Chapter 1 Summary:

The narrator, Gene, returns to the Devon School in New Hampshire, where he was a student with his rebellious friend Phineas almost 15 years ago, just as World War II was breaking out. He notices how much like a museum the school looks, how lifeless and polished; but the place brings back even keener memories for this preserved quality of appearance. It is a rainy, cold November day as he inspects the school grounds, and revisits the cold, hard marble stairs in the First Academy Building, which seem to hold some kind of memory for Gene; he also trudges over the muddy playing fields, to the river, and a tree that he and Phineas used to jump off of, bravely. He notices, when he sees the tree, how vast the difference is between youthful memory and adult perception.

The narrative shifts back 15 years, to Gene's days with Phineas. It is their first attempt to jump off the huge tree into the river‹a daunting and somewhat dangerous feat that is usually reserved for senior boys. Phineas, being the daredevil, goes first‹and Gene is the only one from the small party that he is able to persuade to follow him. They head back toward school, late for dinner; Phineas, the rebel of the two, exasperates Gene by making him really late, and then Gene gives in and decides to skip dinner altogether with his friend. Gene is normally a conservative, conformist type person, but under Phineas' potent influence, he becomes more devil-may-care and consents to break the rules with his friend.

Analysis

The point of view and perspective of a work are always very important, and they are especially important in A Separate Peace, a novel that is highly colored by these two factors. The story is a first-person narrative, and the narrator is telling of events that took place fifteen years before the time he is recording the story; because of this, the tone is colored with nostalgia, and tempered with the narrator's feelings about his past. Even the narrator's recollections are filtered through his present experience and interest; at times, he speaks of the events of his past as if they were just happening, but then he breaks the spell with some adult commentary, reminding the reader that the story was written after the events took place, and therefore is influenced by his present state, and dependent upon his memory. The theme of reflection is also central to the novel; the novel is spawned by a visit back to his old school, and the work hinges upon a dialogue between the past and the present, and the relation of a man to his much younger self.

The images that the narrator uses to describe his former home paint the school as a place of conservatism and traditionalism‹two qualities against which Finny fights. The Devon School is "more perpendicular and strait-laced, with narrower windows and shinier woodwork" than Gene remembers; it is as if the school has lost all of its rebellious air, and has reverted to its true, very conservative self without Finny and Gene's presence (p.1). He takes notice of "those most Republican and bankerish of trees, New England elms," that seem to both match the school's qualities and reinforce its staunch, old character.

The image of how Devon appears to have changed also presents the contrast between reality and what exists in the memory, and shows how memory can be tinged by feelings that change how reality is perceived and recalled. This is especially evident when he looks for a tree by the river, that also appears to have a special meaning to him. "It had loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the riverbank, forbidding as an artillery piece, high as a beanstalk," he says, his similes characterizing the tree as a great, forbidding mass (5). Yet, when he sees it, he finds it "absolutely smaller, shrunken with age," and nothing like the great giant he had remembered. Perhaps the tree had actually shrunk since Gene's time; but this is a more apt example how things can be obscured or emphasized in the memory via emotional factors, and a good introduction of the theme of memory versus reality.

The Devon School, fifteen years later, seems almost unreal to Gene; it occurs to him that he's always believed Devon "was vibrantly real while I was a student there, and then blinked out like a candle the day I left" (p. 1). The simile emphasizes how unrealistic this view of Gene's is, but also what time and place the school inhabits in his memory, and how much his experience at Devon was colored by Finny, who is not with him on his return visit.

Upon his visit, Devon takes its place in Gene's mind as a symbol of innocence, and of the youth that he is lost; he realizes when he is there how much he has changed since being a student there. Devon is also a symbol of the fear he felt when he was younger; when he revisits the place, he can still sense the fear he felt while he was there. Though he associates some of his happiest days with the school, the school is also a symbol of fear, and of shelter from the harsh realities, especially of war, that the boys were oblivious to.

When Gene revisits the school, he dwells on the sight of the old marble steps in the First Academy Building, and seeks them out especially, as if they have some great significance in his life. He realizes how hard the marble is, and notes how "surprising [it is] that [he] had overlooked that, that crucial fact" (p. 3). At this point in the novel, he does not say what meaning these steps have; but that he remarks on their qualities, especially the hardness, foreshadows their significance in future events.

Note the difference between the weather Gene encounters when he comes back to Devon, and the summer weather of the session he recalls; the juxtaposition accentuates the difference in station and age between Gene as a youth and Gene as a man. The June/ November symbolism is a subtle way to set the two Genes apart, and gives a certain appropriate and divisive tint to the two linked time periods.

In mid-chapter, the prose reverts to the period of Gene's school days, with his narrative voice speaking as if he were back in those days with Finny, though he is not. He leaves off his present narrative with remarks about how things have changed, and how something like the riverbank tree that loomed so huge in memory can be so small; he begins this past section with a statement about how forbidding the tree is, therefore addressing the issue of memory vs. reality once again.

In these first chapters, Gene is sure to set up a good, thorough characterization of Finny from the minimal events described. From the tree-jumping incident alone, we learn that Finny is a daredevil, able to wrangle others into doing things, and a bit of a devil-may-care kind of guy. Gene shows his weakness for Finny on page nine, with the tree incident illustrating perfectly how great Finny's hold on Gene is and what kinds of things Finny can persuade him to do. Finny and Gene are kindred spirits, but are also foils to each other; Finny's daredevil, rule-breaking attitude contrasts nicely with Gene's rule-abiding conservatism, and though the two are good friends, they are very different kinds of people. Gene breaks into his "West Point stride" when he is late for dinner, while Finny horses around and goes even slower; Finny is the one who gets himself into and out of trouble so easily, while Gene sits and watches it happen. The push-pull between them is already a major issue in the book in Chapter 1; and the differences, and compatibilities, between Gene and Finny, will continue to be a crucial theme within the rest of the work as well.

Chapter 2 Summary:

One of the school masters, Mr. Prud'homme, noticed the boys' absence from dinner the previous evening, and pays them a visit to discuss the offense. Finny (aka Phineas) concocts some long-winded but amusing excuse about going swimming, watching the sunset, etc., and how the activities were absolutely necessary in light of their almost being of age for the draft; Mr. Prud'homme is won over by Finny's charm in trying to weasel his way out of trouble, and the master forgets any charges. Gene says that Finny doesn't care about getting away with things, so much as wheedling a friendly and warm reaction out of his teachers and superiors after his transgressions of school rules.

Finny is an anomaly among Devon students; he is a good student and athlete, but also a rule breaker with the ability to charm his way out of trouble. Gene is jealous that Finny has the school in the palm of his hand, and can get away with nearly everything as well. Also, the school masters tend to be lax with Gene because, as Gene recalls, they were completely innocent and ignorant of the war; they are young and carefree and having plenty of fun, though they are perilously close to being drafted in a year or two.

Finny, ever the rebel, decides to wear a pink button-up shirt as an emblem of victory for the forces abroad; then, the substitute headmaster, Mr. Patch-Withers, gives a tea for their class, which Finny and Gene of course attend. The subject of the day is the bombing of Central Europe, which the American forces had just begun; Finny does most of the talking but, completely clueless about the war as he is, his views on the situation aren't exactly realistic. Mrs. Patch-Withers notices that Finny has used the school tie as his belt, something which is considered a capital offense. Finny again concocts some nonsense excuse, how it's another show of his patriotism, and means no disrespect to the school. Of course, Mr. Patch-Withers is taken by surprise at the explanation, and does not punish Finny‹letting him off the hook yet again. Gene is amazed that Patch-Withers is actually amused by the whole affair; he is usually stern and sour, but Finny has gotten the better side of him to come out. To Gene and Finny, the war is remote and hard to accept; they have seen newsreels from the front and films of bombs dropping, but cannot accept that such a thing could be happening while they are having a great time at their comfortable, sunny little school.

Finny decides they should jump out of the tree again, while they are swimming at the river. They come up with the idea for a "Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session," a group for exciting and dangerous things, and make a leap from the tree the entry requirement. Gene goes onto the diving limb with Finny, and loses his balance; Finny stops Gene from what could have been a very dangerous fall, and Gene soon realizes that his friend saved his life.

Analysis:

The extent of Finny's ability to charm and persuade is explored in Chapter 2, with his encounters with and triumphs over authority coming to the fore. Twice he is able to escape punishment by inventing ridiculous excuses, and using their ridiculousness to please and cheer those who are in charge. Gene furthers Finny's characterization by devoting a chapter to his misadventures and successes in winning his sour masters over; Finny, more and more, becomes the "model boy who was most comfortable in the truant's corner," and not just through Gene's recollective statements, but also through the events and ways in which Gene chooses to present Finny. Perhaps Finny was not completely the rebellious good-boy that Gene presents; after all, he is writing this from fifteen years afterward, and the narrative is tinged with memories that are a combination of emotion and fact. But, Gene decides to show Finny only at his most wily and interesting, meaning that the Finny we get to know might not be the one that Gene really knew.

In the contrast between rebellion and conformity at Devon, conformity was definitely favored; but Finny, according to Gene's account, baffled judgment and expectations by mixing elements of both. We see that Finny is able to do well in his studies and sports and be a great member of his school overall, like Gene is; he has some discipline and a definite ability to achieve, and also to fit in, as Gene does as well. Finny is Gene's foil only to the extent that he is a rebel; again, the issue of rebelliousness vs. conformity surfaces, to explain Finny and Gene's main similarity, but also their main difference.

Gene's narrative voice slips here, on page 16, back into recollections from his present state of life; when he does so, his tone becomes more sentimental, more measured, and more reflective of his present state than of his past. These passages in which Gene descends from his story to add a bit of his older perspective ground the story in its initial frame, of being a recollection and a work about memory. He also takes the chance to again mention the theme of innocence vs. age, as he tells of how they were children of "careless peace," set apart from adults by their lack of knowledge of the war, and their utter abandon to their own small, happy worlds.

Phineas means his pink shirt as a symbol of patriotism, and heartening victory; what the shirt really symbolizes, at least from Gene's perspective, is Finny's willingness to be different, and how little he cared about what people thought about this. The incident of the shirt shows Finny to have little self-consciousness about him, and a great deal of confidence in himself; when he wears the pink shirt, he exemplifies this, not so much as blinking when the headmaster approaches him to ask about the oddly colored shirt. The shirt is merely a symbol, an object in one of Finny's little rebellions, of which the tie is one as well.

Although Finny's knowledge of world affairs is scant, he discusses the subject of the bombing of central Europe with youthful abandon, and is not corrected or challenged on the subject, even with his lack of knowledge. In his innocence, he strikes a pose of worldliness, which, combined with his charisma, manages to win over adults who long for the days of their youth. Finny manages to get Mr. and Mrs. Patch-Withers on the same wavelength that he is on; they join in the discussion with him, even showing a bit of youthful trifling in the process. This is one of Finny's greatest skills on display; he is able to bridge the gap between youth and age with ease, which is a magical, special quality, especially as Gene sees it. Finny is shown to be one of a very rare breed, a person in whom contradictions exist, like the abilities to be both orderly and wild; but these contradictions do not cause any conflict in Finny, like they do in Gene. Finny is so special because he is able to have such contradictory elements in his nature, and make the best of them; Finny is the figure in which many of the themes of contrast in the novel, like innocence vs. experience and order vs. rebellion reside in a perfect balance. Gene, however much he tries, cannot duplicate this balance that is inherent in Finny's nature, and his story is an attempt to explore and revisit this interesting person who was nearly immune to many of the issues that still trouble Gene.

