English II Final Review

Letter 2-3

- In the second letter, Walton bemoans his lack of friends. He feels lonely and isolated, too sophisticated to find comfort in his shipmates and too uneducated to find a sensitive soul with whom to share his dreams. -He shows himself a Romantic, with his "love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous," which pushes him along the perilous, lonely pathway he has chosen. -In the brief third letter, Walton tells his sister that his ship has set sail and that he has full confidence that he will achieve his aim.

Doctor

Doctor hired to diagnose Lady Macbeth's sleep walking and hallucinations. Says that she needs spiritual healing not physical healing.

Duncan

-The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown, murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler. His death symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan's line, in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne.

M.Krempe

-A professor of natural philosophy at Ingolstadt. -He dismisses Victor's study of the alchemists as wasted time and encourages him to study something else.

Gregor Samsa

-A traveling salesman and the protagonist of the story. -Gregor hates his job but keeps it because of the obligations he feels to pay off his father's debt and care for his family. -He has transformed into a large bug and spends the rest of his life in that state. -Although hideous and unrecognizable to others, Gregor retains his some of his inner life and struggles to reconcile his lingering humanity with his physical condition.

Justine Moritz

-A young girl adopted into the Frankenstein household while Victor is growing up. -Justine is blamed and executed for William's murder, which is actually committed by the monster.

Chapter IX

-After Justine's execution, Victor becomes increasingly melancholy. He considers suicide but restrains himself by thinking of Elizabeth and his father. -Alphonse, hoping to cheer up his son, takes his children on an excursion to the family home at Belrive. -From there, Victor wanders alone toward the valley of Chamounix. The beautiful scenery cheers him somewhat, but his respite from grief is short-lived.

Chapter XXI

-After confronting Victor, the townspeople take him to Mr. Kirwin, the town magistrate. Victor hears witnesses testify against him, claiming that they found the body of a man along the beach the previous night and that, just before finding the body, they saw a boat in the water that resembled Victor's. -Mr. Kirwin decides to bring Victor to look at the body to see what effect it has on him: if Victor is the murderer, perhaps he will react with visible emotion. When Victor sees the body, he does indeed react with horror, for the victim is Henry Clerval, with the black marks of the monster's hands around his neck. In shock, Victor falls into convulsions and suffers a long illness. -Victor remains ill for two months. Upon his recovery, he finds himself still in prison. Mr. Kirwin, now compassionate and much more sympathetic than before Victor's illness, visits him in his cell. He tells him that he has a visitor, and for a moment Victor fears that the monster has come to cause him even more misery. -The visitor turns out to be his father, who, upon hearing of his son's illness and the death of his friend, rushed from Geneva to see him. -Victor is overjoyed to see his father, who stays with him until the court, having nothing but circumstantial evidence, finds him innocent of Henry's murder. After his release, Victor departs with his father for Geneva.

Caroline Frankenstein

-After her father's death, Caroline is taken in by, and later marries, Alphonse Frankenstein. -She dies of scarlet fever, which she contracts from Elizabeth, just before Victor leaves for Ingolstadt

Chapter XVII

-After his fateful meeting with the monster on the glacier, Victor puts off the creation of a new, female creature. -He begins to have doubts about the wisdom of agreeing to the monster's request. He realizes that the project will require him to travel to England to gather information. -His father notices that his spirits are troubled much of the time—Victor, still racked by guilt over the deaths of William and Justine, is now newly horrified by the task in which he is about to engage—and asks him if his impending marriage to Elizabeth is the source of his melancholy. -Victor assures him that the prospect of marriage to Elizabeth is the only happiness in his life. Eager to raise Victor's spirits, Alphonse suggests that they celebrate the marriage immediately. Victor refuses, unwilling to marry Elizabeth until he has completed his obligation to the monster. He asks Alphonse if he can first travel to England, and Alphonse consents. -Victor and Alphonse arrange a two-year tour, on which Henry Clerval, eager to begin his studies after several years of unpleasant work for his father in Geneva, will accompany Victor. After traveling for a while, they reach London.

Chapter XIV

-After some time, the monster's constant eavesdropping allows him to reconstruct the history of the cottagers. -The old man, De Lacey, was once an affluent and successful citizen in Paris; his children, Agatha and Felix, were well-respected members of the community. Safie's father, a Turk, was falsely accused of a crime and sentenced to death. -Felix visited the Turk in prison and met his daughter, with whom he immediately fell in love. Safie sent Felix letters thanking him for his intention to help her father and recounting the circumstances of her plight. -The letters relate that Safie's mother was a Christian Arab who had been enslaved by the Turks before marrying her father. She inculcated in Safie an independence and intelligence that Islam prevented Turkish women from cultivating. -Safie was eager to marry a European man and thereby escape the near-slavery that awaited her in Turkey. Felix successfully coordinated her father's escape from prison, but when the plot was discovered, Felix, Agatha, and De Lacey were exiled from France and stripped of their wealth. -They then moved into the cottage in Germany upon which the monster has stumbled. Meanwhile, the Turk tried to force Safie to return to Constantinople with him, but she managed to escape with some money and the knowledge of Felix's whereabouts.

The Charwoman

-An elderly widow and the Samsa family's cleaning lady. -Taken on by the Samsas after their regular maid quits because of Gregor, she is a blunt, honest woman who faces the reality of Gregor's state without fear or disgust. -Discovers Gregor dead.

Elizabeth Lavenza

-An orphan, four to five years younger than Victor, whom the Frankensteins adopt. -Victor's mother rescues Elizabeth from a destitute peasant cottage in Italy. -Elizabeth embodies the novel's motif of passive women, as she waits patiently for Victor's attention.

Chapter III

-At the age of seventeen, Victor leaves his family in Geneva to attend the university at Ingolstadt. - Just before Victor departs, his mother catches scarlet fever from Elizabeth, whom she has been nursing back to health, and dies. On her deathbed, she begs Elizabeth and Victor to marry. Several weeks later, still grieving, Victor goes off to Ingolstadt. -Arriving at the university, he finds quarters in the town and sets up a meeting with a professor of natural philosophy, M. Krempe. -Krempe tells Victor that all the time that Victor has spent studying the alchemists has been wasted, further souring Victor on the study of natural philosophy. -He then attends a lecture in chemistry by a professor named Waldman. This lecture, along with a subsequent meeting with the professor, convinces Victor to pursue his studies in the sciences.

Chapter II

-Elizabeth and Victor grow up together as best friends. Victor's friendship with Henry Clerval, a schoolmate and only child, flourishes as well, and he spends his childhood happily surrounded by this close domestic circle. -As a teenager, Victor becomes increasingly fascinated by the mysteries of the natural world. He chances upon a book by Cornelius Agrippa, a sixteenth-century scholar of the occult sciences, and becomes interested in natural philosophy. -He studies the outdated findings of the alchemists Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus with enthusiasm. -He witnesses the destructive power of nature when, during a raging storm, lightning destroys a tree near his house. -A modern natural philosopher accompanying the Frankenstein family explains to Victor the workings of electricity, making the ideas of the alchemists seem outdated and worthless.

