Chapter 1:
What two locations- which he describes as “fearful’- does the narrator visit? How does he describe each? The narrator describes the marble staircase and the tree as “fearful” sites, he describes the marble staircase as being “unusually hard” and “not very deep” (3), and the tree as having “certain small scars rising along its trunk’ and as the tree being “the giants of your childhood” (6).
What is suggested by the tone of the opening section of the novel? The opening section of the novel uses diction like “fear”, “lifeless, “self-pitying”, which conveys a negative tone, which informs the reader that the author (Gene) has a fear and is terrified of the Devon school.
What is implied when the narrator considers “how far (his) convalescence had gone”? When the narrator sais “how far (his) convalescence had gone”, he’s implying that he’s been injured and is going through the process of his body repairing itself.
Consider the narrator’s reflection that, “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.” What do all of the clues provided most likely suggest? When the author said that “not even a death by violence”, he’s suggesting/ foreshadowing the death of a character in the story.
How do the weather and the time of year emphasize the mood of the opening section? The author describes the time of year as “a raw, nondescript time of year, toward the end of November”, it was “wet”, and “icy”, which emphasize how dull and dark the mood is, reflecting the author’s feelings of “fear”.
World War Two is introduced as a factor in the novel, as Devon is preparing them for being drafted into the war at the end of their senior year.
The significance of Finny’s name is that it’s traces back to Phineas from Greek mythology, who is a blind man, and the significance of the meaning is that Finny is too blind to see that Gene envy’s him.
When Gene and Finny are walking back to the dormitory it illustrates that they