The world around Gene and Finny seems permanent and endless, in retrospect; Gene's choice of images conveys this permanence which they believe their surroundings to have, which is belied by Gene's return to the school. Devon is full of "permanent hanging gardens" of ivy, with the leaves on the trees also seeming "permanent and never-changing" (22). These images convey Gene and Finny's confidence in the lasting peace of their world; they know of a war overseas, but are idealistic enough to believe that such happenings will not affect them in their present lives. In retrospect, Gene is not sad at the sheltered state he and Finny lived in back at school; "the people in the world who could be selfish in the summer of 1942 were a small band," he says, "and I'm glad we took advantage of it" (23). Though they wanted to be or to seem older and more knowledgeable when they were young, in retrospect, their freshness was a rare thing, and too soon spoilt. This is the dilemma that faced Gene and Finny during their New England summer, and it is their exuberant ignorance that Gene laments when he realizes he has aged.

Chapter 3 Summary:

Finny begins to tell friends about his and Gene's new club; quite a few of them join, and Finny makes up the rules himself as he goes along. The first rule is that Finny and Gene must jump from the tree at the beginning of every meeting; Gene cannot get used to this daredevil stunt, though he has done it many times before. The club meets every night, because Finny deems it so; Gene doesn't want to go every night, or do everything Finny wants to, but follows Finny anyway because of their friendship. Gene realizes that Finny, despite being very free-thinking, abides by his own set of rules and regulations; he also abhors badminton, despite his love for almost all other kinds of sports. Finny dismantles and throws away the shuttlecock; he picks up a ball, and refuses to go join the rest of the class at badminton. Gradually, some of the boys leave their games and come to Finny; Finny makes up a game called "blitzball," sort of a variation on rugby and football, and also adds new rules as they go. The game, though rather haphazard, is a hit that summer, and the nature of the game showcases Finny's incredible natural athleticism.

Gene reverts to commentary from the present, telling of the great hold that the war still has on him, and how he hasn't been able to loosen the hold that the time period has on him. Gene builds Finny's legend by telling of how Finny casually and easily broke a school swimming record, but did it unofficially and just to see if he could do it. Finny refuses to do it again and have it count, and so Gene builds him up into even more of a hero/athlete. Finny proposes that they go to the beach, which is far away and means they will be in big trouble if they are caught; Gene, against his better judgment, says he will.

They ride their bikes to the beach, and then spend the whole hot afternoon there. In the evening, they visit the boardwalk of the coastal town; Finny has picked up a nice tan that makes him look especially handsome, according to Gene. They sleep on the beach that night, and Finny admits that he considers Gene his best friend, which touches Gene deeply; but something keeps Gene from admitting the same thing.

Analysis:

The beginning of Chapter 3 is a great contrast with the ending of Chapter 2 in terms of both tone and sentiment. At the end of Chapter 2, Gene says that he was grateful to Finny for keeping him from falling out of the tree; but, at the start of the next chapter, he accuses Finny of being responsible for the whole thing, and owes his friend no thanks, since Finny is the one who goaded him to go up there in the first place. Gene is rationalizing away his feelings on the near accident; unlike Finny, Gene shows difficulty in expressing or even admitting emotions to himself, as displayed by this change of heart. The statement also demonstrates how Gene's nature is tainted by his jealousy and negative feelings for Finny, which corrupt his behavior and his good nature.

Although Finny is a great rebel, as seen in Chapters 1 and 2, Finny is also a walking contradiction in that he does believe in rules to the spontaneity and chaos that take him. There are certain things that Finny religiously does or refrains from doing, like saying prayers though he is not terribly religious, or stating his height as 5'8 _". Above all, "Finny never permitted himself to realize that when you won they lost" in terms of sports and other activities (27); he thinks that, as a rule, participating is victory, and doesn't believe in any other view on the subject. Again, Gene portrays Finny as a person who is a harmonious conglomeration of many contradictory elements, which Gene seems to question, though Finny certainly does not.

Already, Gene admits that he follows his friend around and participates in their club out of obligation, rather than free will; he believes he is in a "strait jacket" in his dealings with Finny, betraying some ill-will toward Finny that foreshadows a necessary confrontation. This is an issue that becomes more and more important in the work; the jealousy in Gene's nature causes him to think badly of Finny, and cast himself as Finny's opponent, which is very important when examining the ways in which Gene portrays Finny in the work.

In spite of Gene's reservations about his friend, he is able to tell of his friend's thoughts and intentions merely from the tone of Finny's voice. When "humor infiltrated the outrage in [Finny's] voice," Gene can tell that Finny is trying to find a way to weasel himself out of the unpalatable prospect of badminton practice (27). Gene knows exactly how Finny is regarded by his classmates, and is able to predict how the other boys will react to Finny's refusal to play badminton; but although Gene is so knowledgeable about Finny's thoughts and his appearance to others, he still cannot correctly recognize all aspects of Finny's behavior.

Again, the theme of the divide between innocence and experience surfaces, as lackadaisical activities of the happy, peace-enveloped juniors are juxtaposed with the semi-military drills that the seniors have to endure. Associated with the seniors are obstacle courses and "insidious exercise," while the juniors get to enjoy the "optimistically green" playing fields at their disposal (27).

Finny's invention of "blitzball" shows many aspects of his character at work, especially his inventive spirit and his ability to balance chaos with rules. It also shows off Finny's incredible athletic ability, making him even more of a wonder in Gene's estimation. Gene is so impressed by Finny's skill at this difficult, invented game that he describes Finny as being capable of "acts of sheer mass hypnotism," a phrase which suggests some kind of player's charisma at the game. Gene's language becomes somewhat exaggerated, and heavy in praise, when he describes Finny's triumphs at blitzball; he is awe of Finny at this point, and channels this feeling into his characterization, which becomes almost impossibly impressive.

This brings up a very pertinent question; is Finny really the superman athlete that Gene makes him out to be, or is his characterization of Finny altered by his feelings toward Finny? And what are Gene's motives in pumping up Finny's triumphs for the reader in a manner that makes him seem like an impossible human being? Up until this point, Gene focuses upon events that make Finny seem larger than life, omitting any details that would expose his flaws. However, when Gene gets angry with Finny in the next chapter, Gene's treatment of Finny changes dramatically; Gene projects his feelings about Finny into Finny's character, and also reveals Finny's academic challenges, which Gene had glossed over by making Finny out to be the perfect, all-around "model boy" in previous chapters.

Gene confesses in this chapter that he is still stuck in the time of World War II; his memory still has a tremendous hold on him, as evidenced by his ability to recall the goings on of fifteen years' past with such detail. The presence of memory, and its role over time, is a major theme of this book; when Gene reiterates his thoughts on the past and on the lasting impact of the events he is describing, he only increases the importance of this theme within the novel.

The scene of Finny's swimming triumph is almost surreal; the "white tile and glass brick," the "green, artificial-looking water," and the "general well of noise" that blurs the atmosphere around the pool create an odd, almost dreamlike setting for this part of the novel (34). The metaphor of Finny as a bullet also adds to the dreamlike qualities of the scene; "his body uncoiled and shot forward with sudden metallic tension," as Finny seems more like a machine, or a pellet from a gun, than a real person (35). These images and metaphors contribute to Gene's disbelief of the whole scene; Finny breaking a long-standing swimming record as only a casual swimmer is quite an impressive feat, and the description of the situation reinforces Gene's shock as he tries to grasp what happened.

Finny's rebelliousness is again reinforced by the swimming incident; he does not see a point in following the rules and making his record official, because others' recognition is not nearly as important to him as his own. Gene is again shown as a foil to Finny, since he espouses the more common and simply logical point of view, which is contrary to Finny's beliefs. They are opposite in their natural instincts, and in several aspects of their nature; still, they are able to get along, just as the opposite aspects of Finny's natures do not cause him problems. The contrast between the two of them as they ride to the beach also reasserts the differences between them; Gene is quiet and is working hard going up and down hills, while Finny is floating along and joking with him, in a much lighter mood.

Gene takes a very dramatic stance on Finny's record-breaking; he calls it "a mistake, a lie," and says it is a secret that he has to force it down into the recesses of his mind. Gene treats Finny's feat with a great sense of awe, but his diction reveals a darker aspect that Gene believes to be inherent in the feat. Why Gene treats this event with such a tone of doom is unclear at this point; Finny's purpose in this swimming event was just to see if he could do it, while Gene treats it like some dark secret that he doesn't want to keep.

In Chapter 3, Finny's characterization through Gene reaches a praise-filled peak; up to this point, Gene has painted a picture of a flawless super-athlete, a characterization soon to be marred in Chapter 4. The "absolute schoolboy glamour" aspects of Finny are on display, with any of Gene's negative feelings toward him still undiscussed (37). Finny even seems to look perfect, according to Gene's description; he sports a "movie-star tan," and strangers on the street can hardly help but notice him and his good looks.

When Finny and Gene finally reach the ocean, it seems to resemble Finny in its appearance and qualities. The "salty, adventurous, flirting wind" seems to symbolize Finny especially, and mirrors his daring, omnipotent qualities (39). As Gene says, Finny "was everywhere, he enjoyed himself hugely"; this description seems to cement his association with the light, refreshing breeze, and reinforces Finny's connection with the sea.

Gene's reluctance to answer Finny's comments that Gene is his best friend foreshadows some kind of conflict within Gene; up until this point, Gene has had nothing but praise for Finny, but the fact that he cannot acknowledge his best friend openly indicates something wrong beneath the surface. Gene says that he was "stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth"; Gene finally acknowledges his second thoughts openly, which foreshadows Gene's coming crisis about his true feelings for Finny (40).

Chapter 4 Summary:

Gene wakes up at sunrise on the beach; he watches dawn break for the first time, while Finny is still sleeping. Gene realizes that he has a math exam in three hours, exactly the amount of time it will take to get back to Devon from the beach; he makes it back in time, but fails the test‹it is, according to him, the first test he has ever failed.

Gene, an academic perfectionist, laments his poor performance on the test to Finny; Finny mocks Gene's ambition to be first in their class, and Gene begins to believe that Finny doesn't want him to do well in school, so that he will come out ahead. Finny excels in athletics, and is definitely the best in the school; Gene knows that he can be the best in the school in academics, but thinks that Finny's high-jinks and his attempts to take up Gene's time are Finny's attempts to make sure that he comes out ahead in the relationship. Gene's jealousy, whether merited or not, begins to take him over; he decides that he cannot trust his "friend," and Finny's statement, that had been so touching the previous evening, of Gene being his best friend, Gene now believes to be false.

