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.

Assignment 5 Question 3 Julia Burnett

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

The Devon River, which runs beside the Devon school, symbolizes innocence and purity and is yet another way the author, John Knowles, uses nature to describe Gene’s relationship with the war. The Devon River is a clear, freshwater way that is hidden by a row of trees and bushes separating it from the school. The boys, who have grown up at the Devon School, have been shielded from the horrors occurring in the world, just as the trees shield the river. Gene and his friends had played in the Devon River ever since they were young, every year moving further upstream. As Gene reflects, “ We were still calmly, numbly reading Virgil and playing tag farther downstream” (Knowles 15). Although the river is safe and inviting, it abruptly turns into a waterfall, plummeting into the “turbid” Naguamsett River. At the time, the Devon School was not only educating its students, but also preparing them to fight in World War II, and, as they got older, they got closer and closer to being drafted. Every year the boys venture further upstream, getting closer to the waterfall, and to the age that would make them eligible to join the Army. The Naguamsett River, which merges via a waterfall with the Devon River is cluttered with seaweed and marshland, clouded with mud and pungent with the smell of sulfur. It leads to the ocean with a strong outward current. Gene’s opinion of the state of the river is not fond, as he describes it as, “ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed…governed by unimaginable factors like the Gulf Stream, the Polar Ice Cap, and the moon” (Knowles 76). The rough state of the water is very much like the exterior of a soldier, wounded and bloody. The affect that strong outside forces, such as the moon, have on the current of the river is very much like the affect of war and battle on the mind of a soldier, controlling it and taking over its power to think independently or positively. As Gene said, “ The Devon School was astride these two rivers” showing that the school was caught between letting the boys remain pure and innocent, shielding them from the terrors of the world, and preparing them to serve their country overseas (Knowles 76). As Gene enters senior year, John Knowles describes the threatening reality of a future at war for Gene and his classmates. The Devon River, which ends in a waterfall to the “turbid” Naguamsett River, represents the childhood and future of the Devon schoolboys, who were hidden from the horrors of the war and negative influences in order to remain pure and innocent, even though the threat of a future at war was beginning to shatter the naiveté of their childhood.

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 1, JFrye

1.) 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?

Well i feel that before the fight even happened Gene was already frustrated. Then Quackenbush made the comment "Get Some towels, As many as you can carry. That won't me too many" (Knowles 77). This slowly added on to Gene's frustration along with many other comments made by Quakenbush in chapter 6. Like when Gene says "Well it doesn't matter" (Knowles 78) and Quackenbush responds by saying "Yes It Matters" and "Go to hell Forrester. Who the hell are you anyway" (Knowles 78). After that Gene finally broke " You, Quackenbush, know nothing about who I am. That launched me and I had to go on and say, or anything else" (Knowles 79). In the very beginning of the chapter Gene is calm and composed. He talks about how winter is coming and the changing of the seasons, but then as we get closer to the fight Gene starts to felt depressed and sad over what he has become, the manager of a sport, a job only the cripple do.

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 5, question 1, Chris Bornhorst

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 and Cliff Quackenbush get in a fight with each other at a crew practice. This fight starts with Quackenbush ordering Gene to get towels, and makes fun of him. "... As many as you can carry. That won't be too many" (Knowles, 77). Gene gets mad at him but Quackenbush just comes back with another nasty comment. This is what starts the fight. Quackenbush is scared of Gene taking over his spot as the manager of the crew team, so he tries to keep it by bossing Gene around. Gene wasn't doing anything wrong to Quackenbush, but then he made the comment: "Go to hell Forrester" (Knowles, 78). This is what gets Gene heated and mad at Quackenbush. Gene's point of view is much different at the beginning of the chapter than it is at the end of the chapter. In the beginning, Gene peaceful and descriptive in his words. He makes it sound like everything is calm. "Fall had barely touched the full splendor of the trees, and during the height of the day the sun briefly regained its summertime power. In the air there was only an edge of coolness to imply the coming of winter" (Knowles, 72). However, at the end of the chapter he is mad and fired of at Quackenbush, so he is using language that has never been seen before in this novel. "You, Quackenbush, don't know anything about who I am. That launched me, and I had to go on and say, or anything else." Knowles, 79).