Chapter VI

-Elizabeth's letter expresses her concern about Victor's illness and entreats him to write to his family in Geneva as soon as he can. She also tells him that Justine Moritz, a girl who used to live with the Frankenstein family, has returned to their house following her mother's death. After Victor has recovered, he introduces Henry, who is studying Oriental languages, to the professors at the university. The task is painful, however, since the sight of any chemical instrument worsens Victor's symptoms; even speaking to his professors torments him. -He decides to return to Geneva and awaits a letter from his father specifying the date of his departure. Meanwhile, he and Henry take a walking tour through the country, uplifting their spirits with the beauties of nature.

Part I

-Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and discovers he has transformed into a giant bug. Wondering what has happened, he looks around his small room, where everything appears normal. He tries to roll over and go back to sleep in order to forget about what has happened, but because of the shape of his back, he can only rock from side to side. -Feeling sore from his effort, Gregor thinks about what a difficult job he has and the fact that his constant traveling prevents him from making any lasting friendships. He thinks that he would leave his overbearing employer but he has to work off a debt that his parents incurred. He suddenly realizes that he has overslept and does not have a good excuse to give his boss. -Gregor's mother reminds him that he has to catch his train to work. When Gregor responds, he finds his voice has changed. His father and Grete, his sister, join his mother at the door, urging him to get up and unlock it. Gregor twists and rocks, managing to turn sideways and dangle off the bed. Then the doorbell rings. It is the office manager, come to check on Gregor. Gregor rocks his body violently and finally tumbles to the floor. His family and the office manager come to the door to inquire if he is all right. -Gregor's mother pleads with the office manager, telling him what a devoted worker Gregor is, while Grete cries in the next room. The office manager calls through the door and demands an explanation. He hints that Gregor's recent work has not been satisfactory and that Gregor's current behavior looks very bad, especially in light of rumors that Gregor may have stolen money from the company. Gregor claims that he had a dizzy spell and asks the office manager to spare his parents any undue concern. While Gregor tries to lift himself off the floor, the office manager and his family discuss the strange change in his voice, and his sister leaves to fetch a doctor and a locksmith. -Gregor reaches the door, turns the lock with his mouth, and slowly pulls open the door. Seeing that Gregor is now a giant insect, the terrified office manager backs away, the mother passes out, and the father cries. Gregor delivers a long speech asking the office manager to put in a good word for him at work, since traveling salesmen often become the subjects of negative gossip, but the office manager continues to back out of the apartment. Gregor unsuccessfully tries to catch him as he flees and discovers how easily he can crawl on his new legs. The father then picks up a newspaper and the office manager's cane and drives Gregor back into his bedroom. Gregor injures himself when he becomes stuck in the doorway, but the father shoves him through and slams the door.

Part II

-Gregor wakes in the evening. He sees that someone has put a bowl of milk and bread in the room. Though milk had been his favorite drink, he finds he cannot stand the taste now. Then he listens for his family, but the apartment is completely quiet. He recalls the pride he felt at taking care of his family and wonders what will happen to them now. Someone cracks the door open but shuts it immediately, and Gregor eventually sees the light go off in the other room. He crawls under a small sofa and drops into a fitful sleep, vowing that he will do everything he can to make his new condition as small a burden on his family as possible. -In the morning, Grete opens the door but shuts it when she sees Gregor under the sofa. She reopens it and steps into the room. Noticing that Gregor has not eaten, she brings in various kitchen scraps and leaves Gregor to eat alone. He enjoys the moldiest food but has no interest in the fresh vegetables. Grete returns a little while later and sweeps up the scraps while Gregor watches her from beneath the sofa. A pattern thus begins, with Grete feeding and cleaning up after Gregor and reporting to the mother and father how much Gregor has eaten. -Gregor spends much of his time listening to the family through the door. He learns that the money he regularly gave his parents has not all been spent, and he feels proud of his contribution to their wellbeing. To avoid spending this savings, however, the family members will need to find employment. Gregor feels embarrassed when he hears them discuss this topic, as the father has become out of shape and clumsy and the mother has asthma, so neither seems very capable of working. Gregor also reflects on his relationship with his family, recalling how he and his parents had grown apart but that he and Grete had remained close, so much so that he had planned to send her to music school to study the violin. -Gregor slowly adapts to his new life. He begins to enjoy scurrying around his room and climbing on a chair to look out the window. Though Grete continues to look after Gregor, he notices that she cannot stand the sight of him, and he hides behind a sheet draped over the sofa when she enters the room. The parents avoid coming in, though they seem curious about his state. The mother in particular is eager to see him, but Grete and the father urge her not to. -Grete sees that Gregor enjoys climbing up the walls and across the ceiling, so she decides to remove the furniture from the room to give him more space. While the father is out, Grete and the mother start taking out furniture. Gregor hides as usual, but he grows anxious as he hears his mother worry that she and Grete might be doing him a disservice by stripping the room of his possessions. Grete, however, considers herself the expert on Gregor and overrules the mother's objections. While Grete and the mother talk in the living room, Gregor, panicked at the thought of losing all the remnants of his human life, climbs the wall and covers the picture of the woman in furs to prevent it from being taken away. -The mother spots Gregor on the wall, goes into a panic, and passes out. Grete yells at Gregor as he lets go of the picture and scurries into the living room. Grete rushes out, grabs medicine, and returns to Gregor's room, shutting the door behind her. The father returns and Grete tells him that Gregor broke out. He misunderstands Grete and thinks Gregor attacked the mother, so he starts chasing Gregor around the room. Gregor notices that his father has become a new man since getting a job as a bank attendant—he stands straighter and looks cleaner and healthier. The father throws fruit at Gregor, and eventually hits him with an apple that becomes lodged in Gregor's back. The mother bursts from the bedroom and Gregor rushes for the door, hearing his mother beg his father to stop.

Chief Office Manager

-Gregor's boss. Distrustful and overbearing, the office manager insinuates that Gregor has been doing a poor job at work. -He flees in terror upon seeing Gregor.

The Father

-Gregor's father. The failure of his business has left him exhausted and emotionally broken, and he is forced to return to work again after Gregor's metamorphosis. -Despite the beneficial effects his new employment has on him, he expresses considerable hostility toward Gregor.

The Mother

-Gregor's mother. Frail and distressed, the mother is torn between her love for Gregor and her horror at Gregor's new state. -Grete and Gregor's father seek to protect her from the full reality of her son's transformation.

Grete Samsa

-Gregor's sister. Grete is a young woman on the cusp of adulthood. -She initially shows great concern for Gregor, but her compassion gives way to possessiveness and resentment as the effects of Gregor's transformation on her life slowly take their toll.

Chapter XXIV

-His whole family destroyed, Victor decides to leave Geneva and the painful memories it holds behind him forever. -He tracks the monster for months, guided by slight clues, messages, and hints that the monster leaves for him. Angered by these taunts, Victor continues his pursuit into the ice and snow of the North. There he meets Walton and tells his story. He entreats Walton to continue his search for vengeance after he is dead.

Chapter XXIII

-In the evening, Victor and Elizabeth walk around the grounds, but Victor can think of nothing but the monster's imminent arrival. Inside, Victor worries that Elizabeth might be upset by the monster's appearance and the battle between them. -He tells her to retire for the night. He begins to search for the monster in the house, when suddenly he hears Elizabeth scream and realizes that it was never his death that the monster had been intending this night. -Consumed with grief over Elizabeth's death, Victor returns home and tells his father the gruesome news. Shocked by the tragic end of what should have been a joyous day, his father dies a few days later. -Victor finally breaks his secrecy and tries to convince a magistrate in Geneva that an unnatural monster is responsible for the death of Elizabeth, but the magistrate does not believe him. Victor resolves to devote the rest of his life to finding and destroying the monster.

