1)”The class above, seniors, draft-bait, practically soldiers, rushed ahead of us toward the war. They were caught up in accelerated courses and first-aid programs and a physical hardening regimen, which included jumping from this tree.”

This is one of my favorite quotes in the book. At first, I didn’t think this quote meant anything, but as you continue to read, you realize that this quote foreshadows the jumping from the tree, which is a major part of this novel.

2) “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”

This quote is important in the novel. This quote foreshadows the coming of a rivalry between Finny and Gene. Finny was controlling Gene physically and intellectually. Gene is finally realizing that Finny is the dominate person.

3)”Phineas was a poor deceiver, having had no practice.”

For Finny to be a poor deceiver, is for him to not be himself. Finny during the summer session deceived everyone he came into contact with. He would deceive the teachers so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Finny changed after the injury. He wasn’t the normal Finny anymore.

4)”Stranded in this mill town railroad yard while the whole world was converging elsewhere, we seemed to be nothing but children playing among heroic men”

Gene realized that he wasn’t prepared for war. He knew that this was a war for brave men, and he knew he couldn’t defeat one person… Finny.

5)”Naturally I don’t believe books and I don’t believe teachers, but I do believe-it’s important for me to believe you [Gene]. Christ, I’ve got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody”

Finny found stability in Gene. That’s why Finny always wanted to bring Gene everywhere. Gene is Finny’s best friend, even though Gene tried to kill him.

6) “Your war memories will be with you forever, you’ll be asked about them thousands of times after the war is over.”

Gene doesn’t want to have all these war memories of shooting people, and your friends dying, but these war memories will never stay with him. The war memories that will stay with him are the memories of his war at Devon against Finny.

7) “it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart”

Gene realizes that wars were actually made by the foolishness and stupidity of human beings. Gene figured out that his war with Finny was out of selfish ambition and ignorance.

8) “He [Finny] had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he”

This quote is a great quote, because Gene realizes that Finny was never trying to be better than him. Gene knew Finny never had the intentions of out doing him, but because he thought he was, he did something he regrets.

9) “He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity.”

This quote reveals that Finny had a special quality about him. He had confidence and swagger, but after his injury, he didn’t have that same confidence and swagger he once had.

10)  “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas”

Gene always wanted to beat Finny, but the one thing he didn’t want to happen is for him to become part of Finny. This quote reveals that Gene has accepted the fact that his only purpose in life is to submit to Finny.