Nathaniel Hawthorne's Revisions

The tone of the winter term at Devon is angry and depressing. As the boys are allowed to be outside and run around less because of the weather, they begin to take their energy out in different ways. Classes and rules replace Blitz-ball and swimming. After a summer of fun, the winter turned Devon into a sad academic prison. Also, just like a prison, Devon seemed like an angry place. For example, when Gene went to the Butt Room with Brinker:

“Here’s you prisoner, gentlemen,” announced Brinker seizing my neck and pushing me into the Butt Room ahead of him, “I’m turning him in to the proper authorities.”....

“What’s the charge?”

“Doing away with his roommate so he could have a whole room to himself…. Practically fratricide.”

The quotation shows the angry tone at Devon. The boys are accusing each other of fratricide and throwing each other around like prisoners. Unlike the summer, there is no mercy from anyone at Devon. A fight even broke out between Quackenbush, the manager of the Crew team, and Gene for no reason other than a sense of constant anger that seemed to float through the whole school.