Letter 4

-In the fourth letter, the ship stalls between huge sheets of ice, and Walton and his men spot a sledge guided by a gigantic creature about half a mile away. -The next morning, they encounter another sledge stranded on an ice floe. All but one of the dogs drawing the sledge is dead, and the man on the sledge—not the man seen the night before—is emaciated, weak, and starving. -Despite his condition, the man refuses to board the ship until Walton tells him that it is heading north. The stranger spends two days recovering, nursed by the crew, before he can speak. -The crew is burning with curiosity, but Walton, aware of the man's still-fragile state, prevents his men from burdening the stranger with questions. -As time passes, Walton and the stranger become friends, and the stranger eventually consents to tell Walton his story. At the end of the fourth letter, Walton states that the visitor will commence his narrative the next day; Walton's framing narrative ends and the stranger's begins.

Part III

-In the wake of Gregor's injury, which limits his mobility, the family takes pity on him and leaves the bedroom door open at night so Gregor can watch them. The father dozes in his chair while the mother sews lingerie for a boutique and Grete studies French and shorthand in hopes of moving up from her job as a sales clerk. The father stops taking off his bank attendant uniform when he comes home, and the uniform becomes increasingly filthy. Grete and the mother encourage the father to go to bed early, but he stays up late every night, muttering about how sad his life has become. -Gregor learns that the family has been selling off jewelry to bring in money, and they replace their regular maid with an elderly cleaning lady. He also realizes that they feel trapped by his presence. Gregor stops sleeping and eating as he frets about the family and the past, alternating between guilt over not helping them and outrage that they have neglected him. Grete hardly takes care of him at all anymore. Despite this apparent indifference to Gregor, she becomes extremely upset when the mother cleans Gregor's room and insists that Gregor is hers to look after. -The new cleaning lady, meanwhile, regularly talks to Gregor. She openly stares at him, and even tries to sneak into the room to catch him off-guard. One day, Gregor, tired of being peered at, attacks her, but the cleaning lady threatens him with a chair, so he desists. -The family takes three boarders into the apartment. These men cannot stand mess and disorder, so the family moves much of the furniture and the cleaning lady's supplies into Gregor's room. Gregor enjoys crawling through the clutter, though doing so leaves him exhausted. -One night, the cleaning lady accidentally leaves the door open while the boarders are home. The boarders eat in the dining room while the family eats in the kitchen, and Gregor notices the boarders being very picky about the food that his mother and sister have cooked. Hearing Grete playing the violin, the boarders invite the family into the parlor. The boarders initially stand very close to Grete as she plays, but they soon lose interest. Gregor is entranced by the violin and slowly creeps out into the parlor. He longs to take his sister back to his room and tell her about his plan to send her to music school. -One of the boarders spots Gregor and cries out. The father rushes the boarders out of the parlor as they declare they will move out and not pay rent. Grete tells her parents that they have to stop believing that the bug is Gregor and says they must find a way to get rid of it. The father wishes they could explain to Gregor why they need him to leave, but Grete says that if he could understand them, he would have left long ago to spare them any more pain. Gregor, feeling terrible, scuttles back to his room. He remains motionless through the night, thinking to himself all the while that he must go away to relieve them of their suffering. As dawn breaks, he dies. -The cleaning lady discovers Gregor's body the next morning. The family gathers around the corpse and Grete notices how skinny Gregor had become. The father kicks the boarders out of the apartment. The family decides to take a walk, but first they write letters to their bosses explaining why they aren't coming into work. The cleaning lady tells them that she got rid of the body, but the family seems uninterested in her, and the father decides to fire her that night. Grete and her parents leave the apartment and take a trolley ride to the countryside. They discuss their finances and discover that they have much more money than they thought. They decide to move to a smaller apartment in a better location. The parents notice what an attractive young woman Grete has become and think they should find a husband for her soon. As they reach their stop, Grete stands and stretches.

Chapter XVI

-In the wake of this rejection, the monster swears to revenge himself against all human beings, his creator in particular. -Journeying for months out of sight of others, he makes his way toward Geneva. -On the way, he spots a young girl, seemingly alone; the girl slips into a stream and appears to be on the verge of drowning. When the monster rescues the girl from the water, the man accompanying her, suspecting him of having attacked her, shoots him. -As he nears Geneva, the monster runs across Victor's younger brother, William, in the woods. When William mentions that his father is Alphonse Frankenstein, the monster erupts in a rage of vengeance and strangles the boy to death with his bare hands. He takes a picture of Caroline Frankenstein that the boy has been holding and places it in the folds of the dress of a girl sleeping in a barn—Justine Moritz, who is later executed for William's murder. -Having explained to Victor the circumstances behind William's murder and Justine's conviction, the monster implores Victor to create another monster to accompany him and be his mate.

Chapter VIII

-Justine confesses to the crime, believing that she will thereby gain salvation, but tells Elizabeth and Victor that she is innocent—and miserable. -They remain convinced of her innocence, but Justine is soon executed. -Victor becomes consumed with guilt, knowing that the monster he created and the cloak of secrecy within which the creation took place have now caused the deaths of two members of his family.

Chapter XII

-Observing his neighbors for an extended period of time, the monster notices that they often seem unhappy, though he is unsure why. -He eventually realizes, however, that their despair results from their poverty, to which he has been contributing by surreptitiously stealing their food. Torn by his guilty conscience, he stops stealing their food and does what he can to reduce their hardship, gathering wood at night to leave at the door for their use. -The monster becomes aware that his neighbors are able to communicate with each other using strange sounds. Vowing to learn their language, he tries to match the sounds they make with the actions they perform. -He acquires a basic knowledge of the language, including the names of the young man and woman, Felix and Agatha. He admires their graceful forms and is shocked by his ugliness when he catches sight of his reflection in a pool of water. -He spends the whole winter in the hovel, unobserved and well protected from the elements, and grows increasingly affectionate toward his unwitting hosts.

Chapter VII

-On their return to the university, Victor finds a letter from his father telling him that Victor's youngest brother, William, has been murdered. -Saddened, shocked, and apprehensive, Victor departs immediately for Geneva. By the time he arrives, night has fallen and the gates of Geneva have been shut, so he spends the evening walking in the woods around the outskirts of the town. -As he walks near the spot where his brother's body was found, he spies the monster lurking and becomes convinced that his creation is responsible for killing William. The next day, however, when he returns home, Victor learns that Justine has been accused of the murder. -After the discovery of the body, a servant had found in Justine's pocket a picture of Caroline Frankenstein last seen in William's possession. Victor proclaims Justine's innocence, but the evidence against her seems irrefutable, and Victor refuses to explain himself for fear that he will be labeled insane.

Chapter XXII

-On their way home, father and son stop in Paris, where Victor rests to recover his strength. Just before leaving again for Geneva, Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth. -Worried by Victor's recurrent illnesses, she asks him if he is in love with another, to which Victor replies that she is the source of his joy. The letter reminds him of the monster's threat that he will be with Victor on his wedding night. He believes that the monster intends to attack him and resolves that he will fight back. Whichever one of them is destroyed, his misery will at last come to an end. -Eventually, Victor and his father arrive home and begin planning the wedding. Elizabeth is still worried about Victor, but he assures her that all will be well after the wedding. He has a terrible secret, he tells her, that he can only reveal to her after they are married. As the wedding day approaches, Victor grows more and more nervous about his impending confrontation with the monster. Finally, the wedding takes place, and Victor and Elizabeth depart for a family cottage to spend the night.

