pg 48: The dawn light over the ocean in this section is a symbol of Gene and Finny's friendship and how it changes in this chapter. At first everything is gray on the beach: the light, the waves, the sand. Everything blended together (a gray area haha) just as Gene's first thoughts about his friendship with Finny had been. Then, "beacons of color began to pierce the sky", colors begin to push through the gray. Next, the whole beach shifts to a bright, brilliant white. In this section, Gene first starts out believing that Finny and him are on an even field, Gene being academic and Finny being athletic, but he still looked up to Finny and admired him. Then a realization comes to him (colors breaking through gray), and he notices that Finny seems to be competing with him because although they both excel in one area, Gene is also pretty good at sports where Finny is not academic at all. On page 53, Gene thinks, "Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to break my studies." Both of these realizations come to Gene as the light did on the beach, but later in the section he discovers he may have been wrong when Finny encourages him to focus on his studies. It all becomes clear to him as the beach had turned a brilliant white, when on page 59 he thinks. "Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he."
pg 51 i think that gene failing his trigonometry test because he had been spending too much time goofing off with finny is a symbol for how much attention gene devotes to Finny. Since the beginning of the book Gene has paid a lot of attention to how Finny acts and i think he reads a lot into Finny's actions. This is similar to how he spends so much time worrying about how Finny is trying to beat him at everything that he ends up letting Finny do better than him. This also relates to how on page 53 gene gets really angry that Finny is trying to beat him in academics, even though it does not really seem as if he is. Gene worries about things Finny does or says that are unimportant, and fails to pay attention to things that are important to him like schoolwork and passing his trigonometry test.
I think that in this section, Gene discovers a lot about his relationship with Finny. There are three parts that symbolize this. The first one is when Gene wakes up to see the beach as a place of only shades of gray, which is like the beginning of his relationship with Finny, because Gene didn't see how deep and complicated their friendship really was. The second time, Gene sees the entire campus from the tree as a brilliant display of New Hampshire and full of color. This symbolizes how Gene sees the complexity of his friendship with Finny. Lastly, Gene compares himself with Chet, the best student at Devon. Seeing this Gene understands that his relationship with Finny - the distractions and the easiness to follow what he says - is centered around Gene's jealousy.
On page 62, Gene gets the idea to wear Finny's clothes, including his pink shirt. I think that this is a symbol of how much he compares himself to Finny. When he puts on the shirt, he says that he feels like a nobleman, something great and important, but when he looks in the mirror, all he sees is Finny, exactly. This could show that he has realized how even Finny isn't really perfect. That being Finny isn't all he had thought it would be. Maybe he understands Finny better now. It also says that he would never "stumble through confusions of his own character again." In other words now that he understands Finny, he can understand himself better, too. Finny was just being Finny, he didn't feel as wonderful as Gene thought, and now Gene realizes that he doesn't need to be that way either. He can just be Gene.
I think that Finny breaking, or "shattering", his leg in this section from falling off the tree symbolizes how Finny and Gene's friendship was shattered and broken after Gene acted on his jealousy towards Finny. Before this section, Finny's friendship was always a kind of escape for Gene. He always felt at ease with Finny and their friendship was a peace in a world full of war and uncertainty. After Gene gets so unbelievably jealous of Finny that he pushes him out of the tree and shatters Finny's leg, Gene and Finny's friendship shatters too. Dr. Stanpole describes Finny's leg as "a messy break" and that's exactly what happened in this section. Gene calls himself Finny's roommate, not his best friend, and is afraid to go and visit him, even though he used to care so much for him. When Gene visited Finny's house and told him the story about the fire, even though they seemed normal, Gene said that he could sense something was different. Suddenly, their friendship has changed, and no one was really expecting it
A important symbol to me was how Gene described the ending of the summer session. He described it as suspeneded and halted strangely before its time. This reminded me of what Gene had done to Finny, he knocked him out of the tree and Finny broke his leg. Finny could never do sports again which was what Finny was good at and loved to do. He could have become a profesional athlete and had a great carier. But Gene was so evious and selfish of Finny that he stopped Finny's athletics just when it was getting to its peak. So Finny had to come to an early end with sports just as the summer session felt to Gene cut off and ended before it was ready to.
p.70 When Gene admitted to jouncing the limb on purpose and Finny didn't believe him, I think that that just further proved that Gene's bad feelings towards Finny are just one sided. It also went on to show that this was the first time that Gene had really brought forth his feelings towards Finny by saying them, but then going right into saying that he was going to live a bunch of lies from then on, and that he was going to live by the rules. Finny would never have made the decision to live by the rules, and I feel that this is why Gene chooses to do it.
