Robert Browning's Post

The winter term at Devon is described as a major turn of character from the fall and summer terms. Due to the new term commencing, there is now a more strict policy on the boy’s social lives and interactions with other students. On page 74 the reader can see a clear difference in the boys attitude to authority. “If you broke the rules, then they broke you.” This clearly shows how much more strict the teachers are in this term compared to the summer term in which the boys snuck out multiple times. “Peace had deserted Devon.” In this quote the author seems to be using the weather to show the feeling throughout the school. The word “deserted” in this quote is a very strong and powerful word. The word makes people have thoughts of desolate landscape and people feeling alone in a large area, further illustrated by the image on the cover of the book. This may be how Finny is feeling. He may know that Gene was the cause of him falling of the tree and may now feel abandoned by his “best friend”.