Chapter V

-One stormy night, after months of labor, Victor completes his creation. But when he brings it to life, its awful appearance horrifies him. -He rushes to the next room and tries to sleep, but he is troubled by nightmares about Elizabeth and his mother's corpse. -He wakes to discover the monster looming over his bed with a grotesque smile and rushes out of the house. He spends the night pacing in his courtyard. The next morning, he goes walking in the town of Ingolstadt, frantically avoiding a return to his now-haunted apartment. -As he walks by the town inn, Victor comes across his friend Henry Clerval, who has just arrived to begin studying at the university. Delighted to see Henry—a breath of fresh air and a reminder of his family after so many months of isolation and ill health—he brings him back to his apartment. -Victor enters first and is relieved to find no sign of the monster. But, weakened by months of work and shock at the horrific being he has created, he immediately falls ill with a nervous fever that lasts several months. -Henry nurses him back to health and, when Victor has recovered, gives him a letter from Elizabeth that had arrived during his illness.

Chapter XI

-Sitting by the fire in his hut, the monster tells Victor of the confusion that he experienced upon being created. -He describes his flight from Victor's apartment into the wilderness and his gradual acclimation to the world through his discovery of the sensations of light, dark, hunger, thirst, and cold. -According to his story, one day he finds a fire and is pleased at the warmth it creates, but he becomes dismayed when he burns himself on the hot embers. He realizes that he can keep the fire alive by adding wood, and that the fire is good not only for heat and warmth but also for making food more palatable. -In search of food, the monster finds a hut and enters it. His presence causes an old man inside to shriek and run away in fear. The monster proceeds to a village, where more people flee at the sight of him. As a result of these incidents, he resolves to stay away from humans. -One night he takes refuge in a small hovel adjacent to a cottage. In the morning, he discovers that he can see into the cottage through a crack in the wall and observes that the occupants are a young man, a young woman, and an old man.

Modern Natural Philosopher

-Staying at the Frankenstein home, explains electricity to Victor.

Victor Frankenstein

-Studying in Ingolstadt, Victor discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster, from various body parts. -Victor keeps his creation of the monster a secret, feeling increasingly guilty and ashamed as he realizes how helpless he is to prevent the monster from ruining his life and the lives of others.

Robert Walton

-The Arctic seafarer whose letters open and close Frankenstein. -Walton picks the bedraggled Victor Frankenstein up off the ice, helps nurse him back to health, and hears Victor's story. -He records the incredible tale in a series of letters addressed to his sister, Margaret Saville, in England

The Maid

-The Samsas' original maid. -She is terrified by Gregor and begs the family to fire her.

Chapter XIII

-The monster notices that the cottagers, particularly Felix, seem unhappy. A beautiful woman in a dark dress and veil arrives at the cottage on horseback and asks to see Felix. Felix becomes ecstatic the moment he sees her. -The woman, who does not speak the language of the cottagers, is named Safie. She moves into the cottage, and the mood of the household immediately brightens. -As Safie learns the language of the cottagers, so does the monster. He also learns to read, and, since Felix uses Ruins of Empires to instruct Safie, he learns a bit of world history in the process. -Now able to speak and understand the language perfectly, the monster learns about human society by listening to the cottagers' conversations. Reflecting on his own situation, he realizes that he is deformed and alone. -"Was I then a monster," he asks, "a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?"

Letter 1

-The novel itself begins with a series of letters from the explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. -Walton, a well-to-do Englishman with a passion for seafaring, is the captain of a ship headed on a dangerous voyage to the North Pole. -In the first letter, he tells his sister of the preparations leading up to his departure and of the desire burning in him to accomplish "some great purpose"—discovering a northern passage to the Pacific, revealing the source of the Earth's magnetism, or simply setting foot on undiscovered territory.

M. Waldman

-The professor of chemistry who sparks Victor's interest in science. -He dismisses the alchemists' conclusions as unfounded but sympathizes with Victor's interest in a science that can explain the "big questions," such as the origin of life.

Malcolm

-The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland's return to order following Macbeth's reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with Macduff's aid. Rightful King.

The Lodgers

-Three temporary lodgers in the Samsas' house. -The lodgers greatly value order and cleanliness, and thus become horrified when they discover Gregor.

Three Witches

-Use charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt Macbeth to murder Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. They take delight in using their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings.

Chapter XIX

-Victor and Henry journey through England and Scotland, but Victor grows impatient to begin his work and free himself of his bond to the monster. -Victor has an acquaintance in a Scottish town, with whom he urges Henry to stay while he goes alone on a tour of Scotland. -Henry consents reluctantly, and Victor departs for a remote, desolate island in the Orkneys to complete his project. -Quickly setting up a laboratory in a small shack, Victor devotes many hours to working on his new creature. He often has trouble continuing his work, however, knowing how unsatisfying, even grotesque, the product of his labor will be.

Chapter IV

-Victor attacks his studies with enthusiasm and, ignoring his social life and his family far away in Geneva, makes rapid progress. Fascinated by the mystery of the creation of life, he begins to study how the human body is built (anatomy) and how it falls apart (death and decay). -After several years of tireless work, he masters all that his professors have to teach him, and he goes one step further: discovering the secret of life. Privately, hidden away in his apartment where no one can see him work, he decides to begin the construction of an animate creature, envisioning the creation of a new race of wonderful beings. -Zealously devoting himself to this labor, he neglects everything else—family, friends, studies, and social life—and grows increasingly pale, lonely, and obsessed.

Henry Clerval

-Victor's boyhood friend, who nurses Victor back to health in Ingolstadt. -After working unhappily for his father, Henry begins to follow in Victor's footsteps as a scientist. -His cheerfulness counters Victor's moroseness.

Alphonse Frankenstein

-Victor's father, very sympathetic toward his son. -Alphonse consoles Victor in moments of pain and encourages him to remember the importance of family.

William Frankenstein

-Victor's youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. -The monster strangles William in the woods outside Geneva in order to hurt Victor for abandoning him. -William's death deeply saddens Victor and burdens him with tremendous guilt about having created the monster.

Walton in Continuation

-Walton then regains control of the narrative, continuing the story in the form of further letters to his sister. He tells her that he believes in the truth of Victor's story. He laments that he did not know Victor, who remains on the brink of death, in better days. -One morning, Walton's crewmen enter his cabin and beg him to promise that they will return to England if they break out of the ice in which they have been trapped ever since the night they first saw the monster's sledge. -Victor speaks up, however, and convinces the men that the glory and honor of their quest should be enough motivation for them to continue toward their goal. They are momentarily moved, but two days later they again entreat Walton, who consents to the plan of return. -Just before the ship is set to head back to England, Victor dies. -Several days later, Walton hears a strange sound coming from the room in which Victor's body lies. Investigating the noise, Walton is startled to find the monster, as hideous as Victor had described, weeping over his dead creator's body. -The monster begins to tell him of all his sufferings. He says that he deeply regrets having become an instrument of evil and that, with his creator dead, he is ready to die. -He leaves the ship and departs into the darkness.

