At the top of page 155, the snowball fight culminates with everyone turning on Finny. Why does this happen here and why now? How does this moment foreshadow events later in the chapter? - Be


In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Finny, a significant character, and the narrator
Gene’s best friend suffered a broken leg after falling off of a tree branch early in the novel,
potentially due to Gene pushing him. Since the incident, he has been pitied by his classmates
and best friend, because as one of the most talented athletes in the school, he can no longer
play sports. Now, sometime after the incident, Finny claims that he has healed and is stronger
than before, which leads him to participate in a snowball fight. The snowball fight concludes
with everyone turning on Finny and covering him in a mountain of snow. With this action,
John Knowles could be attempting to show the reader that with Finny claiming that he has not
only healed but gotten stronger, his classmates are treating him like a normal kid again.
This shows that the pity his classmates once had could be beginning to fade. Because a
snowball fight is an activity all kids enjoy, Knowles is trying to show that Finny’s classmates
view him as he was before.
This snowball fight foreshadows the actions of the trial at the end of the chapter.
During the snowball fight, all the kids were pelting Finny with snowballs, just as during the
trial everyone was pelting him with questions. The fact that Brinker and Leper were the ones
that organized this trial suggests they are trying to break down Finny and Gene’s relationship.
In addition, Brinker and Leper were the only two people to openly accuse Gene of pushing
Finny off the tree. At the end of the trial Finny becomes overwhelmed, which could be the
goal of the trial all along, similar to his classmates burying him in tons of snowballs.


Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think Brinker cares so much about hosting a trial?

- How do you think the trial affects Gene and Finny's relationship/

- How does this trial push the plot forward






Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 5, 2020 at 5:47 PM

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  2. AnonymousMay 5, 2020 at 5:48 PM

    I think that Brinker’s intent was to help Gene and maybe even get some revenge on Finny. The goal to ending Finny and Gene’s friendship was to have them confess, and get them both out of denial. The trial might have made it worse. The idea was probably headed in the right direction; grill Finny so that he could realize what Gene had done and then let their relationship come to an end and have them move on with their lives. This event not only made Gene and Finny’s situation worse, but it got more people involved. Now Leper might be to blame because 1) he isn’t sane, and 2) he gave evidence suggesting that Gene did in fact push Finny out of the tree. In the beginning, Finny seems to be trying to protect Gene at all costs, taking the interrogation with ease, but as more evidence comes out he starts getting worried and the denial begins to vanish. After another accident of falling down the stairs, Finny will probably actually blame Gene for this incident and the last. I feel like this trial was just to give everybody closure, even if it didn’t end that way.

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  3. AnonymousMay 5, 2020 at 10:31 PM

    In A Separate Peace, the plot is pushed by Brinker having this so-called “trial” with Gene and Finny to find out what actually happened the day that Finny fell off a tree and lost the ability to ever play sports again. I feel like Brinker is trying as hard as he can to get Gene to confess that he was at fault for Finny’s accident, I feel like that’s the whole reason this “trial” happened. If Finny is made aware that Gene was the reason he can’t play sports anymore then I feel like their friendship will change drastically. It seems like Finny doesn’t remember what happened or he might remember and is hiding it so Gene isn’t made out to be a bad guy. Gene always starts saying he remembers but I’m pretty sure he remembers it clearly but doesn’t want to reveal this information in front of everyone. Brinker is trying to get something out of Gene that he has no idea whether is true or not, I think he wants more than to just ruin Gene’s friendship with Finny, he even goes to the extent of bringing in Leper to talk about what he remembers. This “trial” pushes the plot because it could end up affecting the friendship of Finny and Gene.

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  4. AnonymousMay 6, 2020 at 4:50 PM

    Once Gene returned back to Devon from visiting Leper it seems as if everything has settled down. Gene and Finny's relationship seemed to be at a good place and they both agreed to move on from their fantasy world and accept the cold truth about growing up. In this book things don't stay peaceful for long, especially while in Gene's head. John Knowles does a great job of using Brinker Hadley, a person who is always seeking authority and order, to revisit the central conflict from earlier in the novel. Without the trial scene the past would be forgotten and Gene and Finny would mature together in harmony. But, Brinker loves drama, so by Knowles implementing the trial scene it creates another conflict/distraction for Gene to have to deal with.

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  5. AnonymousMay 6, 2020 at 6:25 PM

    I think the trial pushes the plot forward because it leads to one of the many reasons why Gene goes back to Devon. On page 67, when Brinker says they were going to pray, Gene thinks, “ If when Brinker had said ‘Let us pray’ I had said ‘Go to hell’ everything might have been saved”(167). This foreshadows Finny falling down the stairs. Gene is looking back at this moment like he could have done something to prevent what happens next. I think this is a very significant moment in the novel. Back at the beginning of the book, Gene’s older self goes back to the tree, where Finny broke his leg and Gene's guilt started to build up. If Finny did not fall out of the tree there wouldn't have been a trial and Finny wouldn't have fallen down the stairs. Whatever happens in the next chapter will most likely be the main reason why Gene goes back to Devon.

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  6. AnonymousMay 6, 2020 at 6:25 PM

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  7. AnonymousMay 6, 2020 at 11:05 PM

    I think the trial will push the plot by putting to light the fact that Gene shook the tree. Since the book has been building to a climax, and Brinker knows more than he's telling about the incident on the branch, I think the big climax will be Finny finally hearing that the branch shaken was Gene's fault, and therefore it was Gene who pushed him out of the tree. Although he's already heard it from Gene, he didn't believe it at first, but maybe from an outside source it will finally hit him. This will push the plot forward by creating a conflict, either with Finny and Gene or with Finny and Brinker.

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  8. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 8:05 AM

    I can't really tell if Brinker truly does care about the trial. I feel that it could all still be a sarcastic nudge at Gene from Brinker. I think that because it put Gene on edge the first time, he is using it again for fun. While he is right that something happened, he doesn't truly realize this until Leper tells them.

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