EDITED VERSION Assignment 11 Question 1 Katie

Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is?

Finny's fall is something that Gene can partially be blamed for, but I wouldn't say entirely. Although it was he would physically caused Finny's fall, he wasn't really consciously and purposefully doing it. He hadn't thought it through or planned it out. It was an impulse move. Finny understands this, and says to Gene as they are sitting in the infirmary for the second time, "It was just some kind of impulse move you had in the tree there, you didn't know what you were doing." (Knowles 191). He wasn't trying to cripple Finny for life, it was an impulsive and dangerous move, that he wasn't in control of. Finny's death definitely cannot be blamed on Gene, although he helped to cause it. This is because he wasn't trying to kill Finny at all, and even if he had really meant to make Finny fall off of the tree, he had never had the real, admitted intention of killing Finny. No one is particularly to blame in this situation, although many caused it. Blame is suggesting that it was a their cruel intent. Brinker Hadley helped to cause the death, because if he had not held the trial, Finny never would have fallen down those stairs. Dr. Stanpole helped to cause the death, because he was not quite careful enough during the operation that directly caused Finny's death.

I do not think that anyone should be blamed for Finny's death, although many caused it.

Assignment 11 Question 1 Katie

Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is?

Finny's fall is something that Gene can partially be blamed for, but I wouldn't say entirely. Although it was he would physically caused Finny's fall, he wasn't really consciously and purposefully doing it. He hadn't thought it through or planned it out. He wasn't trying to cripple Finny for life, it was an impulsive and dangerous move, that he wasn't in control of. Finny's death definitely cannot be blamed on Gene, although he helped to cause it. This is because he wasn't trying to kill Finny at all, and even if he had really meant to make Finny fall off of the tree, he had never had the real, admitted intention of killing Finny. No one is particularly to blame in this situation, although many caused it. Blame is suggesting that it was a their cruel intent. Brinker Hadley helped to cause the death, because if he had not held the trial, Finny never would have fallen down those stairs. Dr. Stanpole helped to cause the death, because he was not quite careful enough during the operation that directly caused Finny's death.

I do not think that anyone should be blamed for Finny's death, although many caused it.

Assignment 11 question 4 Julia Burnett

If Finny had survived his operation, do you think Gene and Finny could remain friends? Or do you think the friendship at this point is too broken? Make sure to include support from the text in your answer.

Although it would have been difficult at first, had Finny survived his operation him and Gene could have remained friends. Throughout the book Gene talks about Finny's ability to forgive and his inability to hate, therefore, it would be characteristic of Finny to accept Gene's apology and try to move on with their friendship. While Gene reflects on Finny's life after his passing he says, "When they began to feel that there was this overwhelmingly hostile thing in the world with them, then the simplicity and unity of their characters broke and they were never the same again. Phineas alone had escaped this. He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him...Only Phineas was never afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone" (Knowles 202-204). Although Gene’s actions at the tree were hostile and cruel, he sincerely apologized, allowing Finny to forgive him before he became overwhelmed with hatred and discontent. In their final conversation, Finny was able to express his anger and impatience with Gene giving them the ability to move past the anger so it could not cause resentment or problems at later times in their friendship. The readers know that Finny accepted Gene’s apology as he says in their last conversation, "I believe you. It's okay because I understand and I believe you. You've already shown me and I believe you" (Knowles 191). With the knowledge of Finny’s forgiveness and desire to move past the difficult time, the reader also understands that rebuilding trust between them will be difficult as described by Finny’s body language. While accepting Gene’s apology, Finny is described to be, “ nodding his head, his jaw tightening and his eyes closed on the tears” (Knowles 191). The nodding of his head and closing of his eyes show that Finny is being sincere while the tightening of his jaw describes the difficulty of rebuilding trust and bonds with Gene. Knowles description of Finny sums up the status of their relationship at the time and leads readers to think that while at times rebuilding friendship between Finny and Gene will be difficult, it is not impossible. Although rebuilding trust after such a traumatic incident would inevitably be difficult, it would be possible, especially with someone as forgiving as Finny.

HENRY BAMFORD'S Assignment 11 Question 1

1) Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is?