Chapter XV

-While foraging for food in the woods around the cottage one night, the monster finds an abandoned leather satchel containing some clothes and books. -Eager to learn more about the world than he can discover through the chink in the cottage wall, he brings the books back to his hovel and begins to read. -The books include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Sorrows of Werter, a volume of Plutarch's Lives, and John Milton's Paradise Lost, the last of which has the most profound effect on the monster. -Rifling through the pockets of his own clothes, stolen long ago from Victor's apartment, he finds some papers from Victor's journal. With his newfound ability to read, he soon understands the horrific manner of his own creation and the disgust with which his creator regarded him. -Dismayed by these discoveries, the monster wishes to reveal himself to the cottagers in the hope that they will see past his hideous exterior and befriend him. -He decides to approach the blind De Lacey first, hoping to win him over while Felix, Agatha, and Safie are away. He believes that De Lacey, unprejudiced against his hideous exterior, may be able to convince the others of his gentle nature. -The perfect opportunity soon presents itself, as Felix, Agatha, and Safie depart one day for a long walk. The monster nervously enters the cottage and begins to speak to the old man. -Just as he begins to explain his situation, however, the other three return unexpectedly. Felix drives the monster away, horrified by his appearance.

Chapter XX

-While working one night, Victor begins to think about what might happen after he finishes his creation. He imagines that his new creature might not want to seclude herself, as the monster had promised, or that the two creatures might have children, creating "a race of devils . . . on the earth." -In the midst of these reflections and growing concern, Victor looks up to see the monster grinning at him through the window. Overcome by the monster's hideousness and the possibility of a second creature like him, he destroys his work in progress. -The monster becomes enraged at Victor for breaking his promise, and at the prospect of his own continued solitude. He curses and vows revenge, then departs, swearing that he will be with Victor on his wedding night. -The following night, Victor receives a letter from Henry, who, tired of Scotland, suggests that they continue their travels. Before he leaves his shack, Victor cleans and packs his chemical instruments and collects the remains of his second creature. -Late that evening, he rows out onto the ocean and throws the remains into the water, allowing himself to rest in the boat for a while. When he wakes, he finds that the winds will not permit him to return to shore. -Panicking, in fear for his life, he contemplates the possibility of dying at sea, blown far out into the Atlantic. Soon the winds change, however, and he reaches shore near a town. When he lands, a group of townspeople greet him rudely, telling him that he is under suspicion for a murder discovered the previous night.

Three Murderers

A group of thugs employed by Macbeth to murder Banquo, Fleance (whom they fail to kill), and Macduff's wife and children.

Act 1

1.1 Three Witches plan to meet Macbeth 1.2 - Duncan, king of Scotland, hears an account of the success in battle of his nobleman Macbeth and Banquo. -Duncan orders the execution of the rebel Thane of Cawdor. - Sends messengers to tell Macbeth that he has been given Cawdor's title. 1.3 - Witches greet Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter" - They promise Banquo's sons will be kings. - Witches disappear, Ross and Angus arrive to tell Macbeth he has been named Thane of Cawdor. -Macbeth now contemplates killing Duncan to become "king hereafter" 1.4 - Duncan thanks Macbeth and Banquo for their service. - Duncan announces that his son Malcom will succeed him as king, and that he will visit Macbeth. - Macbeth is convinced the only way to become king is to kill Duncan. 1.5 - Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter about the witches. - She fears that Macbeth lacks the ruthlessness to kill Duncan and fulfill the witch's prophecy. - She tells Macbeth that she will take care of the preparations for Duncan's visit and for his murder. 1.6 - Duncan and his attendants arrive at Inverness Lady Macbeth welcomes them kindly. 1.7 - Macbeth contemplates why it is a terrible thing to kill Duncan. - Lady Macbeth mocks his manhood and offers a plan to kill Duncan. - Macbeth accepts the plan

Act 2

2.1 - Macbeth sees a gory dagger leading him to Duncan's room. - He hears the bell rung by Lady Macbeth, signifying the completion of her preparations. - Macbeth exits to kill the king. 2.2 - Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to return. - Macbeth returns horrified by what he has done. - Macbeth returns with the daggers instead of leaving them with the servants. -Lady Macbeth returns the bloody daggers. - Macbeth is paralyzed with horror and Lady Macbeth urges him to get on his night gown and wash away the blood. 2.3 - Drunken Porter admits Macduff and Lennox to wake Duncan. - Macbeth appears and greets them, Macduff goes to wake Duncan and returns to announce his murder. - Lennox announces that Duncan's servants are the murderers and Macbeth says he has slain the servants. - Duncan's sons plan to flee for their lives. -Malcom to England and Donalbain to Ireland 2.4 - Old man and Ross exchange stories of unnatural happenings. - Macduff tells them that Malcom and Donalbain are being accused of bribing the servants to murder their dad. - Macbeth has been chosen king.

Act 3

3.1 - Banquo suspects that Macbeth killed Duncan in order to become king. - Macbeth invites Banquo to a feast that night. - Macbeth fears that Banquo's children, not his, will become future kings of Scotland. - Macbeth employs two men to carry out Banquo and Fleance's murder. 3.2 - Macbeth and Lady Macbeth talking. - Macbeth expresses his fear of Banquo. - Refers to the "dreadful deed that will happen tonight" , but does not share his plan with Lady Macbeth. 3.3 - A third murderer joins the two original murderers in the woods to kill Fleance and Banquo. - This is not part of Macbeth's plan. - They manage to kill Banquo by beating his head in. - Fleance escapes into the darkness. 3.4 - Macbeth's banquet begins, one of the murderers shows up at the door. -Tells Macbeth of Banquo's murder and Fleance's escape. - Macbeth returns to the table and is confronted by Banquo's ghost. (Invisible to all but Macbeth). - Lady Macbeth dismisses it as a momentary fit, and Macbeth calms down. - Ghost returns and Macbeth's outcries cause Lady Macbeth to send the guests away. - Macbeth plans to meet the witches again. 3.5 - Meets with witches 3.6 - Lennox and an unnamed Lord discuss Scottish politics - Lennox comments about the several violent murders occurring during Macbeth's reign. - News of Macduff traveling to England to seek help in overthrowing Macbeth.

Act 4

4.1 - Macbeth approaches the witches for advice on how to keep his kingship secure. -Summon three apparitions, an armed head, a bloody child, and a crowned child. - Instruct Macbeth to beware Macduff, but assure him that no man born of woman can harm him, and that he will not be overthrown until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. - Macbeth discovers that Macduff has gone to England, Macbeth decides to kill Macduff's family. 4.2 - Ross visits Lady Macduff and tries to justify Macduff's trip to England. - Lady Macbeth is upset because it leaves the family defenseless. - Messenger warns Lady Macduff to leave immediately. - Before she can leave Macbeth's murderers attack and kill Lady Macduff and her son. 4.3 - Macduff finds Malcolm at the English court and urges him to attack Macbeth. - Malcom suspects that Macduff is trying to trick him into a trap for Macbeth. - However he finds him to be sincere and Malcom reveals that that Edward King of England has provided a commander (Siward) and ten thousand English troops. - Ross arrives with news of the murder of Macduff's family. - Macduff is grief stricken, but quickly become angry and wants to avenge their deaths.

