Chapter 12 Summary and Analysis

Headed by Brinker, the gang puts Finny in a chair and carries him off to Dr. Stanpole. Finny is calm about the injury, but Gene is devastated. While everyone solicits Finny, Gene hangs back, afraid that Finny might get angry at the sight of him. The vision of Finny being carried off by the group also makes Gene think about the irony. All this while, Finny was the one to carry the group, but now the tides have turned. Gene is also hit by remorse over not appreciating Finny’s best qualities. Later, Dr. Stanpole turns the lights off at the staircase and tells Gene that there was nothing to worry about. He tells Gene that the break was clean and Finny can be expected to make a full recovery. Despite the encouraging verdict by Dr. Stanpole, his action of plunging the stairs into darkness forebodes a darker turn in fate.

Gene visits Finny that very night at the infirmary. He says, “I’m sorry,” three times before running away. He visits Finny again the next day and tries to apologize. Finny does not blame Gene and does not complain about his injury. He only complains about the war and wishes it didn’t exist. He also confesses to Gene that he had been trying to take part in the war but failed several times to do so. That was the reason why he pretended the war didn’t exist. Gene jokes that Finny would have been useless at war as he would get everyone from both sides into a snow fight, resulting in soldiers not knowing whom to kill anymore. This joke by Gene has some truth to it, as Finny is not only able to attract people toward him, but he also is able to bring those people together. In a school entrenched by an oppressive atmosphere due to looming war, Finny was the one to create a semblance of peace and childhood.

Finny ignores Gene’s joke, but instead asks Gene to tell him that the shaking of the branch was not intentional and personal. Gene confesses that the shaking was a blind impulse, a shameful act. Finny accepts Gene’s answer and believes him.

The next day, Gene is informed by Dr. Stanpole that Finny is dead. While setting his bone, a marrow escaped into his bloodstream and stopped his heart. This kind of death is very unusual and unlikely. When Finny is buried, Gene feels as if he is in the coffin instead.

The chapter brings a climax to the relationship between the two boys. Finny accepts reality, and accepts that he cannot be part of the war. He also does not dismiss Gene’s intentions behind his accident and asks him for the truth. Finny reaches his emotional maturity in this chapter at the infirmary. Gene also accepts that he cannot lie to himself and Finny, and he accepts that him and Finny cannot be reunited.