How does finny handle their questions

In fact, Finny did not fall out of the tree, but Gene had actually pushed him out. He pushed him out of jealousy for two things.

At a distance, Gene follows Finny to the infirmary, hoping to talk with him alone. Later that day, in an operation to set the leg again, Finny dies when some marrow from the broken bone enters the bloodstream and stops his heart. He then rushes out of the room in tears. The boys hear his footsteps and the tapping of his cane as he runs down the hall, followed by the horrible sound of his body falling down the marble staircase.

He then falls down the marble stairs and breaks his leg for the second time. It climaxes and ends when as Finny and Gene are about to jump off the tree, Gene impulsively jounces the branch they are standing on, which causes Finny to fall and shatter his leg, which permanently cripples him. Finny literally perished because of his failure to evolve into an adult. He had a childhood innocence about him, which prevented him from seeing conflict. When he should have seen conflict, he refused to see it, which prevented him from fully transitioning into adulthood.

Something just seized you. In other words, Finny convinces himself that Gene never meant to hurt him because that is what he must believe. Finny becomes distraught when Gene tells him that his personality would make him totally unfit for the military. He then rushes out of the room in tears. The boys hear his footsteps and the tapping of his cane as he runs down the hall, followed by the horrible sound of his body falling down the marble staircase.

The snowball fight that greets Gene upon his arrival constitutes yet another example of what defines Finny: his anarchic vibrancy and his love of pure sport, free of winners and losers. As long as it did not impinge upon their lives directly, Finny could go on telling himself—and Gene—that the war did not exist.

As long as the war lacks reality, Gene knows that he can be with Finny, since the fact that he can join the military while Finny cannot becomes irrelevant. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Summary Chapter Page 1 Page 2. Analysis The snowball fight that greets Gene upon his arrival constitutes yet another example of what defines Finny: his anarchic vibrancy and his love of pure sport, free of winners and losers.

Previous section Chapters 9—10 Next page Chapter 11 page 2. Test your knowledge Take the Chapter 11 Quick Quiz. Twice in the chapter, he makes the attempt, first at the infirmary and later at Finny's home in Boston, but both times the discussion ends without any true resolution.

Yet even these attempted confessions show Gene struggling to cope with his psychological turmoil and still very much caught up in his conflicted emotions about Finny. The scene at the infirmary — when he makes his first abortive attempt at confession — reveals the guilt, fear, and anger that Gene still feels toward Finny.

Dreading a direct accusation, Gene hesitantly probes Finny's memory of the fall, hoping, it seems, to find a lapse of memory that would make his guilt disappear. When Finny remembers an urge to reach out and catch on to his friend, Gene reacts in anger and fear — "to drag me down, too!

Reliving the fall with Finny in the infirmary room, Gene emphasizes his own pain and fear, insisting that the accident, in a sense, happened to him, too.

Again, Gene seeks relief from his guilt through his identification with Finny. As the two boys struggle with their memories, Gene tries to confess to Finny, but is interrupted by Dr.

Actually, Gene welcomes the interruption, because he comes to his confession not so much out of contrition as shame. Indeed, before Gene begins his stuttering admission, Finny makes a confession of his own — he vaguely suspects that Gene somehow caused the fall — but quickly apologizes to his friend for thinking badly of him without any proof of wrongdoing.

Ironically, then, it is Finny who confesses out of innocence — he feels guilty for guessing the truth — rather than Gene, who should be confessing out of guilt. Gene's second attempt at confession takes place during an impulsive visit he makes to the recuperating Finny at his home outside Boston. His impulse here suggests the beginning of his growing maturity and personal integrity, which prompts his need to confess.

Yet, visiting at Finny's home, Gene feels like a "wild man. Finny, in turn, lashes out in anger, hurt by his friend's words and unable to accept the dark secret inherent in their meaning.

And Gene, in turn, sees this reaction as a vindication of his own violent instinct; if Finny can express such murderous rage, Gene reasons, then his own action must be no worse than his friend's. The truth of the matter, it seems, cannot really be discussed between the roommates. Uncomfortable but still wanting to be friends, Gene and Finny part on a false note — Gene will not lapse back into the old rules when he returns for the new term at Devon.

But Gene ends the chapter by foreshadowing his regression back into conformity when he judges this promise to be "the biggest lie of all. Previous Chapter 4. Next Chapter 6. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title.