The Summer Session symbolizes the peace and childhood innocence that encompasses Devon. A time when the rules are relaxed, the weather is pleasant and students like Finny stand out. Knowles describes how during the summer the masters “appeared to uncoil, they seemed to believe that we were with them about half the time…” (16). Phineas is care free and does as he wishes, aware that he can and will get away with it from the staff. The students have yet to be corrupted and face real war, unlike Finny’s version of battle in the form of athletics.
Finny is very athletic and relaxed, qualities that are important for any young man. The Summer Session is a care-free time, much like childhood, that Phineas loves so much that he may never leave the environment. Summer serves as a starting point in the novel from which the reader can look back at to comparatively note the gradual loss of innocence among the boys as they lose their teenage years. The Headmaster comprehends that the boys just want to be boys, and will have fewer opportunities to do so after the summer.
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Each deal with this reality differently. Gene plans to enlist but Finny simply denies that the war exists. Gene is pulled by Finny into playing “Blitzball,” a game of Finny’s design to distract them from the realities of war. The boys also make jumps from the Suicide Tree into the purity of the Devon River. Once the session ends, the war begins to affect Devon and has a more significant impact on the students’ lives. The Winter Session heavily contrasts the Summer Session through the boys’ gradual loss of innocence through the events that take place at the