Finny's fall down the stairs wouldn't have happened if Gene hadn't made him fall out of the tree. The tree incident caused many of Finny's feeling about Gene to be bottled up. “ 'You get all the rest of the facts, Brinker!' he cried. 'You get all your facts!' I had never seen Finny crying, 'You collect every f---ing fact there is in the world!'... ” (Knowles 177). Gene's account of Finny's last actions before the fall at Brinker's trial clearly shows bottled up emotions. Gene has some role in the fall, but he definitely not the only person involved. Brinker is also responsible for Finny's fall because his trial freed the truth of what happened at the tree, which, as the reader saw, released Finny's true thoughts. Leper was another key person in the incident because of his detailed memories of the first fall. My point is, more than one person is responsible. Each comment at the trial was a part of pushing Finny to the breaking point. Many unnamed characters had roles in the fall.

Assignment 10 Question 3 Katie

Katie Massie

Leper’s return to Devon represents to Gene that the truth will come out. Not only because Gene knows that Leper almost definitely remembered everything that happened with the tree, but also because Gene wasn’t entirely honest in his descriptions of Leper to Brinker. He didn’t blatantly lie, but he let Brinker believe that Leper was just being a wimp, that he got frightened and ran home. This is true, but it’s not as pathetic as Brinker thinks. There is so much happening with Leper that Gene leaves out. This could be because he didn’t want to say something embarrassing to Leper, which he was right to not do, but I feel he is making others trust him less when he gives them the wrong image.

The impact that Leper’s return has on Gene and Finny is that they have a conversation with each other about trust and who to believe. It is a very important scene in the book, because Finny is some one is skeptical of a lot of things in his life, but he tells Gene that he has to believe him. Finny tells Gene that if Gene says something is true, Finny will take it as fact. He says, “But I do believe – it’s important after all for me to believe you. Christ, I’ve got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody.” (Knowles 163). This is a very important scene because it finalizes Gene and Finny’s closeness right before they are about to be publicly tested in front of a large crowd of people they have known for many years. It’s the moment that their friendship has been building up to throughout the book, where all their time spent together is going to be tested.

Assignment 10 question 1 Ayame

1) At the top of page 155, the snowball fight culminates with everyone turning on Finny. Why does this happen here and why now? How does this moment foreshadow events later in the chapter?

Everyone turns on Finny because he both started the fight and spent the entire fight double-crossing and stabbing his allies in the back. Since this is a game, nobody takes it personally, and the element of uncertainty makes the game more fun. Finny sees it as a way to make the game more fun, and he creates disorder quite purposefully, as Gene observes," Suddenly he turned his fire against me, he betrayed several of his other friends: he went over to the other, to Brinker's side for a short time, enough to ensure that his betrayal of them would heighten the disorder" (Knowles 154). This complete disruption of people's expectations is just like FInny, and it is also exactly what he did about his broken leg. Finny was expected to act like a regular cripple and stop participating in games like this, but he does none of that. The fact that everyone turns on him now, like they would've before, means that they have begun to accept that Finny is the way he is and he isn't going to change. Brinker seems to be one of the few that is still concerned, and he seems to be determined to get Finny to act like a 'normal cripple'. He tells Gene, " ...if you don't watch out he's going to start pitying himself. Nobody ever mentions his leg to him except me, Keep that up and he'll be sloppy with self pity any day now" (Knowles 160). Both this and the snowball fight foreshadow the trial that comes later in the chapter, with Brinker leading the proceedings and everyone turning against Finny. Like in the snowball fight, at the trial the kids are only looking for some harmless fun at first, and don't seem to take it very seriously--except, of course, for Brinker. In the end, they do end up causing a lot of harm despite their best intentions.

Assignment #10 Question #2 Victor

Explore the difference between what ‘escape’ means to Gene as opposed to what it means to Leper (see usage in context on the middle of page 143).

When Gene Forrester hears of Leper’s “escape”, he thinks of Leper and his nerved-wrecked character and naturally concludes that he has escaped from danger. What type of danger does not puzzle him one bit either, he mentions “Since Leper hadn’t been overseas the enemy must have been in his country. And the only enemies in this country would be spies” (Knowles 140). This is a great example of Gene’s very straight narrow mind. He does not consider Leper, possibly being injured, hurt, or in this case mentally unstable. When Gene arrives at Leper’s, he learns the horible truth about Leper’s Section 8 discharge. He doesn’t understand Leper during the chapter, and just when he opens up to Gene, Forrester leaves him to himself. Gene, does not seem to put himself in Leper’s skin, what would he have done if he was given a Section 8 discharge. Leper ran for his future, not his life. He tells Gene, “You can’t get a job after that” (Knowles 144). Gene and Leper have two different “escapes”. To Gene, men and women escape from danger and fight for survival. For Leper, he escaped because of his career, he doesn’t want to be the rumored “Psycho”. At the end, Leper is right back where he came from, with a strang fake confidence that could ruin Gene’s friendship for Finny forever. After all the way Gene treated him, he has every reason too.