Gene soon skips his merrimaking with Finny in favor of studying very hard; he begins to overtake Chet Douglas, Gene's only academic equal, and is proud that he is doing so well in his war against Finny. Finny also begins to study more, but Gene says that Finny is weak academically because he is unable to relate to the kinds of tests they have to take. But Gene finds it hard to keep on hating Finny, because everything is so beautiful and relaxed that summer; he has to make himself feel resentment, which proves to be very hard to do.

When Finny asks Gene to come see one of their club friends jump from their famous tree the evening before their French exam, Gene vehemently objects, and asks Finny if this is his way of trying to sabotage Gene's grades. Finny is not so bleakly competitive as Gene imagined him to be; Finny naively thought that Gene was naturally good at school work, like Finny is at sports, and never needed to study to get good grades. Finny insists that Gene needs to study if he thinks he does; but Gene decides to defy Finny's advice, and, against his better judgment, goes to the jumping tree with Finny.

To start off their meeting of the Super Summer Suicide Society, they decide to do jump off the tree together. Once they are on the tree, Gene "jostles" the limb, and Finny loses his balance and falls; Gene, unshaken, jumps into the river, seemingly without remorse or concern for his friend.

Analysis

Chapter 4 begins with Gene watching the sunrise on the beach; the sunrise is a symbol denoting many things, including the impending change in Gene's feelings toward Finny and in how he treats his friend, and Gene's coming change in his attitudes toward school and competition. The sunrise is not what Gene expected it to be, just as it symbolizes something different than expected; usually a sunrise means rebirth or enlightenment, but in this case it is used to describe a more negative, though no less dramatic, change that comes suddenly to Gene. Also, the sunrise describes Gene's progress through this chapter, and how he realizes that his ideas about Finny's competitiveness and backstabbing are completely incorrect, and that Finny's character is more beautiful than he could have expected.

The appearance of the beach, as the sun rises, is more descriptive of Finny, and of his way of being. Gradually, it becomes "totally white and stainless," as Finny's character turns out to be (41); though Gene expects that there is a gray area in Finny's nature, as the beach appears to be when the sun begins to come up, his incorrect ideas are soon dispelled, and he sees clearly Finny's innocence and faith in Gene. The sunrise and the beach metaphorically represent many of the changes and realizations that are so important in this chapter, and they also describe the progress of these friends' understanding of each other.

Gene's misunderstanding of Finny's intentions are laden with irony; Gene believes that Finny is trying to keep him from excelling, and that Finny is engaged in some sort of competition with him, are as far from the truth as they possibly can be. Gene's misgivings about Finny taint his usually keen perceptions of what Finny means, and Gene's jealousy of Finny helps him to create an utterly unflattering portrait of Finny to believe in. Gene misconstrues Finny's remark about Gene wanting to be head boy at the school as meaning that Finny does not want him to achieve; Finny is really just conveying his disregard for school hierarchy and position.

Gene also abandons his usually right-on interpretations of Finny's tones of voice; when Finny tells Gene, in a mocking tone, that Finny would be jealous if Gene was first in his class, Gene disregards everything he knows about Finny's sarcasm and takes the comment completely seriously. Gene's jealousy and ill-will lead him to see in Finny whatever traits he wants to find; his characterization of Finny is strongly determined by his own feelings, and can be incorrect because of this emotional influence.

Gene's "realization" of Finny's allegedly competitive behavior "broke as coldly and as bleakly as dawn at the beach" (44); the simile repeats the imagery at the beginning of the chapter, suggesting daybreak as a motif and metaphor suitable to describe many aspects of the story. Gene's language and tone become increasingly more dramatic, perhaps even melodramatic, as he describes the influence that this false realization had on him at the time. He says he was "despairingly in search of something" to cling to, blowing his mental separation from Finny up into something life-shattering, in a way (45). Yet, these words definitely seem added in retrospect; Gene says he does not act differently than normal in the face of this dramatic "deadly rivalry," gets on well with Finny, and devoted himself to his studies (46). Gene's social life remains much the same, as does his outward manner; he does not act as destroyed as he claims to be, but rather he is very much intact, but vengeful. Gene finds the "truth" that he alluded to at the end of Chapter 3, but it is not a truth at all‹it is a dangerous falsehood‹and in this confusion, he also misrepresents his destructive anger as genuine despair.

In Chapter 4, a dark side to Gene's character is finally revealed, and allowed to work its mischief. In this section of the book, especially with the revelation that Gene is completely wrong about Finny's alleged sabotage of his grades, Gene and Finny become even more diametrically opposed; Finny seems more pure and good-hearted than before, while Gene moves into the gray area that he saw on the beach, and that he thought Finny to inhabit. Gene, unlike Finny, has a nature that is corruptible through envy and suspicion; and, once inflamed, the bad side of Gene's nature takes him over, and causes him to harm his friend in a terrible way. The end of the chapter, with Gene causing Finny to fall from the tree, casts them almost as good vs. evil; Finny is cleansed of blame and shown to be pure of heart in this chapter, while Gene's character is revealed as being more pernicious than previously imagined.

Just as Gene's characterization of Finny has been dependent upon and influenced by his particular feelings about his friend, Gene's anger at Finny causes him to bring up Finny's weaknesses and shortcomings, and also colors his characterization of Finny as a competitive, jealous person. Gene projects his own feelings into Finny, which gives him excuses to be swept away by his own negativity, and indulge his less-than-complementary views about his friend as well. Gene states that Finny is full of "lonely, selfish ambition"; it's not Finny who has any of these qualities, but Gene, as shown by his determination to beat Finny, and not let his friend know of the competition (49). Naturally, Gene has problems with holding a grudge against his friend; he finds himself "slipping back into affection for him again," at least showing that Gene's vindictive qualities don't exactly come naturally (47).

Even the summer works to dull Gene's feelings of betrayal; the "heady and sensual clarity of these mornings" helps to calm him down, and contrasts sharply with Gene's stormy mood (48). Just as Gene's jealousy and competitiveness peak, the surroundings of Devon undergo a "second spring"; the landscape and beauty of the place grow as Gene's vitriol increases.

Also inversely related are Gene's tone and Finny's in their confrontation at the end of this chapter. As Gene becomes more and more bitter and sarcastic toward his friend, Finny's tone gets more and more honest and sincere, shaming Gene for his ill-will. Gene's judgment of Finny is finally exposed as being completely ironic, since he completely misjudged his friend and only he was guilty of the things of which he accused his friend. But, even more ironic is that this revelation doesn't really affect Gene's behavior or attitude toward his friend; he still causes Finny to fall from the tree, after Finny reveals that he is totally unaware of any competition.

Chapter 5 Summary:

Gene learns that one of Finny's legs had been "shattered" in the fall from the tree; the accident becomes an issue of great concern, among Gene's classmates as well as among the school's headmasters, who are very sorry about the accident as well. Gene grows very guilty about the accident, though no one suspect that he was responsible for what happened. In Finny's absence, Gene compensates by becoming very much like Finny; he dons Finny's trademark pink shirt, and notes how his manner has become more and more like Finny's since they have been apart.

Gene gets the news that Finny has finally gotten better, and can have Gene to visit him in the infirmary. Gene also learns that Finny's leg suffered a nasty break, and that he will no longer be able to play sports while at school; Gene cannot believe the news, and bursts out crying. The doctor urges Gene not to be sad in front of Finny, and to help him face the truth about his injury once he is out of the infirmary.

Gene goes into the infirmary to see Finny; Gene immediately reacts out of guilt for what happened, asking how the fall could happen, and Finny notes how shocked Gene seems at the whole thing, as if it were Gene that fell. Finny comes close to telling Gene that he had an inkling that Gene was somehow responsible for his fall; but, unlike Gene, he does not accuse his best friend, and immediately apologizes and closes the subject. Gene realizes that if he were in Finny's place, and Finny was responsible for the accident, that Finny would confess the truth; but Gene realizes he doesn't have the strength and nobility in his nature that Finny has, and this upsets him very much. Gene gets ready to tell Finny the truth, however much he doesn't want to. But, he doesn't get the chance to speak, as the doctor comes back in; and, before he can see Finny again, Finny is sent home to recuperate.

Summer Session ends, and Gene returns home for a month of vacation. Finally, he has to go back to Devon; and on his way, he stops in Boston, and goes to Finny's house to see how he is doing. This visit disturbs Gene, because Finny seems weak, and like an invalid; he is not used to seeing his friend in such proper, manicured surroundings, and he feels that he won't be able to talk to Finny about the accident in such a place.

Gene finally just brings up the subject of the accident to his friend; he tells Finny that he did it, perhaps even on purpose, and Finny tells him not to talk of it, and that it can't be true. Gene believes that he is causing another injury to Finny in telling him this, he tries to reduce the blow by talking around it. Gene decides he'd better be getting back to the station, since he's a day late, and lies to Finny, telling him that he won't be playing by the rules any time soon.

Analysis:

Although Gene is of a jealous, competitive nature, he reveals in this chapter that he is not truly bad at heart; he cannot believe the bad aspects in his nature, and remains in denial about causing Finny's fall and about the fall itself. Gene becomes very guilty, and out of this guilt he becomes suspicious that maybe his classmates know the truth about the accident, and that he will be revealed for the wrong that he has done. He is amazed to learn that no one thinks that he played any negative part in what happened, but he also knows that Finny will be aware of what exactly happened up there on that limb.

Gene declares in this chapter, after dressing himself in Finny's clothes, that he "would never stumble through the confusions of [his] own character again" (54). However, confused is exactly what Gene is; at this point, he is still in denial about his responsibility for the accident, and also in denial that he could have committed such a malicious act in such a callous way. The statement is thoroughly ironic, because it trumpets a realization that needs to take place, but has not yet; also, it is ironic because Gene claims to be finding himself through making himself look like Finny, which would denote an even bigger identity crisis at work. Gene already knows that he and Finny, though they get along, are inherently different in nature; Finny is clean and pure and is neither competitive nor jealous, while Gene is by nature insecure, and this major flaw causes him to be suspicious and deceitful toward his friend.

When Gene dresses in Finny's clothes, he assumes Finny's look and manner of confidence, thinking that it suits him and describes who he has become; this is also ironic, since Gene's insecurity defines his differences from Finny, and since the clothes and the look belie Gene's character and his true feelings. However, the growing resemblance between Gene and Finny not only shows their differences, but also foreshadows their becoming like one person. Finny asking Gene to continue Finny's athletic pursuits and adopt that part of his history is the first step in their melding together; Gene adopting Finny's clothes and looks in this chapter shows Gene's willingness to surrender himself to Finny, and foreshadow the coming developments in their relationship.

The issue of Gene's conscience becomes important from this chapter on; it determines how he acts and reacts to his friend, and also determines his feelings toward the friend he has wronged. Gene struggles to see himself as an essentially good person at heart; as much as he condemns himself in retrospect for his flaws, at the time, he still cannot see himself for everything that exists in his character. Gene's denial and naivete also come into play when he is told that Finny will never be able to play sports. Gene never states straight-out that he is responsible for the end of Finny's athletic days, and that perhaps he wanted this to be so in order for Gene to come out on top in the relationship. It is clear to the reader that this could well have been Gene's motive in making Finny fall from the tree; but Gene, even as an adult writing of his past, is at this point in the novel unable to examine his guilt and his unconscious motivations for Finny's tragedy. Denial and guilt play off each other in Gene's personality, to alternately bring him to some realization of his character, then shield him from self-exploration; in any case, the past is still painful for Gene fifteen years later, showing that while he may be ill-natured in some respects in comparison to Finny, that he is still not completely corrupt at heart.

