Percy Shelley "Devon's Winter Session"

The author of the novel describes the Winter Session as Devon’s worst and most unhappy time of the year. The Summer Session, characterized by its constant joy and relaxed manner, suddenly morphed into a Winter Session with an atmosphere full of hatred, rigidness and lies. Gene, alike those who were present in the Summer Session now have to follow orders and school rules. As a crew manager assistant being late was unacceptable. Although it was a minor job at the Devon School, during the Winter Session Gene had to be committed to his tasks at school and set them as a priority. The passiveness of the summer session was not present in the winter session. In addition, the presence of Mr.Ludsbury was a clear example of Devon’s rigidness. For the first time in the book the reader observes a strict, old-fashioned teacher at Devon. During this time of the school year students at Devon strive for academic perfection not a fun time. Secondly, during the winter session at Devon the reader could sense a feeling of hatred. Leper’s snails and the games of blitzball were replaced by gossip and fighting. The character of Brinker is a clear example of such malevolence. In the Butt Room he said, “He is your prisoner, gentlemen. Doing away with his roommate so he could have a whole room for himself. Rankest treachery. Practically fratricide” In this quotation the reader can observe Brinker’s malevolence. In the quotation Brinker portrays Gene as sneaky. The tone and words Brinker uses show that he wanted to give Gene a hard time. Brinker was giving false information about a classmate for no true reason; therefore, he is a mean person. The students during the winter session were angry. Quackenbush for instance, was a resentful person. The constant resentment he felt towards his peers made him an angry person. The way he approaches Gene at the crew meeting was an example of such anger and resentment he feels constantly. Winter session influenced Devon and the students negatively.