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 #4 Question #1 Victor

Question #1: While Finny is in the infirmary, Gene is paranoid that people will be suspicious of him, and then he dresses in Finny's clothes and feels better. Why does Gene do this? Why was this significant.

This horrible accident is horrible for Finny, but even Gene is greatly affected by it. Gene becomes very paranoid and insecure. To feel better he wears Finny's clothes and sacred emblem. I think he wore them so that he could feel more like Finny. When Gene learns that he is asked by Phineas to visit him in the infirmary, he feels as if he is about to be attacked. In the room, you can notice that he is on the defensive when Finny mentions that he was trying to grab Gene. Gene then says, "To drag me down too"(Knowles 65)! This scene shows that what Gene did to Finny is hurting both of them. Gene knows thats it time to come forward, but the doctor takes him out before then. To come back to why he wore Finny's clothes, Gene and Finny whatever happens will still be best friends. So wearing the clothes is putting part of Finny in Gene, reminding him that Finny didn't deserve the fall.

Assignment 40-60 Dowden

4.) What exactly happened in the tree and who do you think was responsible? Why do you say this?

The incident at the tree marks a turning point in Gene and Finny's friendship. Although I do think Finny's fall was partially an accident, Gene did nothing to stop it. "holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step towards him,and then my knees bent and jounced the limb."(Knowles 59-60) This quote suggests that, at least from one perspective, that Gene was simply stepping forward and slipped, causing Finny's fall. But he did not reach out to catch finny, and just watched as he fell. Then he jumped cleanly into the water. I think this is the culmination of the buildup of enmity in the last two chapters and both the boys realize it. Right before falling, Finny "swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest," (Knowles 60) before falling down. This shows that Finny realized exactly what was happening. Also, the fact that Gene forgets his fear, because it has been blown out of the way, shows that hes not exactly torn up about what happened.