Period 5
3-28-13
Chapters 7-8
Summary: Brinker comes to visit Gene, he thinks that Gene got rid of Finny so he could have a big room. They go down to the smoking room and Brinker jokes around and tells everyone down in the room his theory about what Gene did to Finny, playing it off as a joke. Gene and the other boys take a job shoveling snow off the railroad and on the way there he sees Leper skiing. Gene promises to enlist in the army with Brinker. At the end of the chapter, Finny is back. Gene tells Finny he plans on enlisting and Finny is shocked that Gene might leave. Later that day the boys ditch French class and go down to the gym and now Finny is going to train Gene for the Olympics. The boys come up with a theory that the war is a fake created by fat, old, men who want to keep their jobs.
Quotation: "To enlist. To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shed everything down to my last bit of clothing, to break the pattern of my life-that complex design I had been weaving since birth with all its dark threads...I yearned to take giant military shears to it..." (92).
Quotation Significance: This quote is talking about how desperately wants to cut off the ties of his old life and all that he has built and owned to enlist in the military and completely start a new life.
Reflection: In these chapters, Brinker embarrasses Gene by saying that he sabotaged Finny so he could get a big room and tells everyone in the smoking room about it and Gene tries to play it off like Brinker as a joke and tells them how he "poisoned" Finny. Gene knows that if he doesn't play this off right that he will get a bad reputation at Devon and he would sacrifice anyone else's reputation to save his. Finny also returns in chapter 8. Instead of being rivals again Gene and Finny work together. Gene tutors Finny in school and Finny trains Gene for the Olympics. Finny is shocked when he finds out that Gene might enlist. Gene feels trapped by his school life and secretly wished to cut the ties with his old life and enlist in the army and go live a new life and fight in the war. In the gym, Finny also says that he is suffering and the boys have an awkward moment and Gene doesn't know exactly how to respond but he feels bad for Finny and I think that Gene is starting to realize that Finny is actually a good friend and not out to steal any of his academic glory.
Discussion Question: How have Finny and Gene's relationship changed since he returned?
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