Act 5

5.1 - Lady Macbeth's Gentlewoman sees her walking in her sleep and asks for a doctor's advice. -Observe Lady Macbeth make the gestures of repeatedly washing her hands, and reliving the horrors of the murders. -Doctor concludes that she needs spiritual aid rather than medical aid. 5.2 - Rebellious Scottish force marches toward Birnam Wood to join Malcolm and the English Army. 5.3 - Reports of the Scottish and English army are brought to Macbeth. -He seeks reassurance through the apparitions prophecy of safety. -He is anxious about Lady Macbeth's condition and the Doctor's inability to cure her. 5.4 - Rebel Scottish forces have joined Malcolm's army at Birnam Wood. -Malcolm orders each soldier to cut down and carry a bough (Largest Tree Branch), to conceal their numbers. 5.5 - Macbeth is confident that he can withstand any siege form Malcolm's forces. -He is told of Lady Macbeth's suicide, and the movement of Birnam Wood toward Dunsinane Castle. -He desperately resolves to abandon the castle and give battle to Malcolm in the field. 5.6 - Malcolm arrives at Dunsinane Castle with his troops. 5.7 - Macbeth kills Young Siward, son of the English Commander , Macduff arrives in search of him. -Dunsinane castle has been surrendered to Malcolm, whose forces where strengthened by deserters from Macbeth's army. 5.8 - Macduff finds Macbeth who is reluctant to fight. - When Macduff announces that he was ripped from his mother's womb prematurely, Macbeth becomes afraid to fight. - He fights Macduff only when Macduff threatens to capture him and use him as a public spectacle. - Macduff kills Macbeth and brings his head to Malcolm. - With Macbeth dead, Malcolm is now king and gives royal titles to all of his supporters.

Agnus

A Scottish Nobleman

Lennox

A Scottish Nobleman

Ross

A Scottish Nobleman

Macduff

A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth's kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade's mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth's murder of Macduff's wife and young son.

Brinker Hadley

A charismatic class politician with an inclination for orderliness and organization. Brinker is very straight-laced and conservative. He has complete confidence in his own abilities and has a tendency to carry his ideas through with startling efficiency—at times even ruthlessness. Manifesting a mindset opposite to that of Finny, who delights in innocent anarchy, Brinker believes in justice and order and goes to great lengths to discover the truth when he feels that it is being hidden from him.

Leper Lepellier

A classmate of Gene and Finny. Leper is a mild, gentle boy from Vermont who adores nature and engages in peaceful, outdoor-oriented hobbies, like cross-country skiing. He is not popular at Devon but seems to pay no attention to such things; only later does the text hint at his desire to be closer to Gene and his jealousy of Finny's position as Gene's best friend. He is the first boy from Gene's class to enlist in the army, but military life proves too much for him, and he suffers hallucinations and a breakdown.

Chapter 4

After he and Finny sleep on the beach, Gene awakens with the dawn. Finny wakes up soon after and goes for a quick swim before they head home. They arrive just in time for Gene's ten-o'clock test in trigonometry, which he flunks. It is the first time that he has ever failed a test, but Finny gives him little time to worry about it: they play blitzball all afternoon and have a meeting of the Super Suicide Society after dinner. That night, Gene tries to catch up on his trigonometry and Finny tells him that he works too hard. Finny suspects him of trying to be class valedictorian, which Gene denies. Suddenly, however, he realizes that he does, in fact, want to be valedictorian so that he can match Finny and all of his athletic awards. Gene asks Finny how he would feel if he achieved the honor. Finny jokingly replies that he would kill himself out of envy; Gene feels that the jocular tone is a mere screen, however, and that there is some truth to Finny's words. Believing that the envy in their relationship is mutual, Gene now perceives a rivalry that he never recognized before. Highly disturbed, he concludes that all of Finny's overtures of friendship and insistence that Gene participate in all of his diversions are calculated to thwart him in his achievement of academic success comparable to Finny's athletic success. Gene works to become an exceptional student and begins to surpass his only real rival, Chet Douglass. Finny cannot compete with Gene academically, but he nonetheless intensifies his own studying. Gene interprets Finny's hunkering down as merely an attempt to even out the sides of the rivalry, since Gene is an excellent student and a fairly good athlete, while Finny is an excellent athlete but a poor student. Despite Gene's suspicions of Finny, the two get along well in the weeks that follow. The masters of the school, meanwhile, give up any pretense of discipline, and one day Gene tells Mr. Prud'homme about his trip to the beach with Finny. To his surprise, the teacher shows no concern about their rule-breaking. Gene continues to attend the nightly meetings of the Suicide Society so as to prevent Finny from suspecting that their friendship might be flagging. One night, as Gene studies for a French exam, Finny comes into the room and announces that Leper Lepellier is planning to jump from the tree by the river that night and thus become a full member of their society. Gene doesn't believe that Leper would ever dare the feat and concludes that Finny must have talked him into the attempt in order to interrupt Gene's studying. Gene complains that his grade will suffer and begins to storm out to the tree when Finny tells him casually that he doesn't have to come along if he wants to study, as it is only a game. Finny says that he didn't realize that Gene ever had to study; he thought his academic prowess came naturally. He expresses admiration for Gene's intelligence and says that he is right to be so serious about something at which he excels. He tells Gene to stay and study, but Gene replies that he has studied enough and insists on going to see Leper jump. As they walk toward the tree, Gene decides that there must never have been any rivalry between them after all. Moreover, he thinks that this latest interaction has proved that Finny is his moral superior: Finny seems incapable of being actively jealous of anyone. Finny proposes a double jump with Gene, and they strip and ascend the tree. Finny goes out onto the limb first, and when Gene steps out, his knees bend and he jostles the limb, causing Finny to lose his balance and fall with a sickening thud to the bank. Gene then moves out to the end of the limb and dives into the water, suddenly fearless.

Fleance

Banquo's son, who survives Macbeth's attempt to murder him. At the end of the play, Fleance's whereabouts are unknown. Presumably, he may come to rule Scotland, fulfilling the witches' prophecy that Banquo's sons will sit on the Scottish throne.

FRANKENSTEIN

CHARACTERS AND SUMMARIES

MACBETH

CHARACTERS AND SUMMARIES

Chapter 7

Brinker comes across the hall to see Gene and congratulates him on getting such a large room all to himself. He jokingly accuses Gene of having "done away with" Finny to get the room. Gene tries weakly to play along with the joke and then suggests that they go smoke cigarettes in the basement "Butt Room." Upon their arrival, however, Brinker pretends that the Butt Room is a dungeon and announces to the others there that he has brought a prisoner accused of killing his roommate. Gene tries to shake off the comment's hint of truth by making an overblown, obviously joking confession; he chokes, however, when he begins to describe jolting Finny out of the tree. Paralyzed, he challenges a younger boy to "reconstruct the crime," but the boy says simply that Gene must have pushed Finny off the branch. Gene ridicules the boy's conclusion, directing attention away from himself but eliciting the boy's hatred. He then declares that he must go study his French, leaving without having smoked. To relieve wartime labor shortages, the boys shovel snow off the railroad and receive payment in return. On his way to the train station to go shovel, Gene finds Leper in the middle of a meadow, cross-country skiing. Leper says that he is looking for a beaver dam on the Devon River and invites Gene to come see it sometime if he finds it. Gene works on the same shoveling team as Brinker and Chet Douglass but finds the work dull and arduous. The boys shovel out the main line and cheer as a troop train, packed with young men in uniform, continues by them on its way. On the train home, the boys talk only of the war and their eagerness to be involved. Quackenbush says that he will finish school before going off to be a soldier, as he wants to take full advantage of Devon's physical hardening program. The other boys accuse him of being an enemy spy. When they arrive back at Devon, the boys find Leper coming back from his expedition to the beaver dam. Brinker makes fun of him and, as they walk away, tells Gene that he is tired of school and wants to enlist tomorrow. Gene feels a thrill at the thought of leaving his old life to join the military. That night, after spending some time contemplating the stars, he decides to enlist as well. When he returns to his room, however, he finds Finny there.