I think that Finny's predicament is a symbol of how jealous Gene is of Finny. Even when Finny is 'shattered' Gene still hints that Finny is in control. Secondly, when Gene hears from Dr. Stanpole that Finny won't be able to compete in sports anymore, Gene reacts in such a shocked way because Finny's strong ground has been removed from him. Lastly, I think that the furniture in Finny's house symbolizes Finny's unconscious control. over Gene. Gene talks about how even the furniture seems to control him, such as the chair forcing him into a certain position without the intent to male him sit up straighter or making him fall asleep while only designed to be comfortable.
So, on page 81 Gene says, "Phineas losing even in those games he invented, betting always for what should win, for what would have been the most brilliant success of all if only the cards hadn't betrayed him." So I thought that the cards might have been a symbol for Gene because if Gene hadn't betrayed him and pushed him off of the tree than Finny could have made the most brilliant success of all. I’m not sure what the most brilliant success of all would have been but my guess is that it would have been in sports. So the symbol in this section was Gene being the cards that betrayed Finny.
I think that the two rivers symbolize Gene and Finny because they are both really different like Gene and Finny. I think that the Naguamsett river represents Gene because the description of the river is: "It was ugly,saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed. I think that this symbolizes Gene because on the inside Gene is sort of an ugly person because of what he did to Finny, and the description also says that the river was joined to the ocean, which is like how Gene can't just be himself, and that he is always joined to someone else. I think that the Devon river symbolizes Finny because it's description says that it's nothing like the other river, it's fresh-water, and they always hung out there and had fun. I think the Devon river represents Finny because everyone likes Finny and wants to hang out with him, like the river. Also I think it symbolizes him because Finny really knows who he is, so he is sort of like the fresh-water, unlike Gene who isn't sure who he is like the dirty water. Also I think the two rivers symbolize them because in the book it says that the Devon river had a water fall into the Naguamsett river which is how they are connected. That description shows how part of Finny in in Gene.
Another symbol that I saw was on page 72 where Gene says, "in the air there was only an edge of coolness to imply the coming winter." The edge of coolness I thought symbolized what was to come in Gene and Finny's friendship. It could be as if their friendship could be coming to a close soon or that because usually winter seems like death to me so it could symbolize death too. It could also symbolize how finny can't play sports so it's the end of that just like how winter ends the warm part of the year.
A symbol that I noticed was on page 88-89. It was the description of the "butt room". I think that this represented the position of confusion that Gene is in right now. The thing about smoking and the teachers trying to discourage it, but the kids wanting to look cool and fit in is a bit like the arguments that Gene was having with himself about his jealousy. There was one side that was telling him that he shouldn't be jealous, and that he was better at other things than Finny. Then, there was the other side that picked out the things that Finny was good at, and that he wasn't good at, and blew them up so that they overwhelmed the feelings of what he should do. However, in this situation, Gene did do the right thing by leaving, but he was also "living by the rules", it wasn't an actual rule, but more of an expectation, which was the one thing Finny told him not to do. I think that Gene is trying to start over without Finny, at least until he returns. Brinker seems much more different than Finny....he almost takes what Finny takes just the right distance too far. Also, there is the color gray in that description, and that color keeps comming up in the book. To me, it represents sadness, and confusion.
I am going to write about the skiing symbol as shown on page 95. "You cart up... you whizz down... no time to look at any trees... I just like to tour around and enjoy myself."
As a downhill skier, Gene is driven by competition, refusing to stop and joy himself. Going down fast also clouds your judgement. Finny, as a "Touring" skier, is the one who has time to enjoy himself
On page 128, there is that whole long paragraph about the snow draining away. I think this represents all of the adventure and all of the interesting things Gene and Finny did before melting away. The noises the drains make symbolizes how the memories aren't forgotten all the way, but how the experience of it is leaving.
Another way you could interpret the snow is that is represents the war. The war used to be a big thing for Gene and Finny. But then when Finny came up with his theory, the terribleness of it all washed away. It was only Finny who didn't realize how bad the war was, as it says in the next paragraph. The snow used to hang over them and now it's melting away.
