Chapter One  1. The narrator says, “There were a couple of places now which I wanted to see. Both were fearful sites, and that was why I wanted to see them.” What are the two “fearful sites” ?

2. The narrator says, “I had overlooked [. . .] crucial fact.” What is the “crucial fact” about the marble stairs that the narrator overlooked?

3. What was the field house called?

4. The narrator says, “[The tree] loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the riverbank, forbidding as an artillery piece.” What literary device is the narrator/author using in this passage? What is its significance?

5. The narrator says, “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river.” What literary device is he using? What is its significance?

6. Where did the idea of jumping from the tree originate?

7. Why was the Summer Session established?

8. What is Elwin Lepellier’s nickname?                                 What does his nickname mean?

Chapter Two 

2. What are two possible reasons why the Masters seemed to be “modifying their usual attitude”? Why are the Masters being more relaxed in enforcing the rules?

3. What does Finny dress in that seems to disturb Gene?

4. What does Finny say this shirt stands for?

5. What emotion does Gene start to feel toward Finny? Explain.

6. What did Finny use for a belt and how does he get out of trouble?

7. What is Gene’s emotion over the possibility of Finny getting in trouble?

9. What does Gene realize would have happened to him had Finny not reached out and grabbed him?

Chapter Three  1. What was the rule about opening the meetings?

What is Gene’s reactions to this rule?

2. What sport is Finny disgusted about having to play? ______________ Why?

3. What sport does Finny invent? ______________ Why is this important to the story?

4. Explain what the Lepellier Refusal is and how is this kind of Finny?

5. How does Gene remember America during war?

7. What is shocking about Finny’s response to breaking the record?

8. What do Finny’s awards tell us his athletic ability?

9. Explain some foreshadowing in this chapter.

10. What does Finny say to Gene that makes him feel uncomfortable?

11. Why does Gene continue to jump from the tree when actually detests it?

Chapter Four  1. How does the description of the setting in the first paragraph differ from the description in the previous chapter?

2. What does Gene reveal to the reader as his real reason for trying to be valedictorian of his class?

3.  What trickery does Gene think Finny as been up to?

4.. What vulnerability does Gene see in Chet Douglas?

5. Why does Gene continue to attend meetings of the Suicide Society?

6. Why does Finny say Gene should come to the tree?

7. While Finny is on the tree limb, what does Gene do?

Chapter Five 

1. Why does Gene think Phineas wanted to see him first?

2. For what does Finny apologize to Gene?

3. Where does Gene go for a month between sessions?

4. What does Gene tell Finny?  

5. Gene says, “It struck me then that I was injuring him again. It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before. I would have to back out of it, I would have to disown it.” Explain what Gene means by this?

Chpater Six  1. Brinkmanship means The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede. What is significant about Brinker Hadley’s name?

2. Gene says, “Although it was something to have this year’s dominant student [Brinker] across from the way. Ordinarily he should have been a magnet for me, the center of all the excitement and influences in the class. [. . .] Now Brinker [. . .] had nothing to offer.” Why does Gene not have an interest in Brinker?

3. What job does Gene take? __________________ What is significant about this job?

Why has Gene applied and taken this job?

4. What did Gene do to Quakenbush, and why does he do it?

5. Gene describes his “skirmish” with Quakenbush as the first of many battles that he fights for Finny. Is this an accurate analysis? Why or why not?

6. What is Phineas disappointed in with Gene?

7. Why does Gene not want to play sports?

Chapter Seven  1. Although Brinker is built like an athlete, why isn’t he an athlete?

2. What does Brinker accuse Gene of when he visits Gene in his room?

3. What is the Butt Room and what nickname does Brinker give it?

4. How does Gene manage to get out of Brinker’s accusation?

5. Gene overhears a boy say as he leaves, “Funny, he came all the way down here and didn’t even have smoke.” What is funny, or curious, about him leaving without smoking?

6. Gene says, “[Leper] seemed from a distance to be a scarecrow left over from the growing season.” Gene also mentions that he hasn’t seen him all fall. What is significant about the metaphor that compares Leper to a scarecrow?

7. What was Leper doing while the other boys shoveled the train tracks?

8. What does Brinker decide he is going to do immediately?

9. What decision does Gene make while walking back to his room?

Chapter Eight  1. What does Gene decide to do now that Phineas is back?

2. What is upsetting Finny? He makes mention of it twice.

3. What does Brinker ask when he stops in Gene’s room?

4. What nickname does Brinker receive? Who gives it to him? How does it come up?

5. How does Gene describe Phineas’s gait before the fall?

6. According to Finny, why did the fat men invent the war?

7. What does Mr. Ludsbury have to say about Gene training for the 1944 Olympics and what all exercise is aimed for?

8. “[P]eace had come back to Devon for me. So the war swept over like a wave at the seashore, gathering power and size as it bore on us, overwhelming in its rush, seemingly inescapable, and then at the last moment eluded by a word from Phineas; I had simply ducked, that was all, and the wave’s concentrated power had hurtled harmlessly overhead, no doubt throwing others roughly up on the beach, but leaving me peaceably treading water as before. I did not stop to think that one wave is inevitably followed by another even larger and more powerful, when the tide is coming in.” In a few sentences explain what Gene means by these words.

Chapter Nine 

1. Why does Finny try to get Gene to stop going to the Butt Room?

2. What event does Finny propose that he and Gene should organize?

3. What are the prizes for the Winter Carnival?

4. What were the snow statutes attacks on?

5. What is Brinker guarding that everyone wants? Eventually everybody gets some.

6. How do the boys behave after Chet blows his trumpet?

7. What does Phineas burn to start the Winter Carnival?

9. What does the telegram from Leper say?

Chapter Ten  1. What do we learn about Gene’s war experience?

2. What does Gene mean when he says that this night “presaged [his] war”? Why does he compare this journey to Leper’s house to the traveling he does in the military?

3. What kind of discharge was Leper going to get? And what is significant about it?

4. What does Leper call Gene, and what does Gene do in response to being called this?

5. Gene says that Leper’s mother must have thought that “[h]e’s a good boy underneath,” and then he says, “Leper was closer to the truth.” What does Gene mean when he says that Leper was closer to the truth? What is the truth?

6. Describe what happens to Leper in the Army?

7. How does Gene react to Leper’s story of his experience?

Chapter Eleven   1. What quality does Gene think Finny has that makes him want to see Finny, “and Phineas only”?

2. What does Gene find the boys engaged in when he returns to Devon?

3. What does Gene have taped above his bed? How is this important to the characterization of Gene?

4. Gene says, “There was no rush to get into the fighting; no one seemed to feel the need to get into the infantry, and only a few were talking about the Marines. The thing to be was careful and self-preserving.” From this statement and other details from the paragraph, what do we learn about the attitudes and privileges of the boys at Devon, except for a very few, of which Gene considers himself?

5. Gene is translating Caesar for Finny. What purpose does the allusion to Caesar serve to the story and its themes? There are probably multiple reasons.

6. What is the Latin inscription above the door of the classroom building? And how is it significant?

7. Who is called in to testify and why?

Chapter Twelve 

1.