Chapter X

Chapter X -One rainy day, Victor wakes to find his old feelings of despair resurfacing. He decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert, hoping that the view of a pure, eternal, beautiful natural scene will revive his spirits. -When he reaches the glacier at the top, he is momentarily consoled by the sublime spectacle. As he crosses to the opposite side of the glacier, however, he spots a creature loping toward him at incredible speed. -At closer range, he recognizes clearly the grotesque shape of the monster. He issues futile threats of attack to the monster, whose enormous strength and speed allow him to elude Victor easily. -Victor curses him and tells him to go away, but the monster, speaking eloquently, persuades him to accompany him to a fire in a cave of ice. Inside the cave, the monster begins to narrate the events of his life.

Siward

Commander of the English Army

Dr. Stanpole

Devon's resident doctor. Dr. Stanpole operates on Finny after both of Finny's accidents. He is a caring man who laments the troubles that afflict the youth of Gene's generation.

Chapter 8

Finny playfully criticizes Gene's clothes and grumbles about the lack of maid service. Gene responds that it is no great loss, considering the war, and he makes up Finny's bed for him. The next day, Brinker bursts in, about to ask if Gene is ready to enlist, when he sees Finny. He starts to make a joke about Gene's "plan"—to kill Finny and get the room for himself—but Gene cuts him off and explains to Finny about Brinker's suggestion to enlist. Finny's unenthusiastic reaction leads Gene to realize that Finny doesn't want him to leave. Gene now tells Brinker, to Finny's obvious relief, that he no longer wants to enlist. The roommates begin to make jokes, saying that they wouldn't enlist with Brinker if he were General MacArthur's son or even Madame Chiang Kai-shek of China. In the midst of these jokes, Finny tags Brinker with a nickname: "Yellow Peril" Hadley, referring to his supposed double-life as Madame Chiang Kai-shek. 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. Finny convinces Gene to undertake the training despite his objections that the war will preempt the Olympics in 1944. Finny begins to train Gene and Gene tutors Finny in his classes; they are both surprised by their progress. One morning, as Gene runs a course around the headmaster's house under Finny's guidance, he suddenly finds his stride, running better than he ever has before. Mr. Ludsbury comes out to see what the boys are doing and Finny tells him that Gene is training for the Olympics. Ludsbury tells them to remember that all athletic training should be dedicated to preparation for war, but Finny flatly replies, "No." This response flusters Ludsbury, who mutters something and leaves. Finny muses that the headmaster seems to believe sincerely in the reality of the war; he concludes that Ludsbury must be too thin to be let in on the hoax run by the fat old men. Gene feels a flash of pity for Ludsbury's "fatal thinness," reflecting that he indeed seems to have always had a "gullible side."

Chapter 5

Finny's leg has been shattered in the fall from the tree. Everyone talks to Gene about the injury in the following days but no one suspects him of any wrongdoing. No one is allowed to see Finny at the infirmary. Gene spends an increasing amount of time alone in his room, questioning himself. One day, he decides to put on Finny's shoes, pants, and pink shirt. When he looks in the mirror, he sees himself as Finny, and a wave of relief comes over him. The feeling of transformation lasts through the night but is gone in the morning, and Gene is confronted once more with what he has caused, whether or not deliberately, to happen to Finny. That morning after chapel, Dr. Stanpole tells Gene that Finny is feeling better and could use a visit. He says that Finny's leg will recover enough for him to walk again but that he will no longer be able to play sports. Gene bursts into tears and the doctor tries to comfort him, saying that he must be strong for Finny. He notes that Finny asked to see Gene specifically, from which Gene concludes that Finny must want to accuse him to his face. Gene goes in to see Finny but, before expressing any of his own ideas about what happened, asks Finny what his memories of the incident are. Finny says that something made him lose his balance and that he looked over to Gene to see if he could reach him. Gene recoils violently and accuses Finny of wanting to drag him down with him. Finny explains calmly that he wanted merely to keep from falling. Gene then states that he tried to catch hold of Finny but that Finny fell away too fast. Finny tells him that he has the same shocked facial expression now that he did on the tree. Gene asks if Finny recalls what made him lose his balance in the first place. Finny hints that he had a vague notion that Gene was the cause, but he refuses to accept this idea and apologizes for even considering it. Gene realizes that if the roles were reversed, Finny would tell him the truth about his possible involvement. He rises quickly and tells Finny that he has something terrible to say to him. Just then, however, Dr. Stanpole enters, and Gene is sent away. The next day, the doctor decides that Finny is not well enough to receive visitors; soon after, an ambulance takes Finny to his home outside Boston. The summer session ends, and Gene goes home to the South for a month's vacation. In September, Gene starts for Devon by train and is delayed considerably. He catches a taxi at Boston's South Station, but instead of taking it to North Station for the last leg of the trip to Devon, he proceeds to Finny's house. He finds Finny propped up before a fireplace with hospital-type pillows. Finny is pleased to see him, though not surprised, and asks about his vacation. Gene recounts a story about a fire back home and then says that he was thinking a lot about Finny and the accident while at home. He now tells Finny that he deliberately shook the limb to make him fall. Finny refuses to believe him and grows furious. Gene realizes that he has injured Finny further with his confession and that he must take back his words, though he cannot do it now. Finny says that he will return to Devon by Thanksgiving.

Chapter 1

Gene Forrester, the narrator of the story, returns to the Devon School in New Hampshire, fifteen years after being a student there. He walks around the campus and notices that everything seems well preserved, as if a coat of varnish had been applied to the buildings, keeping them just as they were during his time there. He reflects on how fearful he was in those days—the early 1940s, while World War II raged in Europe—and decides to visit the two places that he most closely associates with that fear. The first is a marble staircase in one of the academic buildings, which Gene decides must be made of incredibly hard stone, since the depressions created by students' feet over the years are still shallow. After staring at these steps for a time, he goes back outside, passing the dormitories and the gymnasium, ruining his shoes as he trudges across the soggy playing fields in the rain. He eventually reaches the river and searches for a specific tree on its banks, which he locates with some difficulty in a grove of trees similar to each other. He identifies his tree by a number of scars on its trunk and by the way that one of its branches sticks out over the river. He reflects that this tree now seems so much smaller than it did during his youth, and a French proverb comes to his mind: plus c'est la même chose, plus ça change, meaning "the more things remain the same, the more they change." He turns to go inside out of the rain. At this point, the narrative flashes back to the summer of 1942, when Gene is sixteen and standing at the foot of the same tree, which looms hugely like a "steely black steeple." Gene is there with his roommate Phineas, or Finny, and three other boys: Elwin "Leper" Lepellier, Chet Douglass, and Bobby Zane. Finny tries to persuade them to jump off a branch of the tree into the river—a feat that no student of their age has ever tried before. The jump is done by the older boys in the school as part of their physical training prior to their graduation and departure for the war. Finny jumps first to show the others that it is possible, popping up out of the river to declare how fun the jump is. He then sends Gene up the tree for his turn. Gene finds himself in a mild state of shock once he reaches the limb. As he ponders the plunge, Finny orders him to jump. Gene does so, but the other three boys refuse. The group heads back to the center of campus, Finny and Gene walking side by side. Finny tells Gene that he performed admirably once he had been "shamed" into jumping; outwardly, Gene denies being shamed into it, though he knows Finny's claim is true. The school bell rings, signaling dinner, and Finny trips Gene and wrestles him to the ground. After they get up, Gene walks faster, and Finny teases him for wanting to be on time for dinner. Gene tackles him, and they wrestle each other in the twilight while the others run ahead. Realizing now that their wrestling has indeed made them quite late for dinner, Finny and Gene skip the meal and go straight to their room to do homework.