In this chapter, Finny and Gene become divided by their differences; at the end of the next chapter, they will begin to pull together again, and become more alike in terms of character. Here, at the peak of their separation, Gene reveals a great number of differences between himself and Finny, especially in the way both of them handle the situation they are in. If Finny was in his place, Gene knows that Finny would be completely honest about what happened; if Gene were in Finny's place, he might just accuse his friend, which is something that Finny is much too loyal to do. When Finny says that he reached out for Gene before he fell from the tree, Gene, who is still not trusting of Finny, takes that to mean that Finny meant to drag Gene down too; Finny says he just meant to steady himself.

This exchange again highlights the character differences between Finny and Gene, especially as Gene tries to rationalize what happened and talk around the truth in a way that obscures his guilt, and Finny addresses his thoughts in a careful way that conveys the truth of the situation, without misleading or maligning his friend in the process. Finny uses understatement in introducing his thoughts, that Gene might be responsible; "awfully funny expression you hadŠlike you have right now," he tells Gene, getting his point across without causing any disturbance. While Finny is very calm and speaks quietly, cautiously, and with understatement, Gene is frantic, desperately trying to rationalize things, and forced to speak out of a lingering guilt; the contrast between the two is furthered by their opposing demeanors during the infirmary visit.

Like the characters of the book, who often seem too flat and too purely literary to be real, some of the events of the book are also more symbolic and representative than they are literal or realistic portrayals. The incident on the limb, during Gene and Finny's conversation, becomes one of these symbolic events; the limb symbolizes the common ground on which Gene and Finny's relationship rests, and Finny falling from the limb symbolizes the growing personal divide Gene feels between them. There is an almost metaphoric relation between Gene's sudden mistrust of his friend and his jouncing Finny from the tree; both involve the interplay of the exact same themes and make the same points about Gene's character, and the limb incident seems to be just a literal enactment of Gene's jealousy and his competitiveness.

In Chapter 5, Gene finally repents of his competitiveness toward Finny. He realizes how ironic it was that he pinned the fault on Finny for being competitive, when it was Gene's fault all along for creating such false, one-sided competition. But even this realization doesn't soothe Gene's guilt and sorrow; though it does allow Gene to put aside his miguidedly ill feelings for Finny, and paves the way for their incredible closeness to develop over the next few chapters. Still, by the end of the chapter, and the end of Gene's confession of responsibility to Finny, some things remain fundamentally unchanged. Though Gene asks himself whether he intentionally hurt his friend, he cannot bring himself to consider the issue any longer than it takes him to ask the terrible question. Gene's guilt remains, and still weighs upon him; and he is still unable to overcome his naivete about the flaws in his nature, and his denial surrounding the accident.

Chapter 6 Summary:

Gene is finally back at school, without Finny who will come back later in the term; the peace of the summer session has finally been shattered by the return of the rigorous traditions of the Devon school, and the influence of the war on the students and faculty. All seven hundred students are back, and the spirit of the summer session is swamped by the excess of students; Gene was lucky enough to get the same room he had during the summer, although all of his friends have been moved around. Gene doesn't want to come to terms with the change of school sessions; Brinker, Gene's main academic rival, now lives across the hall, and Gene isn't especially pleased with this.

Gene goes to crew practice, which is run by Quackenbush, the uniformly disliked crew captain. Gene is assistant captain, and not on the team; Quackenbush immediately challenges him, not trusting Gene because of his non-participation in school sports other than to manage and help out. They have a fight, and both tumble into the water; Quackenbush tells him to get lost, and he does.

The house masters aren't being lax like they were during the summer; Mr. Ludsbury, Gene's house master, berates him for being irresponsible and taking advantage of the summer house master, Mr. Prud'homme, which Gene didn't really do. Gene escapes from the lecture by getting a long-distance call; Gene expects that it is bad new from home, but Finny is on the phone, to wish him a happy first day of fall term.

Finny calls because he was worried that Gene would replace him by getting a new roommate; however, Gene is in their old room alone, and won't have another roommate before Finny comes back. Finny is very relieved to hear this, and also dismisses Gene's confession of responsibility for the accident by saying Gene must have been crazy during his visit to Finny's house. When Gene tells Finny that he isn't participating in sports, as a sort of show of sympathy with Finny, Finny gets upset; he tells Gene that Gene has to participate for him since he no longer can, and Gene decides to grant Finny this request.

Analysis:

According to Gene, the new session "scattered the easygoing summer spirit like so many leaves"; the simile reinforces the shock of the rigorous, crowded fall session, after the ideal languor of the long summer. In the hustle and the renewed conservatism and law-enforcing of the fall session, Finny and Gene's glorious summer already seems like a thing of the past. The contrast between the summer and the fall, like the contrast between the winter when Gene revisits the school and the summer he describes, reinforces the rarity of the days they had, and reiterates another theme, of how fleeting the past, and the best days, can be. The change of seasons also foreshadows a change in Gene's life, and in his and Finny's relationship; with the passing of time, they will not be able to regain what they had in their ideal summer together, and their relationship when Finny comes back will most definitely be changed.

The theme of change and of time passing is also present in the scene in the chapel, with the gathering of students and teachers that begins the fall session. Gene knows that "traditions had been broken, the standards let down, all rules forgotten" because of the summer; change has finally come to Devon, and the place will never be the same to him or to any of the boys. The place has finally been touched by time, so many of the traditions been rendered meaningless, at least for Gene. He continues to have affection for the place; but as he has changed and grown up, the school has changed entirely for him, and cannot regain the old glory it had for him. He mentions Finny falling from the tree as being the event that marked old Devon's death; Finny's accident now becomes a symbol of the changing of the guard, representative of the beginning of Gene's adulthood and disillusionment.

Another theme in the book is formality vs. freedom; this theme is represented in the struggles between Finny's rebelliousness and Gene's rule-abiding sensibilities, but is also in the contrasts in conditions between the summer and the fall sessions at the school. "We had been an eccentric, leaderless band," Gene says of the boys of the summer session; "now the official class leaders and politicians could be seen taking charge," as the hierarchy of Devon returns for another school year. This change is also a foreshadowing of the change between childhood and adulthood; Gene's summer was the last time of free, unchecked childhood, and starting the school year with all its traditions is a change similar to the one he will undergo in changing from school to the adult world. The overwhelming of their carefree summer by the tradition-bound school year signifies the defeat of freedom by formality for Gene; Gene himself admits that he is very much bound by rules, and outside of Finny's chaotic influence, his own tendencies toward rebellion fall to the wayside.

Finny is more a perfect image and a representation than a reality-based character, and the imagery used to describe Finny in the novel tends to portray him as more of a golden god than a human being. Gene remembers Finny "balancing on one foot on the prow of the canoe," a difficult task, and all the while looking "like a river god," according to the simile Gene employs (67). In addition, Gene describes "his whole body hanging between earth and sky as if he had transcended gravity," yet another god-like feat (67). Finny usually appears as some kind of Apollo-like figure, standing in the sunshine, with radiant bronzed skin and sun-kissed locks; he represents, among other things, "all the glory of the summer," and is a figure constructed in looks and in traits to fulfill that purpose successfully.

Again, Gene is seen as identifying with Finny to the point of taking on Finny's struggles and sympathizing with him by sharing Finny's physical limitations. Gene feels that in his argument with Quackenbush, he is somehow defending Finny, though Finny is in no way involved; Gene feels that he has become "Finny's defender," and seems to take the role very seriously. Perhaps out of guilt for hurting Finny, Gene sympathizes with him by not participating in sports, as if he had a shattered leg as well. Perhaps Gene wants to take on Finny's burdens, out of guilt for wronging his friend; and perhaps it is part of Gene's denial of his wrongdoing, another theme of the book. After the accident, Gene's jealousy and suspicion disappear almost completely, as he begins to bond himself to Finny; and, also out of a sense of guilt-born obligation, Gene agrees to serve as Finny's surrogate in the realm of sports, and participate as best he can in place of his friend. Gene confesses that his purpose in hurting Finny might well have been "to become a part of Phineas"; however, this may be another distraction from Gene's real issue of his malicious actions, as Gene has continued to ignore such a serious question in his denial after the accident.

Chapter 7 Summary:

Brinker Hadley decides to pay Gene a visit, and immediately starts accusing Gene of arranging Finny's accident in order to get a room to himself. Gene is naturally defensive, since the point hits close to the truth, and decides to distract Brinker by proposing they go down to the Butt Room in the basement to smoke. Once they are down there, Brinker proclaims Gene's guilt before everyone in the room, setting up a mock-trial kind of situation for Gene. The others in the room immediately start playing along, asking Gene questions about the "crime"; Gene jokingly participates, disguising his real guilt with a kind of far-fetched, sarcastic humor. He believes that none of them are actually suspicious of him after the incident, but the incident and Brinker's accusation still trouble Gene a great deal.

Fall passes, with the boys pitching in for the "war effort" by harvesting apples since all the workers have been drafted; still, the war remains distant and has little effect on their everyday lives. The first snow falls, much earlier than usual; it is a sign that war is creeping into their lives, and will become far more real to all the boys.

The school has adopted a policy of "Emergency Usefulness," meaning that the boys are sent around the region to do necessary tasks, like shoveling out the railroads after a harsh snowstorm. Before he leaves on this mission, Gene comes across Leper, who has decided to spend his day cross-country skiing rather than help work. Then, Gene and the boys catch a train to Boston, and spend a dreary, cold day at the railroad yard, shoveling; the work is hard and no one is in a particularly good mood, and takes up the whole day.

That day, the boys change their attitudes about the war; it is no longer some remote, meaningless thing, it is something that they want to get involved in as soon as they are able. When they return, they run across Leper, still on his skis; Leper says he has found the beaver dam he was looking for, which Brinker starts to tease Leper mercilessly about. Brinker says he is fed up with Devon life; he says he wants to enlist as soon as possible, which makes Gene think about doing the same thing. Gene wants a sense of purpose to his life, and feels that enlisting will give this to him; he thinks hard about it over the night.

Gene realizes that he doesn't owe anything to either Devon or to his parents anymore; the choice of whether or not to go to war depends on his own inclinations, and he wants to go through with it. But, then he goes back to his room, and finds Finny there; suddenly, what he resolved to do no longer matters, as he has a purpose to stay at Devon again.

Analysis

Brinker Hadley makes his first real appearance in this chapter, and proves to be something other than our first glimpse of him suggests. "His face was all straight lines, " Gene says, "and he carriedŠhis height straight as well" (78). However, Brinker proves to be more pernicious, sarcastic, and temperamental than his straight image might suggest, and his characterization is also quite difficult to describe. Although his tone remains casual and friendly, the words coming from Brinker are not quite those of a polite conversation; immediately, Brinker starts using clearly accusatory words that contrast sharply with the light tone of voice he is trying to maintain. Brinker also slips into a condescending, superior tone; he calls Gene "my son," and spouts grandiloquent words about "our free democracy." It's hard to peg Brinker's personality down after this encounter, when he combines sinister words with a friendly tone, while infusing their interaction with a sense of Brinker's own arrogance.

