happy about his jealousy fueled victor? Or is he feeling guilt? To address Nick's question, Gene is his best friend. Why would he try to sabotage his grades? If you look at the huge jealousy Gene feels towards Finny about sports and social skills, which are things Gene isn't horrible at doing he is just slightly disadvantaged in those fields compared to Finny. But Finny is really bad at school and so just like Gene secretly wants Finny to get in trouble, Finny is secretly wanting to bring Gene down academically. Because really we only know what Gene is thinking and when he is talking about Finny he isn't to reliable. Or it could be Gene over thinking the situation and being paranoid.
ReplyDeleteFinny and Gene would be closer friends if they were willing to open up and share the emotions they have to each other. If they were up front about how they were both jealous of each other they could move on. They both try to hide all envious feelings because that would make them seem weak, but those feelings will get bigger and bigger until they're too big to hide and then it will ruin their friendship. They need to be more honest with each other, and they need to trust each other. If they did that their friendship would be real and not a bunch of hidden feelings of spite and fear that the other one will try to sabotage or hurt you.
i think the events of this section were very odd. It seemed weird to me that gene was so mean, and also that he admitted to jouncing the limb. It seems to me that gene is unable to keep his emotions within him anymore, even though he did for a very long time. Also it seemed unlike Gene to be late to Devon just to see finny, i thought that he would never break the rules without urging from Finny. Another thing that i found odd in this chapter was Finny's reaction to Gene telling the truth. He seemed very naive in not believing that his best friend would do anything to ever harm him. I was wondering what other people thought of this. Also the quote
ReplyDelete""You aren't going to start living by the rules, are you?"
I grinned at him. "Oh no, i wouldn't do that," and that was the most false thing, the biggest lie of all."
was really confusing to me. It seemed as though he and finny were back to being friends, at least in finny's mind, but gene was still lying to him. This reinforces my view of gene as a person who over thinks things and spends too much time inside his own head. I am confused also about why this scene was so anti climactic.
Haegan, please remember to use proper punctuation...like capitalizing "I" when you mean yourself!
ReplyDeleteDear Class,
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of scenes in this section about Gene relfecting about two things: 1)the pureness of Finny, and 2) Gene missing Finny. Here are my points, reflected as such:
1) The pureness of Finny was represented with the symbolism of the rivers. Finny being pure and clean, and Gene being dirty and open towards the real world, while Finny is niaeve.
2) The antiFinny was showed through with Quakenbush, making him miss Finny more. Plus, Gene being caught from breaking the rules.
3) Another thing about not breaking the rules, and how that would be the biggest lie of all. Now Gene is trying to keep the rules, to curry favor with his students and teachers, even though Finny told him not to.
Katherine Kingma
Dear Haegan,
ReplyDeleteI think Gene doing something to Finny was creeping up on us for a while. The envy of Gene has been stressed througout the novel, is was about to end to something.
My main question about this section was why the author put in Quackenbush into this particular section. I don't understand why he was even in the book, because it doesn't seem like his character will be further developed or brought back into the story later. He didn't seem to have that big of an impact on Gene, except for the fact that Gene got angry enough to fight someone.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why was Mr. Ludsbury in this section? I thought he was in this section to remind Gene of his friendship with Finny and how things were before Finny had his accident (" 'I don't know who it that would have been.' Nights of black-jack and poker and unpredictable games invented by Phineas rose up in my mind."), but that's just my opinion.
Anther question of mine was why were people so vocal about how being assistant crew manager is such a bad thing to do? Quackenbush and Finny started a fight over it and Finny told Gene he was crazy for wanting to do and wondering why Gene would want to be a manager.
Quackenbush got in a fight with Gene, not Finny.
ReplyDelete(to continue)
ReplyDeleteGene sort of seemed to open up a little more and not be as scared as he used to be in this section because he fought with Quackenbush to seemed to a be a pretty beefy guy so I think this means that in the future of this book Gene will show more courage possibly tell Finny that he did purposefully hurt him with taking it back right after by saying he's out of sorts.
