Saturday, April 16, 2016
Chapter 1: Gene visits two specific places upon his return: the First Academy Building and the tree. Name and explain two specific things he notices/realizes about these places/things now (as opposed to then) and why Knowles might have done this.
When Gene goes back to the Devon school, he visits two places he recalls as fearful sites. The first place he visits is the First Academy Building. When he enters the First Academy Building, he goes into a marble foyer and then stops at the marble stairs. He points out that he never realized how hard the marble was, and that he had overlooked this crucial fact. He says, "The marble must be unusually hard. That seemed very likely, only too likely, although with all my thought about these stairs this exceptional hardness had not occurred to me" (Knowles 11). Knowles must have pointed this out because something must have happened when Gene was a student that he might have did, and the hardness of the stairs must have mattered in some way, either good or bad. The second place that Gene visits was the tree that he and Finny had jumped off of when they were students. "It [the tree] had loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the riverbank" (Knowles 13). What he realizes when he reaches the site is that he thought the tree was much bigger than all of the rest of the trees around the one he was searching for. He sees now that the tree was not that big. Knowles might have pointed this out and started the flashback here because Finny and Gene started becoming true friends and trusting each other. Their friendship grew stronger after they both jumped off the tree.
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I think that Knowles did this to compare life to darkness. He did this a lot at the beginning of the book, such as on page 12 when he says, "Living together in contentious harmony." He's showing how so many things have changed, such at the appearance of the tree and the academy building, but how this change has brought a "new life" which could be foreshadowing an event that changes Gene in the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amy and Ben that both places likely foreshadow coming events, but I also think that it is a symbol of happy times in a period of war. The war will certainly become a major part of the story, and the tree represents the memories of peace that Gene went through around the war. He notices that the tree seemed much smaller than he remembered, and I think that it is because he had 15 years to step back and then revisit the scene. He realizes that now the tree is just like all the others while 15 years ago it was a significant place of his friendship with Finny. This quote demonstrates this realization: "The old giants have become pigmies while you were looking the other way" (Knowles, 14).
ReplyDeleteI agree that both the tree and the First Academy building represent prevalent memories in Gene's mind. As Nicholas said, these places may have been "happy places" during a time of war, since we already do know that the memory of jumping from the tree into the river was a memorable experience that started a new friendship for Gene. He recalls, after jumping from the tree and heading back to the dorm, "We were the best of friends at that moment." (Knowles 18) Since we do not yet know the event that may have occurred on the marble stairs of the First Academy Building, I agree that it is foreshadowing as to what we may learn in the future about Gene's past at Devon.
ReplyDeleteI think what Nicholas said is true. I think the campus of The Deven School sort of acts as a dome from some issues in the world around them. So far, Finny and Gene have had no serious problems (although I'm sure that will change). They seen to enjoy spending time with each other and discussing the war. Gene notices how the students reminded the teachers "of what peace was like, of lives which were not bound up with destruction." (24) I could easily be wrong, but I think a big event is going to happen which will force Gene to realize that they are part of this world and everything thing they hear about the war and life outside school will become a reality.
ReplyDeleteI think that the hardness of the stairs relates back to his life. The fact that he pays so much attention to them and that he's really noticing them demonstrates that they might be unpleasant. After paying close attention to the white marble stairs, he says, "Although they were old stairs, the worn moons in the middle of each step were not very deep" (Knowles 11). The moons are the marks from footprints that were from dirty shoes. That doesn't seem to be a pleasant thing to think about so maybe something unpleasant or memorable happened in his life. After looking at the stairs, he focuses on the tree that he passes. This specific tree represents him growing up. As he examines it, he says, "...certain small scars rising along its trunk..." and "...the giants of your childhood..." (Knowles 14). This tree had been with him for a long time of his life. There are scars from events that happened in his high school years. There are moments from his childhood on this tree. It represents his years from Devon School.
ReplyDeleteThe descriptions could also foreshadow things that may happen in the future. When he is surprised at how hard the stairs are, it could foreshadow something in the future being more difficult than he initially thought. Also the tree "loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the river bank."(Knowles 13) This, although not clear, could symbolize something in the future.
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