What is the significance of finnys theory about the war

Finny's eccentric view of the war contrasts sharply with Gene's dutiful, olive-drab consciousness of wartime America. While Gene sees the dullness of disappointment and suffering — homesick young servicemen coming and going on trains that are never on time — Finny imagines a vast conspiracy of fat old men frustrated by their own incapacity and embittered by the possibility of other people having fun.

While Gene's view calls upon its believers to sacrifice, Finny's incites rebellion. Finny's vision assumes a real war between generations behind the fake war between nations — a fabricated rumor that enables the old to keep power, wealth, and pleasure to themselves. Given the fake war, sacrifice is meaningless. Instead of sacrifice, Finny's vision demands amused detachment, a refusal to give one's heart or mind to the cause trumpeted by a lying older generation.

In such a world vision, Gene and Finny are essentially on their own, with only each other to trust. Finny's fake war theory attacks the dominant world view, but his vision of the Olympics proposes a new world altogether.

As Gene points out, an Olympics two years away — in — would be impossible, because the war will almost certainly still be raging, and so prevent a peaceful form of competition between nations. But if there is no war, as Finny maintains, then the Olympics is virtually a reality already for the athletes training for it.

Finny's Olympics, then, represents an anti-war, a reality that must be accepted in light of the fake war. When Finny invites Gene to train for the Olympics in his place, he invites him, in essence, to join him in a new world — to become, in fact, a part of him. The invitation — the challenge, really — to Gene grows out of an uncharacteristic moment for Finny, a sullen mood created by his weeks of suffering. But Gene's deliberate effort at chinning the bar rouses Finny, re-creating his unique spirit even in adversity.

Clearly, the collaboration of trainer and athlete will benefit both: Finny will relive his lost glory through Gene, while Gene will grow in unexpected ways through reforging his close bond to Finny. Finny's carefully planned track for Gene's run circles a "patriarchal elm tree" — a site recalling the fatal tree by the river. In fact, the training for the imaginary Olympics takes a form that recalls the boys' challenging play on the river the previous summer.

But this time, in winter, the boys have switched places, with Finny passively resting on the tree and Gene energetically throwing himself into action.

Here Finny merely watches while Gene pushes himself beyond his limits, finding the second wind that makes the exertion a joy rather than a test of endurance. Instinctively, Gene realizes that the experience makes him more like Finny. Once overly conscious of Finny's extra ten pounds, Gene now feels as if his friend has grown smaller, or, perhaps, that Gene has "all at once grown bigger.

Perhaps Gene has become Finny's double at last — a true twin, rather than one simply dressed in his clothes. The resolution of the rivalry might be the happy ending of another story, but not this novel.

In the chapters ahead, the boys' relationship will meet other challenges, and Gene will again face the reality of his guilt. Here, Gene refuses to enlist with Brinker, even if he were the son of the president. In turn, Brinker claims a family connection with the wealthy, powerful Roosevelts. Here, Mr Ludsbury refers to the phrase used by the Duke of Wellington In the Duke's opinion, the Battle of Waterloo, in which the British defeated the French led by Napoleon, was won "on the playing fields of Eton," the result of the spirit of the British officers who first learned to compete in the vigorous games of their schools, notably the prestigious Eton.

As Gene and Finny make their way over patches of ice to their first class, Finny remarks that winter loves him; he knows this, he says, because he loves winter, and it must return his affection.

He then suggests that they cut class to give Finny a chance to look at the school after his long absence. They set out immediately across campus for the gym. Gene worries that Finny is planning to stare at his trophies and brood, but instead they go down to the locker room and Finny asks Gene what team he has joined for the year. Gene tells him that he did not try out for any teams, attempting to defend himself by noting the diminished importance of sports during the war.

Finny declares that there is no war, that it is all a conspiracy orchestrated by the adult establishment—by fat, rich, old men—to keep young people in their place. When Gene asks why the conspiracy has not been detected by anyone else, Finny replies that he alone can see it because of the extent of his suffering.

His answer amazes both boys. An awkward silence follows, and Gene, wanting to break the tension, goes over to an exercise bar and begins doing chin-ups. Finny tells him to do thirty and encourages him with his tone of voice as he counts them aloud for Gene. Finny tells Gene that he wanted to be an Olympic athlete and that now he will have to train Gene to go in his place. Gene explains that he is planning to join the Navy in order to avoid being drafted into the infantry, while Brinker, too, has made a careful choice, deciding on the relative safety of the Coast Guard.

This disgusts Mr. Hadley, who urges them to think about how their military service will sound when they talk about it in the future. The safest choice may not be the wisest choice in the long run, he explains. Afterward, Brinker complains of his father's hearty enthusiasm for war service, especially since the older generation will not face any risk in the war that Brinker insists they caused. Brinker's thinking reminds Gene of Finny's theory about the fake-war conspiracy of "fat old men.

As Gene empties his locker to leave Devon for military service, he thinks of Finny and their friendship, which still remains a vital part of his life. Later, from his adult perspective, Gene believes that his war actually ended before he ever entered military service. He sees now that he killed his "enemy" at Devon, while Finny, always unique, never saw anyone or anything as his enemy.

After Finny's death, war and the conspiracy Finny envisioned behind it come finally to Devon. But Gene has learned from Finny, and from Finny's death, to take both in stride. The final chapter makes clear that Gene is ready to enter the wider world of the war and his own adulthood.

The arrival of a military unit at Devon is almost comic in its understatement, as months of sermons about high-risk service culminate in the headmaster's welcoming a Parachute Riggers' School — soldiers armed with sewing machines rather than machine guns.

Still, the regulation uniforms, the maneuvers, the strident voice of the commander, form a sharp contrast with the scholarly, New England surroundings.

Devon and the military really are meeting now, and the clash underscores the fact that the boys will be going off to war soon.

Ironically, the mission of the unit seems ideal — although a little late — for the tragedy that has occurred at Devon. Parachute riggers, after all, work to make falls safe for young men. The outcome of Finny's fall emphasizes the importance of their job, despite the domestic connotations of the sewing machines.