The significance of Gene and Finny's training is that now that Finny will not be able to play sports so now he wants Gene to accomplish his athletic goals for him. "Your going to be the big star now"(Knowles 114). While Gene is being trained athletically by Finny, Finny is also being tutored by Gene so he can keep his grades up. This training each other shows that maybe there friend ship isn't as bad as they believe it is. Because if Finny knows he can not succeed in something he would rather have his friend succeed in it. That reflects positively on their friendship. Gene is also using his time to study to help Finny with his school work so he can succeed in school. This training that Finny is doing to Gene is looking like training for the war. For example when Gene was running the corse in the morning one of the teachers at Devon thought he was training for the war.
Quinn,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments about the give and take training relationship between Gene and Finny, and your statement concerning Finny's desire to have Gene do well in sports. I think that you make a good point by saying, "This training that Finny is doing to Gene is looking like training for the war". In a way, Finny and Gene are carrying the magic of the summer session "military" tree jumps into the dark and cold winter session. This also relates to an earlier question that was assigned for this blog. It concerned the difference between the Devon and Naguamsett rivers, and how they relate to the summer and winter session. In this context, the joyous society meetings of the summer session represent the crystal clean and pure water of the Devon, and the makeshift, reduced and glory reducted training periods of the winter session represent the Naguamsett river. You make good points in this post, and I would like to discuss some of the topics you bring up in our classroom discussion.