Assignment #8 Question #3 Victor

Why does Finny organize the Winter Carnival? Why is this significant? What is the impact and symbolism of the Winter Carnival?

Phineas thinks up of the idea of a festival, a winter festival. In this chapter, with Leper and the chaos of the war it is hard to imagine them having a fun experience. Finny says, "You know what we'd better do this saturday?" (Knowles 128). This is strange because Finny, a man of inovation and hope is setting this thing up has if there was nothing else to do. The old Finny would have preferred to go cliff jumping, not that the daredevil Phineas had picked up its bags and gone because of an injury. The daredevil was still there just weaker than ever. He would prefer watch other people have fun than do nothing. For old Finny that would have been tortue. What is symbolic is that Finny's injury made him different and more calm. The impact is total chaos, until the Leper's letter showed up. Finny is very brave to have such an athletic character, and still be positive knowing sports should be forgotten. Let alone the fact that his best friend did this to him.

Assignment 7, question 5, Quinn Egan

What is the significance of Gene and Finny’s training? How is related to their conversations about war? What does it reveal about their relationship?

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.

HENRY BAMFORD'S Assignment 7 Question 3

3.) How does Finny feel about the war? How do you know this? Why does he act this way? Does it feel consistent with his character? (see 108-116)

In this reading, Finny seems to have changed greatly from his past self. Earlier in the reading, Finny was always cheerful and seemed to think only about the present. Now, Finny seems to be thinking that World War II is some sort of conspiracy to stop people like himself from doing what they would like and keep them in their place. Finny says, “Don't be a sap (Gene), there isn't any war” (Knowles 115). Later, he goes on to say that some other periods in history, like Prohibition and the Great Depression, were also created for the same purpose. The old Finny would never come up with something so dark and complicated as this. He may have these thoughts because Gene and Brinker are thinking of enlisting early while leaving him at Devon, injured. The purpose of his WWII is to keep the people who are young, like Finny, in their place and he feels this is happening to him. Finny is lying to himself and it might catch up to him. Maybe, later in the book, Finny will realize how crazy what he is.

Henry Bamford

(103-123) Assignment 7, question 4 Chris Bornhorst

4.) What do Gene’s observations about the changes in Finny reveal about Finny? About Gene? (109-114)

Gene notices Finny do some stuff that is very out of the ordinary once he comes back to Devon, which change both of them. Gene learns about how Finny has changed as a person during the time when he was gone. The observations that gene makes about Finny is that he is a little bit of an outsider in the social world. Finny is a little social awkward. Also, he stands in front of buildings and just stares up into the sky. He also said something to Gene. "... when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love" (Knowles, 111). This relates to Finny because he really loves sports. He likes athletics more than anyone, but when he got injured he couldn't play anymore, but that didn't stop him because he is still involved with it by helping Gene train for the Olympics.

This comment by Finny changed the way Gene looks at things because he seems to think that it's all about being the best at what your good at. He doesn't realize until now that it's about what you love, and what loves you back. Finny and Gene have changed a lot during the period when Finny was gone.

Assignment 6 question 5 Katie Massie

5.) How does Gene feel about war and enlisting in this reading (look closely at pages 100-102)?

At the end of our reading, Gene begins to discuss his feelings about the war and enlisting. He says that he was, “used to finding something deadly lurking in anything I wanted,” (Knowles 101). This explains a lot about Gene’s former love of his relationship with Finny. He says that if there isn’t something dangerous there, he will put it there himself. By the end of the page, he has decided to enlist for the war. At the beginning of the book, Gene did not seem like the kind to love danger. But now to the reader, this does not seem so unlikely. After all, we’ve seen him cause for his best friend to fall off a tree and shatter his leg, so Gene’s innocence, and victim position is diminished. Gene’s character has gotten shadier and shadier and more and more bold. The best line is, “It was a night made for hard thoughts”, (Knowles 101), because it shows Gene’s inner strength to sit alone with only himself and to face all his thoughts about something as terrifying as enlisting full-on. He knows that it’s dangerous, but he is used to loving dangerous things. Gene knows this isn’t something he is being pressured into doing, but something that he brings upon himself. He is used to doing dangerous things because of spending time with Finny for years. And he decides faces things immediately. He says, “I owed it to myself to meet this crisis in my life when I chose, and I chose now.” (Knowles 102). Gene brings a huge amount of courage up from inside himself, something that takes many people twice his age years to learn how to do.

