In my opinion the investigation is linked to the snowball fight because when Finny first goes into The Assembly Hall, where the investigation was conducted, everybody was his ally. "Finny got up with a shrug and walked to the center of the floor, between us and the platform". As Finny gets up, it made me think of the part during the snowball fight after he switches side and leaves his allies (Brinker and Gene) and moving toward the center, like switching to the other team. On page 168, Brinker says "Today we're investigating you... Investigating Finny's accident". Now, everybody has turned on Finny, just like they had during the snowball fight.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Anthony LaMonica, Assignment #10, Question #1: 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?
In the opening of this chapter we find out that Finny has organized a snowball fight. Gene was joined in the fight after Finny yells to him to join on his team. When on Finny's, Finny throws a snowball at Gene. "Finny had recruited me and others as allies, so that the two sides fighting it out had been taking form. Suddenly he turned his fire against me, he betrayed several of his other friends". After Finny turned on his allies, Gene and the others "ended the fight in the only way possible; all of us turned on Phineas. Slowly, with a steadily widening grin, he was driven down beneath a blizzard of snowballs". During this part, Finny was once allied with everybody, until they all turned on him. This part foreshadowed the investigation Brinker conducted on page 168.
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I disagree. I think the snowball fight foreshadows the way that Gene is treated at the trial. By turning on Finny and shaking the branch, he is turning against Finny. By lying and telling the rest of the kids that he was not on the branch (Knowles 171) he is betraying the trust the others have in him. Because of his lies and his unreliability, the rest of the kids all turn on him like they did on Finny in the snowball fight. "'No we're not accusing you," a boy on the platform said evenly, and then I stood accused."
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Reina that this snowball fight is very symbolic. Finny starts out "organizing it with ease and authority" (Knowles 153). In this case "it" is the snowball match, but earlier in the book "it" is the entire social structure and way people played and interacted. By the end of the game Finny was made an outcast and thats how the game ended. Finny's favorite games were sports and when he became injured this simultaneously outcasted him and ended his sports career.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Reina that this snowball fight is very symbolic. Finny starts out "organizing it with ease and authority" (Knowles 153). In this case "it" is the snowball match, but earlier in the book "it" is the entire social structure and way people played and interacted. By the end of the game Finny was made an outcast and thats how the game ended. Finny's favorite games were sports and when he became injured this simultaneously outcasted him and ended his sports career.
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