Gene's guilt colors his responses, as he too is trying to maintain his innocence and not respond too seriously to Brinker's very unexpected accusations. It is not in Gene's nature to really lie, and as he tries to dodge Brinker's repeated questions, his voice becomes strained, he has to distract himself by moving books around, and his heart begins to pound. Gene even says, almost unconsciously, that "the truth will out," another remark prompted by the guilt that he is trying to hide. Gene's best defense in this situation is trying to distract Brinker with an offer to go downstairs and smoke; Gene proves himself to be very sensitive and still remorseful about what he did.

Once they get down to the Butt Room, Brinker's words intensify, and become even more accusing in his tone and choice of words. The scene Gene sets is of a dark, dilapidated room that seems like a prison; the image of the room is an oppressive one, adding to the discomfort and darkness of the scene. Brinker tosses about words like "prisoner" and calls the boys "proper authorities," and declares that Gene has committed "rankest treachery, practically fratricide" (81). The words are ironic since the whole affair is treated like a joke by most of the boys, but that Gene is actually guilty of the charges and should perhaps be facing this kind of tribunal for real. All of the boys except for one treat the little inquisition as an extended jest, and Gene has to play along, or else explode in a display of guilt, which is continuing to bother him.

Gene's defense tactics are much the same as they were against Brinker at the first; he talks around the point, tries to adopt a carefree tone, and when all of that fails, he diverts attention from the issue at hand. He decides that it is better to humiliate the one boy who takes the whole thing seriously, than draw any more attention to the debate at hand; Gene is a bit more hurtful than usual, betraying his ability to hurt people when he deems it necessary, and rationalize his actions after the fact.

The whole "inquisition" is ironic, since the boys take such interest in the mock-questioning of Gene, yet they think nothing of the truth of these accusations after Gene leaves them. No one, according to Gene, takes the logical leap of thinking that maybe Brinker is accusing Gene for a reason, and that the events being discussed actually took place, and the inquisition ends, with only Gene's own guilt to betray the fact that a "crime" actually took place.

In the ongoing struggle between war and the peace of Devon, war finally starts to intrude on the boys' daily life. "The war was at worst only a bore," as Brinker declares before the boys; but the boldness and presumption of Brinker's declaration foreshadows the change that is about to come upon them all. An early snow falls on the school, ironically seeming beautiful and peaceful, but described by Gene in a simile as "like noiseless invaders conquering" (84). Gene is right, as the coming of the snow becomes almost analogous to the coming of war to Devon; the snow becomes a symbol representing unrest and reality coming for the boys, and proves to be the "advance guard" of the war for Devon (84).

The foremost among the few who are not affected by the war is Leper, the odd, peace-loving acquaintance of Gene. Gene, upon meeting him in the woods on a snowy day, mistakes Leper for a "scarecrow," and the metaphor is actually a rather fitting one for Leper. Leper is not a person of action, nor is he particularly vital or lively like the rest of the boys; Leper prefers to remain on the periphery of things, in nature, like the scarecrow does. He seems ridiculous because he isn't the sporting, outgoing youth that is typical of Devon; he acts a bit like an old man, and seems ridiculous to his classmates. Leper is maligned because most of the boys do not try to understand his quiet, nature-loving ways, but Gene, as a more sensitive being, is able to better understand him.

The war finally intrudes with the boys' first experience with hard physical labor at the railroad depot in Boston. The once-white snow is now "drab and sooted, wet and heavy," quite a dramatic contrast with the pure white snow that had covered Devon; the image conveys how reality has become more pressing and more bleak for the boys. They gradually drop their "fresh volunteer look" as the day's work goes on; the change from boisterous young men to strained-looking laborers ushers in the influence of war, and foreshadows the change that will come upon them when they finally go to war.

The deceptive, ironic symbol of the boys' coming transformation into young soldiers is the "troop train" that passes them as they work in the railyard. The troops hanging out the windows seem just a little older than the boys, according to Gene. "They gave the impression of being elite," as Gene said, and "seemed to be having a wonderful timeŠthey were going places" (89). This becomes the face of war for the boys; they begin to think that it is some glorious, honorable thing, and get fired up to enlist and join the battle. Suddenly they feel that they are "nothing but children playing among heroic men," and this feeling shames them. That the boys appear downtrodden and the troops jubilant is ironic, since the boys are still enjoying youthful days in school, and are not about to face death like the troops are. Also, the boys' new view of war is ironic because of how unrealistic it is; they take the fresh recruits to be a symbol of the entire war, when the war is grim and bloody, and will change them into worn young men.

The boys are still very naïve about the war; they speak about "brothers in the service and requirements for enlistment and the futility of Devon" during their train ride home, but no war issues of real significance (89). Quackenbush, who is probably more realistic than the rest of them about needing to get a high school diploma and not just rush into the war, is attacked by the other boys in their jingoistic fit; Brinker and the others think that the only right way is to enlist immediately and rush off to the glorious war, and are too young and blind to consider that they might not be correct. Gene colors Brinker's declaration that he will enlist tomorrow as the "logical climax of the whole misbegotten day"; but it is a misguided decision, as the boys, in their sheltered environment, still do not understand the realities of war that they think they have learned everything about from seeing that train full of fresh, untried recruits.

Gene explains his feelings about enlisting with a metaphor relating his life to a woven cloth and a group of jumbled threads that he wants to be free of; he wishes to take "giant military shears" and just cut himself free from his history, so that he can start all over again. It's not that Gene particularly wants to go to war, he just wants a fresh start, and to escape from the stale, constrictive atmosphere of the school; the boys all want the same thing as well, and their main motivation to enlist is this wish to escape, rather than a wish to go into battle.

Gradually, Gene's motivation for making Finny fall from the tree become more and more evident. Gene is unable to set down the reasons why he did what he did, but gradually, he does add little pieces of information to the confession that he is unable to state all at once. Here, he says that he is "used to finding something deadly in the things that attracted [him]," which is why he caused Finny's accident. If this confession is actually true, then it means that Gene, in hurting Finny, was aware that something worse might happen than Finny breaking his leg; if so, then Gene's character is darker than even he would like to admit.

Gene observes the "single, chilled points of light" in the sky, trying to find guidance in them; what he sees is not beautiful or ideal, and he tries his best not to have an optimistic view of war like the others. He takes the cold, remote looking stars as symbols for the war, and ascribes their qualities to the war as well. Even with his thoughts becoming more grounded and informed, he thinks of his duty for the war effort; but the image of the "thin yellow slab of brightness" that heralds Finny's arrival drowns out the cold pinpricks in the sky, and Gene chooses his friend over the war. The only thing holding him back from enlistment is Finny, who turns up at a very convenient time, and gives Gene his only reason to stay at Devon.

Chapter 8 Summary:

Gene is absolutely shocked at Finny's sudden, unannounced return; Finny proves to be his old self again, despite his bum leg, by making wisecracks immediately and expressing his distaste for Gene's work clothes. Finny looks very well and athletic again, completely unlike his small, invalid-like appearance at his home in Boston just a few weeks earlier. Gene helps Finny make up his bed, since there are no maids at the school that year, and notes how Finny is completely dignified and doesn't seem helpless in any way, although he does need Gene's assistance for some things.

Gene is happy that Finny is finally back; however, he can't simply ignore what he did to his friend since Finny is there as a constant reminder, and Gene lets himself be eaten away by his guilt and remorse, rather than try to face his feelings. Brinker busts into their room in the morning, shocked to see Finny there; he uses the opportunity to reintroduce insinuations about Gene causing Finny's accident, but Finny doesn't want to think about it and deliberately doesn't take the hints. Gene brushes the uncomfortable situation aside by talking about enlisting, which Brinker is absolutely gung-ho about. Finny is not pleased at all with the idea that Gene could leave; he doesn't want Gene to do it, and makes this clear to Gene.

Gene immediately brushes aside any talk of him enlisting by saying it would be nuts of him to do it, and he wouldn't enlist with Brinker for anything. This makes Finny very happy, though it's not the truth, and Gene still wants, though not as passionately as before his friend came back, to join the military in order to get a fresh start. Gene is relieved to find that Devon is suddenly a good, peaceful place again with his friend back and no more pressure to enlist, but he knows in retrospect that it will not last.

Finny decides not to go to class on his first day back; Gene is a little dismayed by his suggestion that neither go to class, but he goes with Finny anyway, to the gym. Finny asks Gene what sports he's been doing, and Gene confesses that he hasn't held up his end of the bargain, and is not doing any sports at the moment. This gets Finny upset, and then Gene tries to make the war into some excuse for not trying out for anything. Finny goes off on a rant about how the war is not real, it was just designed to keep people in their place, and from having any real fun. Gene doesn't believe him at all, and asks him why Finny thinks he knows all this stuff that nobody else does; Finny then says "because I've suffered," opening another big, painful can of worms (109).

Gene takes this as a cue to start working out, doing more chin-ups than he's done in his lifetime. Finny and Gene never talk about Finny's little streak of bitterness again, and it never resurfaces in Finny. Finny, with his usual disregard for reality, says he wants to coach Gene for the 1944 Olympics; Gene knows there won't be any because of the war, but of course Finny wouldn't listen. Gene begins to see how unrealistic some people's view of the war is, especially with the teachers and headmasters; he doesn't believe Finny's desperate assertions that there isn't any war at all, but he also learns to be a little more skeptical of the manipulative claims of the authority figures.

Gene and Finny keep training, doing long runs in the morning; Gene thinks he can't do them, until one morning he just amazes himself and it comes naturally to him, just as it did with Finny before. Mr. Ludsbury, one of the teachers, discovers them at their morning exercise; he tells them to keep it up as some kind of preparation for the war, and Finny just blows up at him, telling him it has nothing to do with that. Mr. Ludsbury turns red, gets angry, and stomps off; Finny has no remorse for angering the man, though Gene feels somewhat strange about what happened.

Analysis:

Finny's appearance when Gene first sees him is completely deceptive; although he appears to be in the peak of health, no different from how he was before he left after the summer. Gene's words reflect this athletic quality that he believes his friend still has; Finny "vaulted" across the room, uses his crutches like "parallel bars," and his eyes are sharp and alert (96). It is only later that Gene will figure out that Finny is changed, and that this healthy disguise must have been put on in order to convince his parents and his doctor to let him go back to Devon early.

Finny and Gene, though their relationship has become more close, have become different personally, especially Gene. Gene has gone back to his old ways, as a law-abiding, tradition-following student. Although he thinks of himself as a bit of a rebel while Finny is away, one Finny is returned, Gene is completely conventional, with his talk of duty and the war and self-sacrifice. Gene almost sounds like one of the teachers in his patriotic reverie, and Finny gives him hell for it‹Finny knows that Gene slips in to this kind of conventional thinking very easily, and he'll have to fight to get Gene to be a less responsible, more interesting companion. Gene is very serious‹he thinks it's fine that they have no maids, while Finny is stubborn, selfish, and quite humorous in insisting that he have the convenience of maids, and that the war is just an excuse. Gene is already becoming an adult, mirroring the sentiments of his teachers, while Finny is still a rebellious adolescent, with views that are often contrary to Gene's.

