Chapter 13 text

After school was over we all started packing and were about to head home. The school donated its Far Common quadrangle to the military for a parachute riggers’ school. This meant that the military would come towards the end of the summer and see us. Brinker too me down to the Butt Room to meet his father, his father told us that he wished that he were younger, so that he could fight in the war. I told him my plan to avoid the danger of the infantry by joining the navy and Brinker’s decision to join the coast guard. His father said after that he thinks that defending your country is honorable and that what you do in the war will be an effect on your life, either good or bad. He was not very nice about my opinion and Brinker could tell. After we were done talking in the Butt Room Brinker apologized to me because he knew his father was being pretty rude to me, especially meeting me for the first time. As I was talking to Brinker, Leper, and Quackenbush we were all thinking about how we all wanted to enlist in the war and how much it would've effected all of us and how much it did effect Leper, and in the end that is why he decided to come back. Coming from Devon we were all too shy for the military and the war. In memory of Finny we all knew that he was the nicest and the most caring and always the strongest out of all of us, and he probably would've been the most successful either in the war or in something else important.

Chapter 12 text

As the days went on Finny's leg was getting a lot better and he thought that maybe if he kept resting he could do other stuff again, like he normally used to. One morning he was walking and he fell down the stairs and re broke his leg. When he broke his leg someone got first aid for him and then they called Dr. Stanpole. He arrived and has Finny carried out on a chair. Dr. Stanpole told me that Finny’s leg was broken again but assures him that it is a much cleaner break than last time. It relieved me but also made everything worse cause all I could think about was how we had to train, and since the last break I was practically a part of Finny now. I did not know what to expect now because before when Finny broke his leg I had to start playing sports for him and go into the Olympics, but now what would I have to do. It could be worse than playing for him. I was worried more this time. As the Doctor was still examining on Finny he came outside of the room after and I was sitting there, he leaned down and told me that Finny was dead. There was this numb feeling that came over me and I did not know what to think from that moment on. The doctor explained to me that a bit of marrow escaped from Finny's bone as he was setting it, entering Finny’s bloodstream and stopping his heart. I did not cry, even later at the funeral. I felt that me becoming a part of Phineas made it like my funeral as well.

Chapter 11 text

As I was walking back into Devon I came across a snowball fight that Finny had organized himself. I asked Finny if it was okay for him to be participating like he was and he said he could feel himself getting better. He also mentioned that being weak only makes you stronger, and he could feel his bones beginning to heal. After talking about Finny's problem I told everyone about Leper deserting the army and how he had "cracked" in Brinker's words. When I was thinking to enlist I realized that I could not be in the same position as Leper. I had way to much to do at Devon, and especially after what happened to Finny with his leg and the consequences there was no way I could just go enlist then leave everything. Finny would never forgive me and I know in the end I would've regretted all of it anyways. Finny quietly announced that he saw Leper slip into Dr. Carhart’s office that morning; Finny and I went to go find him right when we heard that. "Leper entered ahead of the other two. He looked usually well; his face was glowing, his eyes were bright, his manner was all energy" (165). After we came across Leper coming back to Devon everything got quiet.

Chapter 10 text

After reading that letter from Leper I immediately set out for his “Christmas location,” meaning his home in Vermont. I took a train and then a bus through the barren New England landscape and arrived in Leper’s town early the next morning. I walked the rest of the way through the snow to his house. All the while he refused to admit to himself that he had deserted the army; he tried to convince himself that by “escape,” Leper has meant an escape from spies. I had simply tried to explain to Leper that he deserted because the army was planning to give him a Section Eight discharge for insanity, which means it would've prevented him to never have to work or live a normal life. As I was talking to Leper he began to get upset and started breaking down and insulting me. "Like that time you crippled him for life" (137). He started talking about how Finny fell out of the tree and broke his leg, and in the end he blamed me and said that I shook the tree to make him lose his balance. After we were arguing back and forth his mother came into the room and was saying that Leper was ill and was wondering why I would ever attack an ill person. I had no idea what to think, I just knew that I came to help Leper and everything had gone wrong in a blink of an eye. As we kept talking about everything bad I could not take it anymore and I decided to leave and run home in the snow.

Chapter 2 pictures

bombing in Europe.




Finny and Gene.













Pink tie.






Mrs. Patch-Withers.




Mr. Patch-Withers.

Chapter 7 text

I woke up in a large room, all to myself. There was a part of me that had forgotten that Finny was ever my roommate, and the bad terms that we had been on did not really matter what was going on between us anyways. Brinker Hadley came over to me and said, "I can see you have real influence around here. This big room all to yourself. I wish I knew how to manage things like you" (79). I could not figure out why the "hub" of the class was congratulating me on influence. I said to Brinker, "I feel like a smoke, don't you? Lets go down to the Butt Room" (80). The Butt Room was something like a dungeon. It was in the basement, or the bowels, or the dormitory. There were about ten smokers already there. As I walked out of the Butt Room I saw Chet Douglass, Quackenbush, and Leper told me that they had a job to do. The job that they began to describe to me was to shovel off the railroad. Brinker put his arm around me and told me that we were on the same "team". As we started walking to go shovel on the railroad that we volunteered to do, I saw Leper in the middle of a meadow, cross-country skiing. He told me that he was looking for a beaver dam and he wanted me to come along and join him. Before we had finished shoveling around 4:30 the main line had been cleared and the first train rattled slowly through, it was a troop train. At this instant this was one Leper realized he wanted to enlist and be a part of the war. I said, "Did you find the dam, Leper?" (90). Brinker had no idea what dam it was so I simply explained to him that it was a beaver dam that Leper and I had known about but he still did not understand what it was. It was not in the Devon itself, it was in one of the tributaries. The beaver had never come out itself but we had still known about the dam.

Chapter 6 text

Earlier in the day I was walking across the hall to Leper and Brinkers room and heard a voice call my name. It was the headmaster saying that I had a phone call in the office. When I walked in I first saw a number written on a pad of paper and then I began to dial it. As I heard the voice of the person picking up the telephone I knew right away that it had been Finny calling looking for me. We began talking about if anyone had taken his place in our room and I told him that I had not found any other roomates. "Completely over the falls. I wanted to be sure you'd recovered. That's why I called up. I knew that if you'd let them put anybody else in the room in my place, then you really were crazy. But you didn't I knew you wouldn't" (75). After Finny had said this to me I didn't want to tell him that at some point in my mind I did have doubt on keeping Finny in my room, but I could not tell him that, not right this instant. He had thought I was crazy ever since I had gone to see him in the hospital and told him that I could have been the reason for him falling and hurting himself, when it was the truth. I still don't understand why he does not believe me. In my mind I was thinking why I would ever tell my best pal something like that if it was not the truth. We started talking about what sports I was going to do since I was practically becoming a part of Finny after his injury. I said "Crew. Well not exactly crew. Managing crew. Assistant crew manager" (76). Finny called me crazy but I thought it was a decent idea. I did not care about being a big athletic man on the campus or anything. I said to Finny, "I'm too busy for sports" (77). He said to me, "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me" (77). At that moment I realized my purpose from the beginning was to become a part of Phineas.