Chapter 6, pg's 86-102, Question 1 by Lachlan McGrath

1.) Explore the significance/symbolism of the Nagaumsett. (You may have to refer to earlier readings to supplement your answer).

The significance of the Nagaumsett river is very subtle but quite defined. On page 86 Knowles says "I had never been in it before; it seemed appropriate that my baptism there had taken place on the first day of this winter session". This quote shows us that the first days of school without Finny will change Gene forever. This suggestion of "baptism" is a large contrast to the description of the Nagaumsett. Unlike the Devon river, The Nagaumsett required you to shower after going in it. This represents, to the responder, that Gene's purity and innocence is lost after Finny's tragic event. This is shown through the inpurity of the water. This theme is actually explained on the back of the book. It states that the incident "Banishes the innocence of these boys and there world". This now proves that Gene and his time at Devon will never be the same.

Assignment #6 Question 3 Ayame

3.) Explore and explain the significance of the scene in the Butt Room.

The scene in the Butt Room begins with Gene denying the “accusation” and thereby attracting everyone’s suspicion and attention, and ends with Gene playing along and completely dispels the atmosphere of doubt. The way he does this is quite interesting—by admitting to the crime and acting in such an over the top manner, he gets rid of most of the doubt that the others have towards him. If the had continued to deny the charges, the others would have continued to bother him about it, since denying a charge usually raises more suspicion then making jokes about it would. This is because a person who vehemently denies an accusation probably has something to hide, and others will spot this and on some level use this to make assumptions about that person. Gene knows this and uses it both to dispel the other’s suspicion and make himself feel better, and he says, “ I had to take part in this, or risk losing control completely” (Knowles 89). He also says later, “It was going well, faint grins were appearing around the room, even the younger boy seemed to suspect that he was being ‘sincere’ about a joke, a bad mistake to make at Devon, “then I…” I only had to add, “pushed him out of the tree” and the chain of implausibility would be complete” (Knowles 90). Yet even then Gene cannot actually say the words, he cannot actually deny pushing his best friend out of the tree. He came down to the Butt Room with Brinker to make his innocence clear, but something inside of him resists that fact. This is clear proof that it is almost impossible to lie to yourself, because somewhere, deep down, you know that it is wrong. Gene cannot bring himself to say these words, but the others believe him, despite his hesitation. This scene shows the depth of Gene’s perceived friendship with Finny, how none of the others really believe that he would do something like that even though he does not actually deny it.

Assignment #6 Question #5 Victor

5. How does Gene feel about war and enlisting in this reading (look closely at pages 100-102)?

The sudden shift in the book was imminent, yet we did not expect Gene to have the need to enlist. We didn't expect Phineas to be home either. War to Gene was something that people were forced to join, not a decision. Brinker states, "I'm giving it up , I'm going to enlist tomorrow" (Knowles 100). This is strange for the reader, because in a way he is giving up on life as if he had nothing to lose. As if his future was nothing without war. When Gene thinks of war as his duty, everything in the book turns around. Gene is a follower if it's Finny, a troop leader in Europe. Gene is too easily influenced. Gene doesn't fell good or bad, he just simply knows that Devon without Finny just isn't the same. The tongue-twister, Finny back at home, Geneis in shock. Everything can change up to now. We don't know if Gene's will for war will be influenced by Phineas.

72-85 assignment 5 Max Dowden

Explore the significance of the fight with Quackenbush. Why does it happen? What exactly sets Gene off? How is related to his narrative earlier in the chapter? Why might Quakenbush be so disdainful of Gene?