Although Finny is injured and needs help, he manages to retain his dignity around Gene, even when he needs assistance. Around others, like Brinker for example, he stubbornly refuses to admit his limitations and will accept no help; but he and Gene seem to have some kind of silent agreement, that Gene will watch Finny and help out where he can, and that it will be a natural part of their relationship. A new kind of sensitivity marks their relationship that wasn't there over the summer; Finny is sure to keep quiet while Gene says his prayers, Gene makes up the bed for Finny, who doesn't ask for help but definitely needs it. Still, not everything is smoothed over for Gene, who is still dogged by guilt, and has a few identity issues to contend with.

Gene may be energized by Finny's return, but he enjoys himself less after Finny returns because of the constant reminder of guilt that Finny is for Gene. "Each morning reasserted the problems of the night before," says Gene; previous, it was easy for him to deny what had happened, and now he does not have that luxury. This feeling is not necessarily a negative one, as Gene believes it to be; it is a part of Gene coming to terms with his darker nature, which he will try desperately not to do.

Brinker's nature certainly seems more questionable in this chapter than it was after his introduction. Seeing Finny is back, he immediately brings up Gene's "little plot" to keep a room to himself by hurting Finny; it is hardly a tactful thing to say, and is taking the joke of the day before much too far. That Brinker is willing to bring the whole subject up again, in front of both of them, means that he believes there is some truth in the matter. But why Brinker would think that Gene was guilty of harming Finny, when he wasn't present when the accident happened and no one else thinks badly of Gene, is quite a mystery. Perhaps Brinker is meant to be some kind of conscience figure, with his goading of Gene and determination to enlist.

Finny, for his part, does not even attempt to consider what Brinker means by his not-so-subtle insinuations, and Gene wants nothing more than to silence the whole issue. It seems that Finny decided to be finished with the whole issue after Gene confessed. Finny didn't want to believe that his friend had done it when Gene's guilt was first confessed, and he's well past the point of considering anything negative about his friend, especially now that they need each other. Gene realizes for the first time that Finny needs him, and him in particular; in the summer, it seemed that Finny only needed someone to follow his whims and crazy ideas, but now their attachment to each other cannot be denied, and it makes Gene nervous because he knows how much he callously took away from Finny.

"Peace had come back to Devon," Gene says, after Finny had returned. For a while, the struggle between war and peace is temporarily won by peace; and for a short time, Gene also forgets about his ideas of enlisting and enjoys his time at the school with his friend. Gene is still fighting, however, with his feelings about the accident, and about himself; perhaps he wanted to go to war so that he could be distracted by that external battle, and not have to concentrate on his own. Gene is a reflective, very self-conscious, and sensitive person; here there is really a glimpse of how sensitive Gene is, and how much of a lasting effect that events really have on him, especially since his feelings are so keen fifteen years after the fact.

Even Gene admits, however, that the peace he is feeling cannot last. In an extended metaphor that he carries throughout a paragraph, he describes the war as a "wave at the seashore," that looked intimidating as it grew larger and came closer to him. But, with Finny by his side, he was able to kept from being swept away, while "throwing others roughly up upon the beach" (101). But there is a great sense of foreboding inherent in the metaphor; where there is one huge wave, there is usually another at least as big to follow it. What that "wave" will be is not yet evident; but Gene is obviously setting the scene for an even bigger shake-up to occur, and building toward the climax of the novel.

Of course, Gene is skeptical of Finny's more outlandish ideas, such as Finny's fervent belief that the war is a gimmick meant to keep the masses in line while the fat cats enjoy everything. But Finny's harebrained theories also open Gene's eyes to many realizations, like how the war is exploited by the headmasters to make the boys disciplined and to get them to work harder. As much as Gene tries to shake off Finny's little rebellious notions and insist that he only just goes along with them silently, Gene is really and truly helped by Finny and his perceptions of the world‹though he might not like to admit it.

Inevitably, Gene and Finny become closer to being almost the same person. As Gene begins to improve himself physically, under Finny's tutelage, Gene helps Finny to become a much better student. Since Finny has been robbed of his athletic gifts, Gene is helping him to develop new ones. Finny's encouragement helps Gene to do things that were never physically possible for him before‹like doing 30 chin-ups and a few miles of running in the morning. Gene feels like he has achieved this mostly by himself, but without Finny right there, none of that would have been possible. It is true that Gene has become even more different from Finny since Finny has been away, but there is definitely something to be said about how the two boys are beginning to resemble each other more and more.

The outdoors, which usually reflect the course of their relationship, becomes more placid and beautiful as the boys settle into their new routine with ease. Gene describes images of the "northern sunshine" on the smooth stretches of white snow, that suggest something like their idyllic summer; but, at the same time, these images reinforce how the relationship cannot be the same as it was, though it can thrive for a while.

Chapter 9 Summary:

Gene becomes more and more oblivious to the outside world as he spends time with Finny. The impossible happens with Leper, as he is convinced by a video of American ski troops that he must enlist and become one of them. He changes his mind on the uselessness of downhill skiing, and decides that fast skiing is fine if you are in a real hurry, which a person is when they are fighting the war. The video shows a bunch of placid, attractive young men skiing down slopes and passes it off as being part of the war effort; the image reflects nothing like the real realities of war, but nevertheless, Leper is completely hooked by it. Leper leaves a week later, before his 18th birthday, enlisted in the ski troops and perfectly happy to go.

Leper becomes a rather unbelievable symbol of the events of the war for them; he is the fantastic liason between them and the newspaper reports they read everyday, a kind of window into the war that is no more realistic than the patriotic, glossed-over views they previously held. Phineas, strangely, draws away from his friends because of their ongoing fascination with Leper's alleged adventures in the war. Gene describes how Finny stops visiting the Butt Room, where the group usually gets together to discuss "Leper's" exploits, and he tries to draw Gene away with him, into Finny's little world where war and enlistment do not exist.

Gene begins to loathe the long weekends at school, when the cold and the snow prevent excursions, and sports are mostly out of the question. Finny decides to organize the first winter carnival at Devon, so that there's something fun to do outside. Gene is persuaded, then manages to get the newly-rebellious Brinker in on their plans.

The Saturday of the carnival comes, and the day is cold and very gray. Brinker has obtained some hard cider, snow sculptures have been made, and a heavy table with prizes on it are all set up; some boys have even beat a little ski ramp out of the snow. Finny or Brinker are supposed to preside over the festivities, but the boys suddenly go mad, rushing for the cider and becoming rather unruly for the first time that winter. Finny declares the games open, with a torch made of a flaming copy of The Illiad. Finny is definitely cheered up by the whole little festival, and the other boys are very pleased, full of cider and happy for the break.

Then, a telegram comes for them from Leper; he says he has "escaped," and needs them to meet him and help to bail him out of whatever trouble he is in. Finny and Gene are absolutely shocked that their friend has deserted, and are determined to meet him and help him out.

Analysis:

Leper's change of heart in this chapter shows how things can change, and people can change, with the right kind of impetus behind them. When the boy least likely to go to war is the first of the class to enlist in the service, it makes a big impression on Gene. Leper makes the point that "everything has to evolve or else it perishes," and this point makes Gene think of how this peace carried over from the summer could change, or how he will be forced to change in order to get by (117). This one line from Leper is delivered in such a decisive, dramatic way that it jumps out of the prose, and seems to be introducing an important new thread in the book. Perhaps it foreshadows a change that Gene will have to make great adjustments to get through, and taken with the metaphor of the wave about to sweep over him, these two moments in the prose mean that something is definitely about to happen.

Still, that Leper is persuaded by a glossy kind of video reinforces how "artificial," as Gene has said, that any news of the war that has reached the boys had been. Leper joins, thinking that he is going to be part of that ideal, happy picture of the men skiing downhill; what he doesn't look for is what relation any of this has to war, and any possibility that he may be called upon to perform some rather unpleasant tasks. Gene, at this time, is so out of reality that he can hardly comment on the state of naivete that most of the boys still exist in, and seems to believe in the idyllic picture he is being shown rather than questioning it.

In a rather remarkable way, Leper becomes more important and is taken more seriously by the boys once he has left and gone to war. He is a symbol of the heroism and interesting deeds of war, a representation of all the brave and wonderful successes of the American troops. Their support of "Leper" is another way to show patriotism and feel involved in the war, without having to face the harsh realities involved in the real events.

Again, Gene is afraid of the parts of himself with which he is not familiar, but which he suspects might exist. Gene is still slow to attempt any self-examination, for fear of what he might find; he states that he is afraid he will expose himself to be "the Sad Sack, the outcast, or the coward," with no mention of his more sinister aspects, which he knows to exist. It is possible that these sides to Gene really do exist, and will come out under the duress of war; but Gene's reluctance to face anything unpleasant in himself might mean that he denies these things too, and continues on in his self-ignorance.

Finny is also undergoing his first major transformation in the book; he becomes more and more dependent on Gene, and withdraws from his friends because of their insistence on talking about the war and about "Leper," the war's unlikely symbol. Something is happening inside Finny; perhaps the suffering he has admitted to feeling is dragging him down, perhaps he is silently becoming bitter about his injury and pain.

Just as Finny becomes more and more withdrawn, his usual jovial theories and insistence on living in his own world become more unhealthy, as Finny begins to live in a great sense of denial. Finny refuses to hear anything related to the war, when before he merely jokes such talk aside, and he stubbornly insists that Leper is still around, or that he's gone off into nature to explore. Brinker also undergoes a change, losing all his determination to march on to war because he cannot find anyone else who is willing to go. He resigns every post he holds on campus, as one of the foremost figures of the school; both he and Finny pretty much stop doing anything around campus, as the school loses more people than just Leper, although the others are still on campus.

As usual, the weather, which is the main indicator and symbol of the general mood on campus, reflects the change that has come over several of the boys. The images of the outdoors become very bleak, depressed, and are conquered by the winter; with "every sprig of vitality snapped" around them, the boys, like Brinker and Finny, become similarly depressed and inactive. The weather seems either to be sympathetic to the boys' moods, or to make a great impression on their feelings.

Chapter 10 Summary:

Gene talks about finally going into the service after he graduated, about how his time was all training and he never actually had to go to war. He goes to see Leper at his home in Vermont, and Leper is definitely changed; he is very unpleasant and bitter with Gene, and seems to have been scarred in some way by his time in the service. Leper accuses Gene of causing Finny to fall out of the tree, and reveals that he left the service because he was about to be discharged for mental health reasons. Gene gets angry and attacks Leper for his comments, then apologizes and is too embarrassed to leave immediately. After lunch, Leper and Gene go for a walk, and Gene sees that Leper really has cracked up. Leper talks nonsense, and somehow it affects Gene, who yells at Leper to stop talking, and then runs away when Leper won't.

