In contrast, Finny excels at blitzball, because he plays the game the same way he plays at life - by "reverses and deceptions and acts of sheer mass hypnotism." As Finny spontaneously invents the rules of the game on the run, blitzball seems to revolve mostly around Gene getting hit with a heavy medicine ball and repeatedly pummeled by the other players (appropriately called "enemies"). With blitzball, Finny playfully defies Devon authority (and its apparent affection for badminton), but at the same time the game also provides another source for Gene's growing jealousy and resentment of his friend. Like the Suicide Club, blitzball emerges as another physical manifestation of the anarchy inherent in Finny's nature. For Gene, the Suicide Club represents a kind of slow psychological suicide - the gradual loss of himself, as he sees his own identity eclipsed more and more with each evening's jump by Finny and his idea of life-threatening fun. According to the rules of the club, Finny and Gene must now jump from the tree every night, and Gene "hates" it. Finny did not so much save his life, Gene concludes, as nearly get him killed.įinny's inspired idea to form the Super Suicide Society simply compounds Gene's growing fears about their friendship, because the "suicide" here seems to suggest Gene's own possible self-destruction. Yes, Gene thinks, Finny saved his life, but it was because of Finny's insistent risk-taking that they found themselves in such a dangerous situation in the first place. Such radical innocence, as charming as it may be, threatens Gene and finally turns him away from Finny.Īs the chapter opens, Gene begins to reconsider his double jump with Finny at the end of the previous chapter. Sports, he paradoxically believes, produces only winners and never losers - and so it is with life, he assumes. In this chapter, Gene observes that Finny lives his life according to "inspiration and anarchy." But Gene, cautious and conventional, cannot finally abide such freedom.Īlways the true innocent, Finny sees no difference, really, between his philosophy of life and his philosophy of sports. Just before falling asleep, Finny confides to Gene that he considers him his "best pal." Gene realizes that he should tell Finny he feels the same about him, but says nothing. In violation of school rules, the boys ride their bicycles to the shore, where they swim in the ocean, eat hot dogs, drink beer, and sleep that night among the sand dunes. Gene feels he should be studying for a trigonometry test, but agrees anyway. When Gene encourages his friend to try again the next day to make it official, Finny refuses and asks Gene not to speak about it to anyone.įinny then proposes a trip to the beach. 7 seconds, but there are no witnesses so the time will not count. With Gene as his timekeeper, Finny beats the record by. The two boys are alone in the pool when Finny notices a record from 1940 and decides to try to break it. In the next section of the chapter, Gene remembers the time Finny broke the school swimming record. Chaotic blitzball turns out to be the hit of the summer, and Finny, naturally, proves to be the best player. Gene runs wildly with it, is tackled by the other boys, while Finny calls out plays, improvises rules on the run, and generally makes up the game as the boys play it. He hurls a heavy medicine ball at Gene and challenges him to do something with it. Gene goes along every time, but secretly he hates it.Įarly in the summer, Finny becomes dissatisfied with the school sports program - badminton, in particular - and decides the boys should make up their own game (blitzball). This nightly meeting is the only scheduled activity Finny never misses. Every night, Gene and Finny jump from the tree and then watch their friends jump in order to join the club. As this chapter opens, Finny is recruiting the other boys for the Suicide Society.
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