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"My own voice sounded quiet and foreign. "I jounced the limb. I caused it." One more sentence. "I deliberately jounced the limb so you would fall off." (Knowles pg. 70)

This confession really showed that Gene was maturing. Though Finn is Gene's friend, Gene owned up to his wrongdoing knowing he might lose him as a friend.

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"The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session was a success from the start. That night Finny began to talk abstractedly about it, as though it were a venerable, entrenched institution of the Devon School." ... "Schools are supposed to be catacombed with secret societies and underground brotherhoods." (Knowles pg. 33)

When Gene and Finny created the club, it showed signs of identity and belonging. Since other kids wanted something to belong to, the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session gave them a group that they could be a part of which gave them an identity.

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"And also I didn't want to let him excel me in this, even though I knew that it didn't matter whether he showed me up at the tree or not. Because it was what you had in your heart that counted. And I had detected that Finny's was a den of lonely, self ambition. He was no better than I was, no matter who won the contests." (Knowles pg. 56)

This quote shows Gene's competitive identity with Phineas. He thinks Finny is constantly trying to compete and be better than him, but Finn is a naturally talented person that does well in most things.

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"There was nothing to distract me as I made my way across a wide yard, called the Far Common, and up to a building as red brick and balanced as the other major buildings, but with a large cupola and a bell and a clock and Latin over the doorway--the First Academy Building." (Knowles pg. 11)

Gene describes his old high school campus as very big and nice, although many typical high schools don't even have a campus style school. He also says things about living in a dorm and having roommates. His high school is obviously very prestigious, showing he is upper class.

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"Oh Christ, it's not made up. What is all this crap about no maids? No maids, I said. After all, there is a war on. It's not much of a sacrifice, when you think of people starving and being bombed and all the other things."

..."In these past months Phineas and I had grown apart on this; I felt a certain disapproval of him for grumbling about a lost luxury, with a war on." (Knowles pg. 104)

This excerpt shows how they are used to upper class lifestyles, with Finn whining about losing their maids. There is a war going on, yet Phineas is upset about not having luxurious services. Gene understands that sacrifices need to be made and is getting frustrated with Finn.

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"We were the best of friends at that moment. "You were very good," said Finny good-humoredly, "once I shamed you into it." "You didn't shame anybody into anything." "Oh yes I did. I'm good for you that way. You have a tendency to back away from things otherwise." (Knowles pg. 18)

Although they are teasing each other about jumping out of the tree, Finny only shamed Gene into jumping to make him proud of himself for overcoming his fear. This shows how strong their friendship is because they're trying to help each other.

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"So journeys through unknown parts of America became my chief war memory, and I think of the first of them as this nighttime trip to Leper's. There was no question of where to find him; "I am at Christmas location" meant that he was home." (Knowles pg. 139)

Gene didn't think twice about going on a long journey to find Leper when he got the telegram. Gene was willing to make the trip immediately, for he considered Leper a good friend.

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"I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was." (Knowles pg. 62)

Gene feels so guilty about what he has done to Phineas, that he is changing the way he sees himself. Before he caused Finn to fall out of the tree he didn't see himself as a bad person.

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"Buoyed up, I forgot my usual feeling of routine self-pity when working out, I lost myself, oppressed mind along with aching body; all entanglements were shed, I broke into the clear." (Knowles pg. 120)

Gene had never really pushed himself when it came to physical exercise, but the extra effort he put in made him realize he is capable of more. It shows he is growing up and putting more effort into what he does.

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"I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family's straight-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case." (Knowles pg. 194)

Gene was so attached to Finny that his death made him feel numb. He realized how influential Finn was in his life, and he felt that a big part of him died with him too.

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Text to text connection: It seems to me that Gene's school is somewhat similar to the school Knowles actually went to. It gives me an idea that Gene and Knowles are both in the upper class. Knowles went to a prestigious school like Yale, and the fact that Gene's school usually has maids gives me an idea that it is a very special school showing that they may be upper class.

Novel: "There was nothing to distract me as I made my way across a wide yard, called the Far common, and up to a building as red brick and balanced as the other major buildings, but with a large cupola and a bell and a clock and Latino over the doorway--the First Academy building." (Knowles 11)

Article: " It picked me up out of the hills of West Virginia, forced me to learn to study, tossed me into Yale (where I was virtually a sophomore by the time I entered)"

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Text to text connection: The story makes me think about how a traumatic experience can really stick with you. When Gene visited his school again, he was able to remember the exact tree where the story began. I believe the guilt caused by him pushing Finny out of the tree made him lose his innocence and caused a complete change of his life.

Article: "Gene Forrester is the novel’s narrator. Quiet, introspective, and insecure, Gene admires Finny but envies his confidence and independent spirit. He impulsively causes Finny’s fall. Gene returns to Devon after fifteen years, still seeking to understand himself and his betrayal of Finny."

Novel: "I began to examine each one closely, and finally identified the tree I was looking for by means of certain small scars rising along its trunk, and by a limb extending over the river, and another thinner limb growing near it. This was the tree." (Knowles 14)

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Text to text connection: The book and article show me how people will do anything to ensure they keep their innocence. Take Phineas as an example. He was doing so much as to say there wasn't even any war at the time, just to shield himself from bad things that are happening even though he isn't very related to it anyway. It shows how much someone's innocence can affect a person's life.

Novel: "Don't be a sap," ... "There isn't any war." (Knowles 115)

Article: "Throughout the book, Knowles shows how people attempt to keep their innocence, in order to evade the pain that might come without it.

First and foremost, Finny is a sensitive person, and he does everything he can to hide things from himself, so he doesn’t end up getting hurt. One of these things is the war. WWII is the center of everyone’s life at the time, yet Finny is desperate to find a way to avoid uncovering the truth about it."