Assignment #5 (72-85): Explore the significance/symbolism of the Devon River (Lily Denton).

            The two rivers represent the shift in attitude from the summer semester to the new starting school year. The Devon River portrays how the summer session was for Gene and the rest of the Devon school. It was remembered as fun, and carefree with many new and exciting memories made there. “The fresh-water Devon above the dam where we’d had so much fun, all the summer” (Knowles 76). Unlike the untroubled Devon River, the Naguamsett was described as being, “ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed” (Knowles 76). A waterfall that flowed from the Devon River into the Naguamsett connected these two rivers. “And then [the Devon River] threw itself with little spectacle over a small waterfall beside the diving dam, and into the turbid Naguamsett” (Knowles 76). Knowles is linking the accident with Finny to the waterfall, and the Naguamsett River to the aftermath of the incident, while the Devon River is the antecedent to the event.