Analysis

Leper becomes a symbol for what the war does to young men like himself, especially since he has a breakdown before he even gets overseas. Leper's tale is supposed to stand for what happens to innocence when it is suddenly overwhelmed by experience or reality, and Leper is chosen to be the object of this lesson because of how untouched and peaceable he was before he left. The whole thing is rather improbable, since Leper talks and acts more like Brinker, and really bears no resemblance to his old self after the incident. There is really no indication beforehand that he would be capable of reacting in such a way, and afterward there is little sense of who he is, or at least of the character that was established before he enlisted. Leper is yet another character, like Finny, who is more symbolic than real, written to make a point than to be a believably real characterization.

One thing that Leper is able to do after his army experience is peg Gene's personality, and know what he did to Finny. Finally, naïve little Leper evaluates Gene in a more accurate way than anyone else in the book; "You always were a savage underneath," Leper tells Gene, "a swell guy, except when the chips were down" (136). The appraisal is absolutely right on, though Gene of course doesn't want to hear it. So Gene breaks out into violence, confirming Leper's statement. Gene says that he doesn't really care about Leper, and shows off his angry temperament quite a bit in this chapter. We see that Gene, for all his civility at school, still has a bit of a mean streak in him, and still has the capacity to lash out at people for nothing, like he did with Finny. Gene is unstable and unpredictable when faced with the truth, or with something that upsets him; he's not quite the nice rule-abider he wants to portray himself as, as he displays once again. This introduces the theme of appearance vs. reality, because as Gene refuses to understand his own nature, he will be unable to represent himself the way he really is.

This chapter is somewhat awkwardly written in places, like with Leper's brand-new personality on show, and with Gene's oddly motivated reaction at the end. Why Leper'sr talk disturbs Gene so much is not made clear at all; Gene doesn't say why he is so incredibly upset at it, though presumably it has something to do with him identifying with the feelings that Leper is expressing. Still, the prose in this section is rather murky, with the only reason that Gene gives for not wanting to hear it is that it has "nothing to do with [him]" (143). Does this mean that Gene feels responsible for what happened to Leper? On the other hand, how could he feel any responsibility, not having been there when Leper started going crazy, and after being a better friend to him than most of the boys at the school. Does Gene feel that he too is going crazy, which is why he doesn't want to hear it? Or is Gene simply being callous, and doesn't want to help Leper out any more? Because the motivation for Gene flipping out and running away is anything but clear, his reaction doesn't have the same power that the prose clearly intends it to have. Gene says that he "didn't want to hear any more of it. Not now or everŠI didn't want to hear any more of it. Ever" (143); the repetition emphasizes his sentiments, but since it is hard to figure out why he is acting like this, it is impossible to empathize. Gene's story gains most of its emotional impact through the empathy he helps his reader to feel with him, but when it is difficult to find a way to empathize with him, this emotional impact is lost.

Chapter 11 Summary:

Gene is finally back at school, and finds Finny involved in a snowball fight at the edge of campus. Gene slinks away, afraid that someone will ask him how things went with Leper, but he is caught by Finny, who pegs him with a snowball. Gene finds himself caught in the snowball fight, which, at the end, has all of them pelting Finny.

Brinker again comes to visit the boys, usually not a good sign; he gets the truth about Leper out of Gene, and is surprised at first, but then believes the news. Finny reveals during the course of the conversation that he's finished with his little fake-war talk and his attempts to keep himself in a fantasy world of his own making.

Devon again becomes swept up by the war, with a lot of recruitment and many boys planning to go into military training or military school. None of them are in a real hurry, however, as many of them are only planning on training to keep them out of combat for as long as possible. Brinker gets people in the war spirit, but is spending plenty of time making up schemes that will also keep him away from the front.

Brinker confronts Gene again, acting as a sort of youthful conscience figure. Brinker again reasserts that he knows Gene caused Finny's accident, and since Finny has to realize that he is crippled for life, they might as well make sure he understands that fact. Gene doesn't agree, and lets Brinker make his point.

After Gene has dutifully translated Finny's Latin, Brinker and pals rush into their room and drag them out to the First Building, which Brinker still has the keys to. Brinker, who is far more obsessed with Finny's accident than either Gene or Finny are, is holding some kind of inquiry into the accident, with a few other boys there to act as an examining jury. Brinker brings Leper, who was at the scene of the accident, out to speak; when Leper says that Gene did indeed push Finny, Finny freaks out and runs from the room. He falls on the marble steps outside, and re-breaks his leg.

Analysis:

Gene is prone to underestimating Finny and Finny's experiences, especially because of the accident. Gene would like to believe that his friend is his old jovial self, truly believing that "with him there was no conflict except between athletes," which certainly holds little truth (144). Gene doesn't even consider Finny's bitterness toward him, displayed once before, for causing him to be crippled; this is another harsh truth that Gene certainly doesn't want to face, since they are so close and so dependent on each other. In this chapter, Gene finally finds out how much Finny has changed‹that he isn't the same happy-go-lucky, in his own universe type of guy‹and that he has been through a great deal, and been touched by his experience. This is part of the theme of change under crisis, which also applies to Leper's case‹Finny is faced with his closest friend's treachery, his physical limitations, and the reality of the war, and Leper is unable to deal with the stresses of military training.

Finally, the depths of winter have been shrugged off, as Gene is enthralled by the "vitality" that, to him, signals the coming of spring. But this feeling is just a short-lived reprieve; Gene's "peace" that he felt before was shattered by seeing Leper, and knowing from his experience that the war is definitely real. Gene himself acknowledges that they don't have much time left to feel so young and carefree; "I kept wondering about next spring, about [whether it] had this aura of promise in itŠI felt fairly sure it didn't" (146). The bigger wave that Gene had mentioned is about to hit, and the war is becoming something that the boys can no longer ignore.

When a set-off section appears discussing the state of Finny's leg, this is a rather plain instance of foreshadowing. Chances are, the author wouldn't draw such attention to this subject if it wasn't to become important later; and, by the end of the chapter, this issue becomes very important, as the boys' confidence about Finny's strength proves false. Finny's insistence that his leg is stronger, and Gene's agreement, is ironic taken with the events at the end of the chapter.

Leper's transformation has an effect on more people than just Gene; both Brinker and Finny are changed somehow by hearing about it, especially Finny, who finally acknowledges that the war is real because of Gene's account of events. Brinker is the most skeptical of Gene's story at first; "no one can change that much," he insists, an ironic statement since that is exactly what has happened (148). But, Brinker is also the one who is least surprised, in the end, by what happened; he guesses Leper's whole story, somehow, from Gene's brief statements that Leper has changed and panicked after he enlisted. Brinker seems genuinely saddened by what happened to Leper, yet he is able to turn around and try to destroy Gene and Finny's friendship directly afterward. Brinker doesn't seem to be emotionally affected by anything for long, nor does he seem to understand other people quite as well as he pretends to.

As soon as Gene tells them about Leper, Finny seems to have automatically changed. When Brinker makes a remark about Finny being crippled and sidelined, Finny just accepts the remark, rather than giving Brinker heck for saying such a thing. When Gene urges Finny to say that there isn't a war, Finny obliges him, but his completely ironic statement betrays that he no longer believes in his own fantasy-world constructions.

The struggle between war and peace on campus appears to be almost won by war; though Devon, as Gene insists, is "by tradition and choice the most civilian of schools," still the boys there can't go on acting like they won't be in the military in a matter of months (150). Gene notes the divide between the students at the school and the recruitment officers who pay them frequent visits; he uses a metaphor that relates the school to Athens and the military representatives to Sparta, emphasizing the "deep and sincere difference" between the two, which is very hard to bridge (151). Enlistment fever has died down, but still, something is lost on campus when the war is allowed to encroach; the boys are forced to think of their adult lives, and the possibilities that their lives might be lost‹heavy thoughts for young boys of 17.

Brinker's behavior turns vindictive and strange in this chapter; where his extended joke about Gene's guilt was a bit odd, his obsession with Finny's accident and condition is unexplainable. Brinker has absolutely no reason to suspect any foul play, since he wasn't at school when it happened, and none of the boys present said anything of the sort to anyone. It seems like a form of ESP for Brinker to just waltz in on he first day and automatically know what happened outside of his presence; and why he would be completely obsessed with events which had nothing to do with him, and for which he was not present, is even more mysterious. Brinker is obviously meant to be a kind of conscience figure, intended to dredge the ugly truth up in front of Gene and Finny; but isn't this purpose rather redundant, since both Gene and Finny know the truth without Brinker's unwanted interference?

To state it plainly, Brinker has no stake in the matter, and no motive in his actions that is discernible from the text. He has no way of knowing what went on, and no sources to draw on in order to create his "theories." The patchy motivations and the indistinct characterization of Brinker make him seem like another symbolic figure. It is as if he were a creation of both Gene and Finny's inner conscience, reluctantly spawned by both of them as a way of forcing themselves to confront the realities of the accident, and their state afterward. Brinker is another character who is anything but realistic, and operates on a more allegorical and less realistic plane than a character like Gene. The novel itself seems to be attempting some sort of realism, with its carefully drawn main characters, its painstakingly constructed settings, and its extensive treatment of themes relating to ordinary human nature. But, in places like this one, the story loses its realistic thread and tries to vault itself to the level of a parable. The novel is uneven because of this divide between two different genres and kinds of writing; it is an incomplete work of realism colored with self-examination, combined with an incomplete parable.

The inquiry itself is rather odd, since neither Gene nor Finny consent to it or want to take place in the proceedings. Brinker resides as the chief of the proceedings, hell-bent on getting the "facts" into the open for everyone's own good; how ironic, since it is the disclosure of the facts which causes Finny's second accident, and puts a great traumatic strain on him and Gene. As Gene says in his apt metaphor, Brinker is "imagining himself Justice incarnate"; but even Gene knows that Brinker is going at this from the wrong angle, since "Justice incarnate isŠalso blindfolded," while Brinker is trying to get his desired outcome out of the whole affair (161).

Just as Gene tries to deny responsibility for the accident, Finny tries his best to cover up his friend's guilt. They work together to try and thwart the charges that Brinker puts before them, and fully illustrate their very different natures. Gene is being more selfish in his attempts to cover things up, with his lies meant to hide his involvement; Finny is trying only to shield his friend from any implications, and tries to divert attention away from Gene's guilt. But this is one time that they cannot deny what has happened, and the truth comes out, despite their wishes that it be their secret. This is a unique occasion, because Finny cries, for the first time that Gene has been witness to, and for the first time in the book. He surrenders his will to fight, which may be partly to blame for his accident at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 12 Summary:

The others rush out to help Finny; someone goes to fetch Mr. Stanpole, and someone else gets Phil Latham, the wrestling coach, who helps Finny until the doctor can arrive. Dr. Stanpole finally gets there, and Finny is carried to the infirmary in a chair. Finny is put into Dr. Stanpole's car, and a crowd gathers around, with Gene well at the back. Gene is told to go back to his dorm, but he wants to see how Finny is; he follows Dr. Stanpole's car to the infirmary, and scouts out the room he believes Finny to be in. He waits until everyone is gone from Finny's room, then opens Finny's window and pulls himself inside. Finny is angry at Gene, and falls out of his bed while trying to get up and come at him; Gene says he's sorry, and leaves, walking back depressed.

