Chapters 1-3
From reading this book, I can tell that it is from the past. Because the book takes place during World War II, I know that there will be many differences between the world of Gene and the current world. I can really connect with the way that the protagonist sees his school fifteen years after attending it. The school was probably associated with many of the main character’s memories as a young boy. When the main character began to describe the different places in his school, I think that he was describing them as he remembered as a young boy. When he was describing the staircase, I sensed that while he was there, he may have looked upon the staircase with fear. “They were the same as ever. And I? Well, I naturally felt older—I began at that point the emotional examination to note how far the convalescence had gone—I was taller, bigger generally in relation to these stairs”(page 3). After reading this section of the book, the saying relating to the lives of spiders immediately came to my mind. Children are often afraid of things like spiders, and as a result their parents tell them how the spider had much more to fear from the human due to its size. Reading this description made me infer that as a child, Gene may have been afraid of the height of the stairs, or something dramatic could have happened to him on the stairs. It is clear that Gene himself feels ashamed of his fear considering his status that was with him—there was nothing to be afraid of from the staircase. When he started to describe the tree, I got the same sense of fear just like I picked up from the stair incident.
From reading this book, I can tell that it is from the past. Because the book takes place during World War II, I know that there will be many differences between the world of Gene and the current world. I can really connect with the way that the protagonist sees his school fifteen years after attending it. The school was probably associated with many of the main character’s memories as a young boy. When the main character began to describe the different places in his school, I think that he was describing them as he remembered as a young boy. When he was describing the staircase, I sensed that while he was there, he may have looked upon the staircase with fear. “They were the same as ever. And I? Well, I naturally felt older—I began at that point the emotional examination to note how far the convalescence had gone—I was taller, bigger generally in relation to these stairs”(page 3). After reading this section of the book, the saying relating to the lives of spiders immediately came to my mind. Children are often afraid of things like spiders, and as a result their parents tell them how the spider had much more to fear from the human due to its size. Reading this description made me infer that as a child, Gene may have been afraid of the height of the stairs, or something dramatic could have happened to him on the stairs. It is clear that Gene himself feels ashamed of his fear considering his status that was with him—there was nothing to be afraid of from the staircase. When he started to describe the tree, I got the same sense of fear just like I picked up from the stair incident.
When Gene began to talk about the part, I predicted that he was going to talk about how lonely and isolated he was from the rest of the school community based on the prior description about the tree, but I was rather surprised when he began to talk about his best friend Finny. I felt that when Gene was explaining his relationship with his friend, he tried to sound modest, and as a result he tried to portray his relationship as a very normal friend circle type of deal. I thought that the relationship between Finny and Gene was really strong because both boys seemed to be extremely comfortable around each other. Also, Gene looked up to Finny in matters like his ability to get away with anything. Also, Gene noticed how Finny walked differently from the other kids.
I was really disappointed in Gene when he did not truly express his feelings towards Finny at the end of chapter 3. Finny had told Gene how he saw him as a friend, and if Gene had returned the gesture, then the two boys could have established an even greater bond of trust. I believe that Gene takes into consideration what people around him think of him more than his own confidence in himself, and that is what freighted him and forced him to keep his feelings within himself. I feel that if Gene had told Finny how important he was to him then the story might take a positive turn. I was also disappointed in how Gene listened to everything that Finny told him to do. For example, Finny told Gene to jump of the tree and Gene had done just that although he knew that it was a dangerous task. This shows that Gene did not really have the ability to make decisions on his own, and as a result he relied on others to decide things for him.
This book is based on the war period in Europe, and I wonder what gave John Knowles the inspiration to write a book like this. Perhaps, the author himself was telling his own story through the eyes of the main character Gene. I am also really curious to find our why the main character was at his old school after so much time had passed from his actual attendance. The title choice also amazed me because I got the impression that the main character was at peace in situations that were unnatural and unique after reading the first three chapters.
What are your opinions of the book so far Lauren? I hope that this book has some type of positive ending for the main character, Gene.
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