While reading this assignment i noticed how the Devon River and the Naguamsett River each represented something different. The Devon River was clear, fresh, and fun, it represented the summer time when Finny and Gene jumped off the tree and swam in the river. The Naguamsett River is all muddy and marshy, representing the fall when Finny was crippled and Gene got in the argument with Quackenbush. I noticed this difference between the rivers when Gene describes them, "We had never used this lower river, the Naguamsett, during the summer. It was ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, ocean, so that its movement were governed bye unimaginable ..... It was nothing like the fresh-water Devon above the dam where we'd had so much fun, all the summer." (knowles p.76). He describes the Naguamsett River like it was a piece of dump because that is how he feels about fall and then he compares it to the neat and clean Devon river (summer). This all shows that Gene wishes it was still summer and not fall. Now at the beginning of fall Gene just feels broken, "If you broke the rules, then they broke you" (knowles p. 74). He wishes Finny had never fallen and that it was still summer where the Devon River was, not here at the Naguamsett River with Quackenbush.
I agree with you Sophie. I would also add that the first time that he had visited the Naguamsett River was after the accident. Gene's views of rivers, fun and Devon had all been completely changed. The rivers were originally thought of as unknown and dangerous. Now however Gene's views are filled with regret and pain
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