Rather than going home, Gene walks around the stadium and the gym; he is in a strange sort of reverie, where he feels like a spirit, and everything around him is vibrant and full of meaning. The next morning, he gets a note to take some of Finny's things to the infirmary; he is worried because he doesn't know what to say to Finny, and is saddened by having to live through this situation again.

Gene goes to the infirmary, and Finny is very different from the night before; he is crying and his hands are unsteady, and he asks Gene if he had made him fall out of the tree because Gene hated him. Gene reassures him that it was some blind unexplainable thing that made him do it, and it had nothing to do with hate or any ill-will against Finny. Finny says he believes Gene, and they finally reach closure with that issue.

When Gene returns to the Infirmary to see Finny after his operation, he meets Dr. Stanpole. Dr. Stanpole sits him down and tells him that Finny died during the operation. Gene is too shocked to even think about it, and cannot cry because he feels like he died too, along with his friend.

Analysis

The scene after Finny's accident is very odd; with no mention of him either speaking or moving, it is like he is already dead. This is the final break between Finny and Gene; Gene stays at the edge of the crowd while Finny is in the center, and there doesn't seem to be any contact between them, or any recognition on Finny's part either. Gene notes a difference in Finny's look too; he says the sight of Finny being carried off is like that of "some tragic and exalted personage, a stricken pontiff." Finny's position is finally reversed, as he truly becomes helpless, and his friend is too shocked to step in and help him out. This comparison does not bode well for Finny's recovery; in Gene's language, there is a sense that things are coming to an end that foreshadows Finny's fate.

Too late, Gene finally realizes that Finny believed him to be "an extension of himself" (171). Gene never came close to extending the same kind of regard to Finny that Finny had to him; Gene finally has to realize how he failed his friend, and how his jealousies impeded a true friendship between them. Finny and Gene seem to be giving each other up here; it is one of the few times since Finny's return that the two have allowed themselves to be separated.

This is the first time that Gene has been seen in a real crisis situation, and his way of dealing with it is to think of as many funny things as he can. He suddenly concocts jokes to the things he believes that Dr. Stanpole and Phil Latham would say to Finny, then creates some amusing scenario around all of them. It is hardly the time to be devoting his thought-power to such trivial things, but it helps him to keep his mind off how serious Finny's condition might be, and how Finny might regard him after this second accident. Gene laughs himself to tears as a coping mechanism, because it is easier to fill himself with fake happiness than to deal with the events that are going on around him.

Gene and Finny's separation is made complete by Finny's anger against Gene. Finny is not one to get angry, but this anger serves as a final rejection of Gene, and a logical reaction to a person who has hurt him so badly. Gene, also uncharacteristically, lets Finny get himself up after he falls; in the Gene/ Finny relationship of old, Gene would have automatically gone to help, and Finny would have let him.

From Gene's reaction after seeing Finny at the infirmary, it seems that Gene is already mourning the passing of his friend. He goes around to all of their usual spots, recalling their significance in their relationship; he seems like he is in shock, going past the gym and declaring that it had " a significance much deeper and far more real than I had noticed before" (177). Even the trees around him become "intensely meaningful," and seem as if they would tell him something "very pressing and entirely undecipherable" (177). Gene's language makes a familiar landscape entirely strange and luminescent; he says that he is like a ghost, in a very interesting metaphor, in surroundings that are "intensely real" (178). Gene has already said goodbye to Devon, and to the memories included in his surroundings; he is mourning things before they are lost to him, and it is almost like he knows that Finny will soon die. This walk makes sense when Finny's demise is considered; it seems like a logical reaction to the death, but instead is an act of foreknowledge, a bit of foreshadowing of significant events to come.

Finny's confession that he denied the war because he couldn't get involved is something that Gene never even considered before. It is interesting that Finny blocked it out because it was the one thing he couldn't be involved in if he tried; he is so used to being able to get involved in anything that he chooses, that he cannot bear it when there is something he definitely cannot do. But, it was providence that Finny did break his leg, as Gene makes him see; as the kind of person who doesn't recognize teams or sides, who feels free to change alliances for no reason and likes the kind of game where it is him against everybody, he just couldn't grasp the philosophy behind war.

It is good that Finny and Gene come to some sort of reconciliation at that point. Finny forgives Gene for the first time, since he only just stopped denying Gene's responsibility. There is closure in Gene's statements about not hurting Finny out of anything conscious or out of hate, and Finny saying that he believes Gene. When Gene said "this is it" about meeting Finny this time, he knew that they would have to close the issue somehow; with that statement, he foreshadowed his and Finny's reconciliation, and also that something big and final, like Finny's death, was about to happen.

Gene's ability to recall all of the events of the day of Finny's death is very significant; it is like that whole day is frozen in time, and his discussing it in such detail is almost like he is reliving it. This is the only time in the whole book when Gene talks about a meal he had at school, the conversation over the meal in the dining hall, and what he did, hour by hour, on one school day. He talks about his class schedule, where he was when and what he did during that time, and evokes, for the first time in the book, what an ordinary day was like at Devon.

That he recalls everything in such detail before he finds out about Finny's death is strange, because it is almost like he knows about it from the night before, when Gene started to recall things in incredible detail. Otherwise, he would have had to go back in his memory and tack down everything that had happened that day, if he could remember, after he found out about Finny. Either way, it is quite different from how most people remember significant moments; as Brinker says, when he saw a child he knew get hit by a car, he can remember the surroundings, the feel, and the details surrounding that moment. But it is not as if Brinker can recall what he had to eat before it happened, what time he woke up that day, and everything that had happened up until that moment; for most people, the moment in which they hear such news is very vivid, and sticks in their memory. But for Gene, the vivid moments are concluded, when he actually hears the news about Finny's death.

It seems that Gene only really appreciates what Finny was to him when Finny dies. Finny had thought of Gene as an extension of himself, but it is only after Finny's death that Gene feels it is his own death too. Finny was the sort of person who appreciated people, like Gene, for what they were to him, and felt free to tell them their significance. Gene, however, wasn't even able to acknowledge what Finny was to him until it was too late, and Finny was already lost. This recalls Finny telling Gene that he was his best friend, and Gene not being able to say the same thing; Gene is unable to search his feelings and come up with the same conclusion as Finny.

Finny is a casualty of war, without ever having been involved in battle. Brinker says this, and Dr. Stanpole reiterates it; but it is not the same kind of war that Finny is really a victim of. He is a victim of a sort of internal war, against yourself, that lashes out against others. Gene hurt Finny because his jealousy and carelessness and his "savage" nature took control of him; Gene didn't hurt himself in trying to get his good nature to win out over the bad, someone innocent was harmed in this struggle. Just as Finny is a victim of Gene's war, so many people turned out to be victims of someone else's war too; perhaps this is why Dr. Stanpole and Brinker see Finny as a war casualty, because his situation is very similar to theirs.

Chapter 13 Summary:

It is June, and Devon gives use of the Far Common to the war effort. Brinker and Gene watch the troops and jeeps and equipment being brought in, for a Parachute Rigger's School being made there; Brinker brings up Leper, which Gene tells him not to talk about. Gene says that no one blames him for what happened to Finny, although he blames himself.

Gene is introduced to Brinker's dad, and says that he has joined the Navy. Brinker has joined the Coast Guard, probably part of his scheme to stay out of battle. Brinker's dad is very gung-ho about the military, and gives the boys a speech about having a good military record, and how people will respect them based on what they did for the war. Brinker obviously doesn't agree.

Gene then talks about Finny, and his experience in the war; how Finny was the only person he knew whose character was safe from being corrupted by the war, and how his friendship with Finny prepared him for his own experience. In lieu of Finny, he has finally adopted Finny's way of looking at things, and some of Finny's personality and rebelliousness. Finny means a lot to him and still influences him, and Gene is finally able to appreciate his friend for all that he was, and make peace with him.

Analysis:

War finally, and literally, takes over Devon; it has arrived, and Gene is more than ready to leave. The campus becomes unrecognizable to him, with all the military gear; since the peace of the summer before is completely dead and definitely a thing of the past, it is easy for him to say goodbye to it and continue on to his adult life. The other symbol of his carefree youth was Finny, and he died just as his glorious summer was about to disappear forever because of the war; Gene has nothing left to cling to of his childhood, so it is time for him to go.

Would Gene have been able to go off to war, and would war have been able to encroach upon Devon, if Finny was still there? The war would have necessarily divided Finny and Gene, since Gene could serve and Finny could not; their old friendship would have ended anyway, and Gene would finally be taken over by order and discipline, and severed from his old friend's rebelliousness.

However, Finny doesn't really die in Gene; as Gene says, "Phineas created an atmosphere in which I continued now to live," and he takes up Finny's way of looking at the world and choosing what to accept and what to let go. Because Finny is gone, Gene does have to let some of Finny's spirit reside in him.

The general explanation for Leper's change comes out in one of the book's closing paragraphs. Gene speaks about how everyone "at some point found something in themselves pitted violently against something in the world around them" (194). And, as a result of this overwhelming conflict with some great force, "the simplicity and unity of their characters broke and they were not the same again." Certainly, Leper is an example of this theory in action, though his description of his struggle wasn't nearly as coherent or simply put. But, does this same thing happen to Gene? It is not clear; though Gene has been through a great deal, with his relationship with Finny and Finny's death as well, it seems like he has adopted some of the coping mechanisms that Finny had, and is not as touched by this kind of struggle. For a time, though, Finny's death is the force that floors him; maybe he is not exactly the same after this happens, though Gene tries his best to say that Finny lives in him, so he will get by okay.

But, at the same time, Gene admits that he had broken Finny's "harmonious and natural unity"; if Finny too had lost this, can Gene ever hope to retain it? And what does this mean about Gene? He has given various explanations in the book for hurting Finny‹from it being a blind impulse in him, to it being an attempt to win out over his friend, to the accident being the sole product of some dark side that he has. Are any of these really the truth? Indeed, Gene seems reluctant to speak directly and honestly about the accident, and say definitively what his motivation was and why. And maybe this isn't something Gene will ever know; as he admits in the book, there are a great number of things that he doesn't know about himself, that he would like to never find out. This could be one of them, and could be the reason why Gene admits fault for the accident, but won't really search within himself for why he did it. But, if Finny and Gene also let the incident rest, then Gene might feel this is a good enough reason to let the past alone, and not experience the pain all over again.

One of the final lessons, that Gene goes into on the last page, is how futile hate and fear both are; he cites Mr. Ludsbury, Brinker, and Leper as being misguided and losing a great deal in citing their own enemies and trying their best to defend against them. Gene says he has already killed his own enemy, and therefore has gotten rid of his hate and his fear. Gene's enemy must have been himself, or at least the part of himself that was so quick to lash out and hurt other people. He believes that he has buried his darker side, and from what the reader can tell, maybe he has. Hopefully Finny's influence is as strong with him as he insists, and he will never again let himself slip into carelessly harming someone who is almost part of himself.

• Biography of John Knowles
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• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 12-13
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