I think that the last line of the book, " All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite costs to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way- if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy. By the way, a Maginot Line means was a line of weapons of destruction in WW1 and WW2. Named after the minister of defense, Andre Maginot.
I thought that the last line was meant to symbolize Finny. I think this because earlier in this section, Gene talked about his enemy and that he had finally got rid of his enemy. In the last line, they say, "if he ever attacked at all." I think that quote shows that it is Finny because he never attacked at all. Every one in the trial scene except fr Finny was on the Maginot Line while they all "shot" at Finny, until he finally surrendered and died.
On page 196, Brinker points out the sewing machines that are delivered to Devon for the Parachute Riggers' school. I thought this was a symbol for how the war affected Gene and Finny. The sewing machines were used to help make parachutes, which isn't the most direct way to help in the war. Gene and Finny thought the war wasn't real, just something fat, old men made up, and other then saying how it wasn't really, Gene and Finny didn't really talk about it. But Finny broke his leg because he was training for the war, and his bum leg ended up as a large factor in his death. With the sewing machines, even though they don't seem to be affecting the overall outcome of the war, they are making the supplies that will help the soldiers win the war. With Gene and Finny, even though they aren't being drafted and having loved ones die from the war, the war one of the reasons their friendship started to deteriorate and one of the reasons Finny died.
"What are you enlisting in son?... "The Marines, the paratroops?There are doggone many exciting things to enlist in these days." This quote was said by Mr. Hadley, Brinker's dad. I think this quote symbolizes the thought of war back to reality when he said this. The war was always there, but when Finny was having his complications, they were not thinking about it. They are graduating now, and they have to do something related to the war because they're grown men now. I feel this put pressure on the both of them because they're going to war and they don't know if they're going to die or not. Mr. Hadley talked about the war like it was this great thing. Gene is in the Navy and Brinker is going to enlist. Anything can happen to them now. The war is now officially in their faces, and there is nothing they can do about it.
pg 48: The dawn light over the ocean in this section is a symbol of Gene and Finny's friendship and how it changes in this chapter. At first everything is gray on the beach: the light, the waves, the sand. Everything blended together (a gray area haha) just as Gene's first thoughts about his friendship with Finny had been. Then, "beacons of color began to pierce the sky", colors begin to push through the gray. Next, the whole beach shifts to a bright, brilliant white. In this section, Gene first starts out believing that Finny and him are on an even field, Gene being academic and Finny being athletic, but he still looked up to Finny and admired him. Then a realization comes to him (colors breaking through gray), and he notices that Finny seems to be competing with him because although they both excel in one area, Gene is also pretty good at sports where Finny is not academic at all. On page 53, Gene thinks, "Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to break my studies." Both of these realizations come to Gene as the light did on the beach, but later in the section he discovers he may have been wrong when Finny encourages him to focus on his studies. It all becomes clear to him as the beach had turned a brilliant white, when on page 59 he thinks. "Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he."
ReplyDeletepg 51 i think that gene failing his trigonometry test because he had been spending too much time goofing off with finny is a symbol for how much attention gene devotes to Finny. Since the beginning of the book Gene has paid a lot of attention to how Finny acts and i think he reads a lot into Finny's actions. This is similar to how he spends so much time worrying about how Finny is trying to beat him at everything that he ends up letting Finny do better than him. This also relates to how on page 53 gene gets really angry that Finny is trying to beat him in academics, even though it does not really seem as if he is. Gene worries about things Finny does or says that are unimportant, and fails to pay attention to things that are important to him like schoolwork and passing his trigonometry test.
ReplyDeleteI think that in this section, Gene discovers a lot about his relationship with Finny. There are three parts that symbolize this. The first one is when Gene wakes up to see the beach as a place of only shades of gray, which is like the beginning of his relationship with Finny, because Gene didn't see how deep and complicated their friendship really was. The second time, Gene sees the entire campus from the tree as a brilliant display of New Hampshire and full of color. This symbolizes how Gene sees the complexity of his friendship with Finny. Lastly, Gene compares himself with Chet, the best student at Devon. Seeing this Gene understands that his relationship with Finny - the distractions and the easiness to follow what he says - is centered around Gene's jealousy.
