A Seperate Peice Essay Research Paper Gene — страница 2

Infirmary that night to see him, and Finny sends him away angrily. Gene wanders the campus until he falls asleep under the football stadium. The next morning, he goes to see Finny again and tells him he is sorry and that his action did not arise from hatred. Finny accepts this explanation and the two are reconciled. While the doctor attempts to set Finny’s leg, a piece of marrow detaches from the bone and stops Finny’s heart, killing him. Gene does not cry when he hears the news, because he feels he has become a part of Finny and will always be with him. The boys graduate and go off to enlist in relatively safe branches of the military; Gene is glad that at least his coming regimentation will not take place at Devon, where he spent his idyllic summer. Gene Forrester – The

narrator of the novel. The main body of the story begins when he and the other boys are 16 years old. Gene is thoughtful and intelligent, with a tendency to brood. He is extremely competitive, has a sarcastic sense of humor, and shuns overt displays of emotion, just like most students at Devon. Finny (Phineas) – Finny is honest, handsome, self-confident, utterly disarming, extremely likable, the best athlete in the school; in short, he is perfect in almost every way. He has a talent for engaging others with his spontaneity and sheer joy of living. His guileless rebelliousness makes even the sternest proponents of order indulge in moments of anarchical bliss with him. Finny lives for moments of pure, unrestrained friendship, and his strong sense of loyalty extends to any group

of which he is a member, including (Gene muses) the human race as a whole. Brinker Hadley – A charismatic class politician with an inclination for orderliness and organization. He is very straight and conservative; his one striking characteristic is his large behind. He has complete confidence in his own abilities and has a tendency to carry his ideas through with startling efficiency and even a degree of ruthlessness. He will go to any lengths to discover the facts when he feels they are hidden from him, even when they are best left unknown. Leper Lepellier – His real first name is Elwin, but only his mother ever bothers to use it. A mild, gentle boy from Vermont who adores nature and engages in peaceful, naturalistic hobbies. He is not popular at Devon, but pays no

attention to such things. He is often taken by surprise, most especially by the war. Chet Douglass – Gene’s main rival for the position of class valedictorian. He is an excellent tennis and trumpet player, and possesses a sincere love of learning. Quackenbush – His first name is Cliff, but no one ever uses it. He has been systematically disliked at Devon from the start, and he takes any opportunity to take out his frustrations on anyone he can consider inferior to himself. Mr. Ludsbury – The master in charge of Gene’s dormitory. A stern disciplinarian, he thrives on orderliness and the unquestioning obedience of schoolboys. Dr. Stanpole – Devon’s resident medical doctor. A caring man who regrets the troubles that afflict the youth of Gene’s generation. Gene

Forrester returns to the Devon School in New Hampshire in 1958, 15 years after he graduated. He walks around the school and reflects on how fearful he was there during the War. He ruins his shoes trudging across the soggy playing fields to look at a tree by the river, which he picks with some difficulty out of a grove of similar trees. After pondering the tree for a while, he turns to go in out of the rain. At this point, the narrative flashes back to the summer of 1942, when Gene is 16. He stands at the foot of the tree with his friend Phineas, called Finny, and three other boys, Elwin “Leper” Lepellier, Chet Douglass, and Bobby Zane. Finny tries to persuade them to jump off a branch of the tree into the river, a feat no Upper Middler (as their class is called) has ever

tried before. Finny jumps first to show them it is possible, and then sends Gene up for his turn. Gene jumps silently in a mild state of shock, but the other three refuse. The boys head back to the center of campus, Finny and Gene walking side by side. Finny tells Gene he was very good once he shamed him into jumping; Gene denies being shamed into it, knowing that he was. The school bell rings, signaling dinner, and Finny teases Gene for hurrying to be on time for dinner. He wrestles Gene to the ground while the others run ahead. Finny and Gene miss dinner and go straight to their room to do homework. This first chapter establishes the narrator’s position as a man looking back on an incident in his adolescence from a perspective of greater maturity and wisdom. The narrative