I was really suprised about Leper in listing in this section, I always thought that he was the most child like and innocent one but suddenly he in listed in the war. I think that this shows that the war makes people grow up to quickly and makes the boys become men too fast. Also Lepper being the most innocent one going into the war is probablly not ready for the responceablititeis and I dont think Leper would kill anyone. I think he is sort of going on the war as a touring like when he was touring around Devon just in a more sped up way. Also the line that says, "Its like a test, isnt it, and only the things and the poeple who've been evolving the right way can survive. Lepper seeing the war as a test shows that he is still a school boy inside and too young to be fighting and killing people. The part about evolving is also important because it shows how you have to change yourself in order to kill people, and Im not sure if I want to see that change in Lepper.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering what everyone thought of the winter carnival idea. At first, I was a little confused about how they can just make ski jumps in the middle of a snow covered park. I guess it just seems really unrealistic. Also, I was wondering what everyone thought about the separate peace quote. " It wasn't the cider which made me surpass myself, it was the liberation we had torn from the grey encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace. I thought that quote meant that the winter carnival was their separate peace because it was the one time that they got to regain their innocence.
ReplyDeleteSalutations Cohorts,
ReplyDeleteI think that the description of winter receding was important, just like all of the other place descriptions, because Gene is seeing himself in the world. In the winter carnival, Gene said that the Ski jump was actually on a little hill. I was wondering, though, why Leper so suddenly decided to enlist. I under stand they appeal of being a Ski-trouper, but for Leper to just say, "Oh, I understand! Down hill skiing doesn't brake the rules because you need to get down in a hurry," really seems like an excuse for Mr. Knowles to put in the telegram part in the end. Also, I thought it was interesting that Finny automatically assumed that it was the Olympic Committee because in Finny's commandments it is stated that everyone wins at sports, but he was hosting a Ski-jumping COMPITION.
I don't know if it is just me, but I think this book is getting "weirder" by the chapter. This is just not my type of book. I find a lot of the events in this book to be irrelevent. Anyways, I was shocked when I read that Leper enlisted. I really surprised. I thought it was going to be a big problem for Gene and Finny because they were close friends with him, but that reaction never really came. I would like to talk about the winter carnivel now. I thought the winte carnivel was an act of Finny trying to get back into sports any kind of way he could, and this was it. I didn't really understand the part about Brinker. I thought he enlisted , but then it said something like he didn't want to travel alone. I really like Finny's drive. He wants to be in sports any way he can, and he is doing it by coaching Gene for the olympics. I do wonder why Finny thought the telegram was from the Olympic committee. I wonder where Leper is an if Gene can find him. He's a strange guy.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to Jared's comments about the winter carnival a few sections ago, I think Finny was using it as an escape. He's really very saddened by not being able to participate in sports anymore and by the war around him, but he ignores all of it by distracting himself and denying the bad things around him.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to talk about the section from 165-177.
When Gene and Finny are first being led into the empty building at night by Brinker, it's mentioned that above the door it says "Here boys come to be made men." I thought this was important, and probably foreshadowing for what was to come inside the building. When Gene and Finny are taken from their beds in the middle of the night, it seems as if something big will probably happen, and many things that happen in this book affect people in ways that make them need to grow up, whether they like it or not, such as Leper enlisting or Finny's broken leg or just the effect of the war in general. I wondered why Gene focused on the oil paintings in the Assembly room, maybe it's because he's been thinking more and more about his future and decision time is coming, so he's looking to all these people whose accomplishments throughout their lives have related to Devon. I thought it was really weird how Finny couldn't remember where Gene was at all around the tree at the time of the accident. In scenes prior to this, he seemed to know that Gene was on the tree with him, just not that he had jounced the limb. I'm not sure, but maybe it's because he's been convincing himself more and more that Gene is innocent. What do you guys think? My last few questions are: Why do you think Leper didn't care anymore what happened on the tree when just recently in the book Gene and him had a heated discussion about it? Why did Finny have such a strong reaction to being interrogated? and Why would John Knowles have Finny fall down the stairs, especially at this point in time when he's just been questioned and become upset about his previous accident.
Hello everyone, (especially Weezie because it is your letter that I am answering with a letter of my own),
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about the part where Finny couldn't seem to remember whether Gene was beside him in the tree or not, even though he was the first person to accuse Gene of pushing him out. Finny's confusion and denial kind of reminded me of that bit in "What Happened to Lani Garver" about convenient recollection. All through the book we've seen just how much Finny loves Gene and respects Gene and trusts Gene, so I imagine it was probably easier for Finny to warp his memory so that he believed that falling out of the tree was his own fault, rather than admitting to himself that it was his best friend who intentionally sabotaged him.
To address the question "Why would John Knowles have Finny fall down the stairs, especially at this time when he's so upset?": I know that in my experience, I don't think as straight when I'm upset, and I'd imagine that after realizing that his best friend tried to kill him, Finny was feeling a bit overwhelmed, stressed, and confused. Falling down the stairs and feeling our of control of both your body and your future could be a metaphor for that.
