Assignment #4 (Pages 61-71 and poem): What is symbolic in that fact that the summer session is coming to an end – look specifically at the passage on page 67?
Because of the memories during the summer session of 1942, it would last forever in the mind of our narrator. The session had been "irresolutely suspended" (Knowles 67) in Gene's mind, meaning that it hadn't been finished. Gene thinks this because there wasn't a very fitting conclusion to the end of such an eventful session, with happenings ranging from the creation of the Secret Suicide Society of the Summer Session to Finny's invention of blitzball, which was a great example of the summer's craziness. This is because Finny was the leading catalyst of the events of the summer, and that the session would come to an end with Finny having to leave the school is unthinkable to Gene. In a way, however, it is a fitting end to the session. Because Finny was such an instinctive person, because his creativity was on a level unbeknownst to others at the school, he was the summer session. But for Gene, so much of life at the Devon School was created by Finny. When he stands in the mirror wearing Finny's clothes (Knowles 62), it is a relief to him because he has tricked himself into thinking things are the same as they were when Finny was there. When a person loses someone or something that was an important piece of their life, it clouds vision, often making people lie to themselves. It is impossible for a person to lie to themselves, due to the fact that people can't outsmart themselves.
Because of the memories during the summer session of 1942, it would last forever in the mind of our narrator. The session had been "irresolutely suspended" (Knowles 67) in Gene's mind, meaning that it hadn't been finished. Gene thinks this because there wasn't a very fitting conclusion to the end of such an eventful session, with happenings ranging from the creation of the Secret Suicide Society of the Summer Session to Finny's invention of blitzball, which was a great example of the summer's craziness. This is because Finny was the leading catalyst of the events of the summer, and that the session would come to an end with Finny having to leave the school is unthinkable to Gene. In a way, however, it is a fitting end to the session. Because Finny was such an instinctive person, because his creativity was on a level unbeknownst to others at the school, he was the summer session. But for Gene, so much of life at the Devon School was created by Finny. When he stands in the mirror wearing Finny's clothes (Knowles 62), it is a relief to him because he has tricked himself into thinking things are the same as they were when Finny was there. When a person loses someone or something that was an important piece of their life, it clouds vision, often making people lie to themselves. It is impossible for a person to lie to themselves, due to the fact that people can't outsmart themselves.
I agree with Trevor. I also believe that Gene is having trouble dealing with the fact that his summer was Finny. He spent every second of every day with Finny, and now that it is not summer there is no Finny, no best friend to make more memories with. "The next morning I saw dawn for the first time. It began not as the gorgeous fanfare over the ocean I had expected, but as a strange gray thing, like sunshine seen through a burlap. I looked over to see if Phineas was awake" (Knowles 49). In this moment Gene is experiencing something exciting and new for the first time, and the first thing he does after absorbing the view of the sky is look to Finny. He looks to Finny because Finny is the one who he has shares everything with even knew experiences. Now that the summer is over and Finny is not here, Gene can't look to Finny for fun, Gene can't go out and enjoy the world. As Finny once told Gene "You never waste your time. That's why I have to do it for you" (Knowles 51). Finny' character represents joy. And his character explains that you need to go have fun every once in a while. Now with Finny no longer at school Gene doesn't have someone reminding him to let loose very here and again. No, now Gene sees school as boring, gloomy, and bad.
ReplyDelete-Carly Newell