Sunday, May 11, 2014
Assignment #10 (152-177): Explore Brinker’s role in the trial and his motivation. Why does he orchestrate the trial?
Brinker orchestrates the trial because he is committed to finding every single fact that there is in the school, and can not stand not knowing the truth of how Finny got hurt. "You get all your facts! You collect every f---ing fact there is in the world!" (Knowles 177). Brinker also acts as though he is a true patriot and says that along with Leper, Finny is another man who cannot fight in the army. "There is a war on. Here's one soldier our side has already lost." (Knowles 168). Brinker's true motivation is to have the limited knowledge that only Gene, Finny and Leper share of the fall that Finny had. Brinker's role in the trial is to ask the main questions and to ensure that order is being kept. Brinker cuts of Gene when he starts to raise his voice and keeps the process of the trial running relatively smoothly. Throughout the trial Brinker never raises his voice, but breaks the silence with his speech making the words that he says more dramatic, and powerful. In this second trial scene in the Assembly Hall, we see how Brinker is power hungry and looking for the truth with his criminal like actions.
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While I agree with most of what Irfan says, I believe that Brinker has always really envied Gene, even from the first interaction they had, "I can see you have real influence around here, this big room all to yourself" (Knowles 87). In this moment you see the competitive nature of Brinker and most of the Devon school flare because he is jealous of the connections he assumes Gene has at the school. I think that he might have been trying to spite Gene as well as what Irfan had said,
ReplyDeleteBrinker acts very dominant and controlling in the trial scene. He does this because ever since the war has started, Brinker has felt out of his element by not being able to lead all the different clubs, but at the same not enlisting and being part of the war effort. He is stuck in the middle, and since Brinker is "this year's dominant student," he feels uncomfortable and out of place (Knowles 75). Once Brinker has taken control of a situation that has been the talk of the campus, he once again regains the leadership skills he previously had, and when addressing the audience of the court room, does so in a "voice full of authority and perfectly under control," (Knowles 168).
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