Chapter 5

1.

• Gene wants to become like Finny. He hates what he has done and by wearing Finny’s clothes, he loses his evil self and takes on the persona of Finny’s noble self.

2.

• Gene also needs to face things – he needs to face his own dark heart and deal with it – the bad he is capable of doing

3.

• Gene accuses Finny of trying to pull Gene down too.

• Again, Gene is trying to soil Finny’s goodness to order to make himself look better.

4.

• (“You look like [the fall] happened to you.” – It did happen to Gene – just in a different way)

• Finny literally fell and broke his leg.

• Gene falls from innocence – learns that he has a dark heart – not all good

5.

• Finny is still innocent and only sees the good in the world – so he cannot see Gene’s evil heart.

6.

• House is proper and old and quiet; Finny is rebellious and active and full of life

7.

• Gene started to end the friendship by jostling the limb, but it didn’t work. Now he must end it by telling the truth.

• Maybe he’s looking for forgiveness

8.

• Finny lives in a world of illusion. By admitting that he was wrong about Gene would mean he might be wrong about other stuff too - he can’t play sports, he can’t join the war effort, that evil does exist, that your friends can be your enemies, etc. His whole world will crash if forced to admit one truth.

9.

• Gene says he won’t start living by the school’s rules, but when Finny comes back he follows Finny’s rules - more than ever

Ch. 6

1.

• Summer is allied with peace/innocence/freedom/enjoyment = all reflected in the beauty of nature “pure as the shores of Eden”

• Winter is allied with war/loss of innocence/conditions/rules/conformity

• “Peace had deserted Devon” – summer/innocence of youth and Finny are gone – as well as Gene’s peace of mind

2.

• Devon River – gentle, calm, fresh, familiar – the playground of the boys during the summer (represents Finny)

• Naguamsett is dirty, unpleasant, ugly, saline, fringed with marsh/mud/seaweed (represents Gene)

• Represent good and evil in mankind

3.

• Gene and Finny will pretend that everything is the same between them – but it’s not.

• The school pretends that the war will not come to the young men - yet it will

4.

• Yes – broke the rules of friendship, fair play, trust, honesty within himself and now feels pain for doing so.

5.

• Punishing himself? To be like Finny?

• Either way - if Finny can’t play sports, than neither will he.

6.

• Quakenbush is competitive yet feels inferior to others – Gene views himself the same way.

• Quakenbush says he “knows” Gene – and Gene doesn’t want anyone to know the real him. Doesn’t want people to judge him on reputation alone – like they do with Quakenbush.

7.

• Gene is upset because he is just beginning to figure out who he is – and he doesn’t like it. His new self might be fitting for ”hell.” Others don’t know the real him, except for Quakenbush who is also destined for hell.

8.

• They fall in the Naguamsett – the dirty river that leads out to the sea and the world beyond Devon–a world at war – fitting because they are both bad

9.

• Gene is being questioned about his motives/actions of the summer

• Gene calls himself the defendant and Ludsbury the judge and the situation a courtroom

10.

• Gene did not take in another roommate.• Friends don’t let other friends take their

spot in a dorm room and friends don’t let other friends fall out of trees. Gene and Finny are friends so Gene must not have let Finny fall from the tree.

• Finny is loyal to Gene too – says he’d shoot himself if Gene replaced him – bet that makes Gene feel guilty!