Thursday, September 12, 2013

Why is Finny's fall from the tree ironic in A Separate Peace?

There are several.  First, his best friend, Gene, jounces the limb and causes him to fall.  Finny is betrayed by the one person who he trusted implicitly.  Second, as he is about to fall, he has this awkward moment where he loses his balance and falls.  This is ironic because Finny is the best athlete at the school, yet he cannot regain his balance and plummets from the branch. 

The repercussions of the fall are also ironic.  Since it was such a bad break, sports are now out of the question for Finny.  Again this is ironic because he was such a phenomenal athlete and now will never play sports again.

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