ReplyDeleteOn page 62, Gene gets the idea to wear Finny's clothes, including his pink shirt. I think that this is a symbol of how much he compares himself to Finny. When he puts on the shirt, he says that he feels like a nobleman, something great and important, but when he looks in the mirror, all he sees is Finny, exactly. This could show that he has realized how even Finny isn't really perfect. That being Finny isn't all he had thought it would be. Maybe he understands Finny better now. It also says that he would never "stumble through confusions of his own character again." In other words now that he understands Finny, he can understand himself better, too. Finny was just being Finny, he didn't feel as wonderful as Gene thought, and now Gene realizes that he doesn't need to be that way either. He can just be Gene.
ReplyDeleteI think that Finny breaking, or "shattering", his leg in this section from falling off the tree symbolizes how Finny and Gene's friendship was shattered and broken after Gene acted on his jealousy towards Finny. Before this section, Finny's friendship was always a kind of escape for Gene. He always felt at ease with Finny and their friendship was a peace in a world full of war and uncertainty. After Gene gets so unbelievably jealous of Finny that he pushes him out of the tree and shatters Finny's leg, Gene and Finny's friendship shatters too. Dr. Stanpole describes Finny's leg as "a messy break" and that's exactly what happened in this section. Gene calls himself Finny's roommate, not his best friend, and is afraid to go and visit him, even though he used to care so much for him. When Gene visited Finny's house and told him the story about the fire, even though they seemed normal, Gene said that he could sense something was different. Suddenly, their friendship has changed, and no one was really expecting it
ReplyDeleteA important symbol to me was how Gene described the ending of the summer session. He described it as suspeneded and halted strangely before its time. This reminded me of what Gene had done to Finny, he knocked him out of the tree and Finny broke his leg. Finny could never do sports again which was what Finny was good at and loved to do. He could have become a profesional athlete and had a great carier. But Gene was so evious and selfish of Finny that he stopped Finny's athletics just when it was getting to its peak. So Finny had to come to an early end with sports just as the summer session felt to Gene cut off and ended before it was ready to.
ReplyDeletep.70 When Gene admitted to jouncing the limb on purpose and Finny didn't believe him, I think that that just further proved that Gene's bad feelings towards Finny are just one sided. It also went on to show that this was the first time that Gene had really brought forth his feelings towards Finny by saying them, but then going right into saying that he was going to live a bunch of lies from then on, and that he was going to live by the rules. Finny would never have made the decision to live by the rules, and I feel that this is why Gene chooses to do it.
ReplyDeleteI think that Finny's predicament is a symbol of how jealous Gene is of Finny. Even when Finny is 'shattered' Gene still hints that Finny is in control. Secondly, when Gene hears from Dr. Stanpole that Finny won't be able to compete in sports anymore, Gene reacts in such a shocked way because Finny's strong ground has been removed from him. Lastly, I think that the furniture in Finny's house symbolizes Finny's unconscious control. over Gene. Gene talks about how even the furniture seems to control him, such as the chair forcing him into a certain position without the intent to male him sit up straighter or making him fall asleep while only designed to be comfortable.
ReplyDeleteSo, on page 81 Gene says, "Phineas losing even in those games he invented, betting always for what should win, for what would have been the most brilliant success of all if only the cards hadn't betrayed him." So I thought that the cards might have been a symbol for Gene because if Gene hadn't betrayed him and pushed him off of the tree than Finny could have made the most brilliant success of all. I’m not sure what the most brilliant success of all would have been but my guess is that it would have been in sports. So the symbol in this section was Gene being the cards that betrayed Finny.
ReplyDeleteI think that the two rivers symbolize Gene and Finny because they are both really different like Gene and Finny. I think that the Naguamsett river represents Gene because the description of the river is: "It was ugly,saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed. I think that this symbolizes Gene because on the inside Gene is sort of an ugly person because of what he did to Finny, and the description also says that the river was joined to the ocean, which is like how Gene can't just be himself, and that he is always joined to someone else. I think that the Devon river symbolizes Finny because it's description says that it's nothing like the other river, it's fresh-water, and they always hung out there and had fun. I think the Devon river represents Finny because everyone likes Finny and wants to hang out with him, like the river. Also I think it symbolizes him because Finny really knows who he is, so he is sort of like the fresh-water, unlike Gene who isn't sure who he is like the dirty water. Also I think the two rivers symbolize them because in the book it says that the Devon river had a water fall into the Naguamsett river which is how they are connected. That description shows how part of Finny in in Gene.