A question of my own: I thought that having the Assembly Hall be muddled and dense while having the hallway be crisp and clear might have symbolized something, maybe about how lots of people together trying to agree on one thing gets muddled up, but I wasn't sure. What did you guys think?
-Lizzie A.
In response to Weezie’s comment on the same section I thought that the reason Finny didn’t “remember” whether Gene was on the tree with him was because he seemed to see that this was a bad situation so he wanted to protect Gene from what the boys were doing. I mean I think Finny knows what happened but he just doesn’t like to think about it. Also Finny doesn’t seem like the type of guy who likes people who help him out or think lesser of him because when Brinker asked him if he need help taking a shower he said no, so when all the seniors were trying to help him get all the details and the story all and completely right he might of felt threaten by it. I think Leper didn’t care anymore was because maybe he has grown up so much that he feels like he is above it all. But it could also be that he feels like he is just being used so he doesn’t care anymore he wants people to think he’s important instead of Finny or Gene. I think that this was the climax of the book so the author had him fall down because I’m sure that it will cause all the seniors to become men just as the sign said, and also have a terrible affect on Gene. Also there’s the second important place since that Gene wanted to visit. I think that Finny probably got really hurt or he isn’t going to make it. Now the reason I think that is because when Gene went to visit the steps he said, “they had this exceptional hardness… it was surprising that I had overlooked that, that crucial fact.” Which leads me to believe that Finny has really hurt now.
ReplyDeleteSo I thought that this was a really important section in the book not just because I feel it’s the climax is because it develops finny character a little more. Now the reason I say that is because I do believe that this is the first time we’ve seen Finny snap. I think that this whole issue of Gene pushing him out of the tree is causing finny to feel trapped because I think it’s a little too much for Finny to deal with at once. So I thought that this also showed how Brinker really wanted to be in charge of things. I wonder if Brinker is full of jealously that Finny want Gene to be his best friend instead of him or that Gene won’t go to war with him because he would rather be with finny. I don’t know what do you think about it? One last thing I kept wondering why does gene keep thinking that the seniors were doing a prank? It just made me wonder was it older or younger Gene speaking during this section?
(195-end)
ReplyDeleteI thought that this was a really important section for a lot of reasons because the last section is always really important. I was sort of confused at the beginning of this section because it went into a long description of the school, and I'm not sure why this description doesn't appear earlier in the book instead of at the end. Why do you guys think it is in the book at this point? Also on page 196, he mentions a lot of things about the Jeeps, why do you guys think he did that? I wasn't exactly sure. I think it was important how Gene mentioned a lot of times about how no one ever really talked about Leper or Finny. I think the characters almost want to believe that nothing really happened to Finny, and that nothing changed. I think that Gene doesn't talk about Finny because it would hurt him too much to. I thought an important quote was on page 197: "Peace lay on Devon like a blessing, the summer's peace, the reprieve, New Hampshire's response to all the cogitation and deadness of winter."I thought it was important because it's the summer again and everything is more peaceful again. And I think the part about the deadness of winter being gone was like Finny's death was in the winter, but now no one ever talks about it again. I thought the whole scene with Brinker and his Dad was really important because it showed how Brinker really tried to impress his Dad, and how his Dad always expected more of him, and that part is really important because I think that Brinker might be the way he is because he wants to be the best to impress his Dad. Also another important line was on the last page where it says that Gene's war ended before he went into the war and that he killed his enemy at school. Was that line supposed to be saying that Finny was his enemy and that he killed him? Or that he killed the jealously inside of him once Finny died? What did you guys think? Throughout this section, you can see that Gene still admires Finny, and how good of a person he was, I wasn't really sure about how to take the last line, what did you guys think it meant?
Dear Callie,
ReplyDeleteI hope i can dispel a little of your confusion with this last chapter because emotionally i can somewhat relate to gene. One thing I have gained out of this experience is that i am noticing the world a lot more. as for the relevance to the book it seems as though every time he introduces us to a new area of school he goes into deep description of that area. One thing that is a recurring theme is within these descriptions of the school is that there is always one line that has a deeper meaning than meets the eye, such as when the sign said above the first building, "this is where boys come to be made men." i thing in this chapter that line about the other field being too polished for devon to use and i think that it means that finny was too pure for devon, what do you think? it is also interesting how you mention the trucks because i believe they symbolize how finny, like the trucks, never got to fulfill his true abilities. as for the fact that no one wants to talk about finny or leper because they are all in denial i mean having one friend die and one go crazy is a lot to deal with for anyone much less someone our age. I hope i helped some with what i wrote,
eli