Gene at first does not wish to pit himself against Quakenbush, he in fact sympathizes with him. Cliff however feels the need to make Gene's life difficult. For much of the surrounding time, Gene keeps his cool through Quakenbush's disdain, which spawns from the fact that Gene is a senior and is an assistant manager. Usually a senior will only take that position if they have some sort of disability, so Quakenbush treats him as such. What sets Gene off is when Quakenbush says "listen you maimed son-of-a-bitch..." (Knowles 79). This resonates with Gene on an emotional level because Finny is essentially maimed, so using that word to describe Gene is taken as an insult to Finny. Since Gene has a deep seated admiration for Finny, and the guilt of being the one to maim him in the first place, he feels the need to strike back. He has a knee jerk reaction because of the fact that he is stewing in his guilt, and the idea that Finny will never again get the chance to be the star of sports, and it's all Gene's fault.

HENRY BAMFORD'S Assignment 5 Question 4

In the last section of the reading, Finny and Gene have a conversation about sports at Devon. Gene tells Finny about his experience as crew assistant manager and Finny responds with, “... what's that got to do with sports?” (Knowles 84) and “... if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me,” (Knowles 85). Gene then says to the reader, “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas” (Knowles 85). Gene sees this green light from Finny as a way to become the new Finny in sports. In future readings, maybe Gene will shift his focus from academics to athletics and fill his best friend's hole at Devon. Gene has always wanted to be at the same level as Phineas and this his chance. Will this be successful or satisfactory for Gene? Maybe not. The level of love for Finny in the past, and the increased level since his broken leg, filling Finny's place will be impossible for Gene.

Henry Bamford

Assignment 5, question 3- Sophie Attie

Explore the significance/symbolism of the Devon River (you may have to refer to earlier readings to supplement your answer).

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.

Assignment #4, Question 4 - Katie

What is guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can someone live guilt free?

Guilt is when you know you did something that wasn’t right. It’s when your conscience won’t leave you alone because you know that you purposefully did something you are fully aware that you shouldn’t have done. Many people attempt to bury guilt, because it is an uncomfortable and upsetting feeling. Every human being has some level of guilt in his or her life. It’s not possible to live entirely guilt-free. Maybe one has less guilt in his or her life, but that could be because they do less guilty things, or because bad things do not bother them as much. For some people, putting a piece of paper in the trash is not a big deal, and for others, they feel bad afterwards. No one can live guilt free, but the amount of guilt depends on the person.

Gene feels an extreme and terrible amount of guilt, after he jounces the tree, causing for Finny to fall and ending his sports career. It follows him for a long time when Finny is in the hospital. He tries to make the feelings go away, but ends up in kind of a funk, specifically when he is on vacation. While back at Devon he says, “I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was,” (Knowles 62). Gene cannot stop thinking about Finny and what he knows he did, and finally has to tell him, saying, “I was thinking about you and the accident because I caused it,” (Knowles 69). Experiencing guilt is a part of being human, and it can be rough and awful, or just a nagging feeling at the back of your head, but guilt is what helps humans to learn from their mistakes. When one learns from this punishment, they hopefully don’t do it again. Guilt is knowing you are in the wrong, it is a part of being human, and it is something Gene experiences a lot of in this reading.

Assignment #4, Question 4 Ayame

4.) What is guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can someone live guilt free?

Guilt is an emotion that humans feel when they feel bad about something they did or did not do. I do not think that it is possible to live guilt free, since everyone does things that they regret. However, different people feel guilty about different things. For example, at first Gene doesn’t seem to be very guilty about pushing Finny out of the tree, but instead does everything he can to block it out, pretendingq it never happened. He says, “ I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was” (Knowles 62). However, I think that this is another instance of Gene lying to himself, trying to get himself to no longer care. Guilt is the main emotion that keeps people from forgetting an experience where they did something wrong. He also lies to Finny and tries to manipulate his half-remembered version of the truth, even though Finny has a ‘feeling’ about what really happened in the tree. It was only after Finny apologized for suspecting Gene that the guilt really hits him, and he thinks "And I thought we were competitors! It was so ludicrous I wanted to cry. If Phineas had been sitting here in this pool of guilt, how would he have felt, what would he have done?” (Knowles 66). Gene then tries to assuage his guilt by telling Finny what really happened, but he ends up only hurting him more. By telling Finny, Gene did nothing to help either of them, since Finny now believes that his ‘best friend’ tried to kill him, and Gene knows that all he did was selfishly try to get rid of the burden of guilt by dumping it on Finny, thereby hurting him. Sometimes it’s better to keep a secret if you know that it could damage a relationship or hurt a person. Just because you feel like it would make you feel better doesn’t mean you should go ahead and do it. Life is full of mistakes and nobody’s perfect, so it is humanly impossible to live guilt free.