ReplyDeleteAnother symbol that I saw was on page 72 where Gene says, "in the air there was only an edge of coolness to imply the coming winter." The edge of coolness I thought symbolized what was to come in Gene and Finny's friendship. It could be as if their friendship could be coming to a close soon or that because usually winter seems like death to me so it could symbolize death too. It could also symbolize how finny can't play sports so it's the end of that just like how winter ends the warm part of the year.
ReplyDeleteA symbol that I noticed was on page 88-89. It was the description of the "butt room". I think that this represented the position of confusion that Gene is in right now. The thing about smoking and the teachers trying to discourage it, but the kids wanting to look cool and fit in is a bit like the arguments that Gene was having with himself about his jealousy. There was one side that was telling him that he shouldn't be jealous, and that he was better at other things than Finny. Then, there was the other side that picked out the things that Finny was good at, and that he wasn't good at, and blew them up so that they overwhelmed the feelings of what he should do. However, in this situation, Gene did do the right thing by leaving, but he was also "living by the rules", it wasn't an actual rule, but more of an expectation, which was the one thing Finny told him not to do. I think that Gene is trying to start over without Finny, at least until he returns. Brinker seems much more different than Finny....he almost takes what Finny takes just the right distance too far. Also, there is the color gray in that description, and that color keeps comming up in the book. To me, it represents sadness, and confusion.
ReplyDeleteI am going to write about the skiing symbol as shown on page 95. "You cart up... you whizz down... no time to look at any trees... I just like to tour around and enjoy myself."
ReplyDeleteAs a downhill skier, Gene is driven by competition, refusing to stop and joy himself. Going down fast also clouds your judgement. Finny, as a "Touring" skier, is the one who has time to enjoy himself
On page 128, there is that whole long paragraph about the snow draining away. I think this represents all of the adventure and all of the interesting things Gene and Finny did before melting away. The noises the drains make symbolizes how the memories aren't forgotten all the way, but how the experience of it is leaving.
ReplyDeleteAnother way you could interpret the snow is that is represents the war. The war used to be a big thing for Gene and Finny. But then when Finny came up with his theory, the terribleness of it all washed away. It was only Finny who didn't realize how bad the war was, as it says in the next paragraph. The snow used to hang over them and now it's melting away.
I think that the last line of the book, " All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite costs to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way- if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy. By the way, a Maginot Line means was a line of weapons of destruction in WW1 and WW2. Named after the minister of defense, Andre Maginot.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the last line was meant to symbolize Finny. I think this because earlier in this section, Gene talked about his enemy and that he had finally got rid of his enemy. In the last line, they say, "if he ever attacked at all." I think that quote shows that it is Finny because he never attacked at all. Every one in the trial scene except fr Finny was on the Maginot Line while they all "shot" at Finny, until he finally surrendered and died.
On page 196, Brinker points out the sewing machines that are delivered to Devon for the Parachute Riggers' school. I thought this was a symbol for how the war affected Gene and Finny. The sewing machines were used to help make parachutes, which isn't the most direct way to help in the war. Gene and Finny thought the war wasn't real, just something fat, old men made up, and other then saying how it wasn't really, Gene and Finny didn't really talk about it. But Finny broke his leg because he was training for the war, and his bum leg ended up as a large factor in his death. With the sewing machines, even though they don't seem to be affecting the overall outcome of the war, they are making the supplies that will help the soldiers win the war. With Gene and Finny, even though they aren't being drafted and having loved ones die from the war, the war one of the reasons their friendship started to deteriorate and one of the reasons Finny died.
ReplyDelete"What are you enlisting in son?... "The Marines, the paratroops?There are doggone many exciting things to enlist in these days." This quote was said by Mr. Hadley, Brinker's dad. I think this quote symbolizes the thought of war back to reality when he said this. The war was always there, but when Finny was having his complications, they were not thinking about it. They are graduating now, and they have to do something related to the war because they're grown men now. I feel this put pressure on the both of them because they're going to war and they don't know if they're going to die or not. Mr. Hadley talked about the war like it was this great thing. Gene is in the Navy and Brinker is going to enlist. Anything can happen to them now. The war is now officially in their faces, and there is nothing they can do about it.
ReplyDelete