Chapter 9

Gene feels a profound inner peace as he trains with Finny, and he sometimes finds it hard to believe truly in the widespread confusion of the war. To everyone's surprise, Leper Lepellier, after watching a documentary about ski troops, enlists in January, which only makes the war seem even more unreal to Gene. Later, Brinker starts the running joke that Leper must be behind any Allied victory. Finny refuses to take part in these jokes, and as they come to dominate the conversation *********** Room, both he and Gene stop going there. He pulls Gene farther and farther away from his other friends until Gene spends all his time with him, training for the Olympics. One day, Finny decides to stage a winter carnival and starts assigning tasks. Brinker organizes the transfer of equipment from the dormitory to a park on the river and has his mousy roommate, Brownie Perkins, guard several jugs of hard cider buried in the snow. The boys arrange a little ski jump, snow statues, and prizes, and Chet Douglass provides music on his trumpet. As the carnival begins, the other boys wrestle the cider away from Brinker at Finny's prompting and break into anarchic carousing. Everyone seems intoxicated with cider and life itself, especially Finny, who performs a wild yet graceful dance on the prize table with his good leg. Finny announces the beginning of the carnival's decathlon and has Gene demonstrate various feats of athleticism for the appreciative crowd. Amid the festivities, Brownie reappears from the dormitory with a telegram: Leper has written to Gene to say that he has "escaped" and that his safety depends on Gene coming at once to his "Christmas location."

Chapter 10

Gene immediately sets out for Leper's "Christmas location," meaning his home in Vermont. He takes a train and then a bus through the barren New England landscape and arrives in Leper's town early the next morning. He walks the rest of the way through the snow to Leper's house. All the while he refuses to admit to himself that Leper has deserted the army; he tries to convince himself that by "escape," Leper has meant an escape from spies. Leper stands at the window, beckoning Gene as he approaches, and then bustles him into the dining room. Leper tells Gene that he has, in fact, deserted; he did so because the army was planning to give him a Section Eight discharge for insanity, which he says would have prevented him from ever finding work or leading a normal life. Gene makes a few uncertain comments and Leper suddenly breaks down, insulting him. He then accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. Gene kicks Leper's chair over. Leper's mother rushes into the room, declaring that her son is ill and demanding to know why Gene would attack a sick person. Leper then invites Gene to stay for lunch, which he does out of guilt. At his mother's suggestion, Leper goes for a walk with Gene after the meal. Leper suddenly begins sobbing and tells Gene of his odd hallucinations at training camp: officers' faces turned into women's faces, soldiers carrying detached limbs, and so on. Eventually, Gene cannot bear to listen to Leper any longer and runs away into the snowy fields.

Chapter 11

Gene returns to Devon from Leper's house and finds Finny in the midst of a snowball fight, which he has organized. Gene hesitates to join the fight but Finny draws him in. Gene asks Finny, who now uses a walking cast, if he is allowed to participate in such strenuous activities. Finny replies that he thinks he can feel his bones getting better. He adds that bones are often stronger in the places where they have once broken. Brinker comes to visit Gene and Finny in their room and asks about Leper. Gene tells him that Leper has changed dramatically and that he has deserted the army. Although Gene's words are vague, Brinker immediately surmises that Leper has "cracked." He then laments having two people in his class already "sidelined," unable to contribute to the war. Gene realizes that this pair includes Finny and tries to gloss over the implication by saying that there is no war, hoping he can distract Finny by getting him to elaborate upon his conspiracy theory. Finny repeats Gene's denial but in an uncharacteristically ironic tone; his words seem to Gene to mark the end of his fantastical conception of reality—a perspective that included the possibility of the 1944 Olympic Games being held. Time passes, and all of the eligible boys, except for Gene, take steps toward enlisting in some relatively safe branch of the military. One day, Brinker takes him aside and tells him that he knows that Gene has decided not to enlist because he pities Finny. He says that they should confront Finny about his injury casually, whenever possible, to make him accept it. He adds that it would be best if "everything about Finny's accident was cleared up and forgotten"—and that Gene might have a "personal stake" in such an outcome. Gene demands to know Brinker's meaning; Brinker responds tauntingly that he doesn't know but that Gene may. Later that morning, Gene reads Finny part of a Latin translation (from Caesar's Gallic Wars) that he has done for him. Though Finny doesn't believe in Caesar, he does finally admit the existence of World War II. He says that he had to accept the reality of the war when Gene told him that it had caused Leper to go crazy. If something can make a person go crazy, Finny says, it must be real. He adds that he did not completely accept Gene's description of Leper at first but that it was confirmed when he saw Leper hiding in the bushes that morning after chapel. Gene is shocked to hear that Leper is back at Devon. They decide not to tell anyone and begin joking about Gene's amazing feats at the imaginary 1944 Olympics. That night, Brinker comes into Gene and Finny's room with several other boys and takes Gene and Finny off to the Assembly Hall, where he has gathered an audience and a panel of judges for an inquiry into the cause of Finny's accident. Brinker asks Finny to explain in his own words what happened on the tree, and Finny reluctantly says that he lost his balance and fell. Boys from the makeshift tribunal ask what caused him to lose his balance in the first place and inquire about Gene's whereabouts at the time. Finny says that he thinks that Gene was at the bottom of the tree and Gene agrees that he was but that he cannot remember exactly what happened. But Finny then remembers that he had suggested a double jump and that they were climbing the tree together. Gene struggles to defend the discrepancy between their stories. Brinker laments that Leper is not there, as he could have remembered everyone's exact position. Finny quietly announces that he saw Leper slip into Dr. Carhart's office that morning; the two boys are sent to find him. Gene tells himself that Leper is crazy and that even if his testimony implicates Gene, no one will ever accept it. After a while, the boys return with Leper, who seems strangely confident and composed. The tribunal asks him what happened and he replies that he saw two people on the tree silhouetted against the sun and saw one of them shake the other one off the branch. Brinker asks Leper to name the people and to say who moved first but Leper suddenly clams up. He becomes suspicious and declares that he will not incriminate himself. As Brinker tries to bring Leper back to his senses, Finny rises and declares that he doesn't care what happened. He then rushes out of the room in tears. The boys hear his footsteps and the tapping of his cane as he runs down the hall, followed by the horrible sound of his body falling down the marble staircase.

Chapter 6

Gene sits at the first chapel service of the school year and observes that the school atmosphere seems back to normal, with all its usual austerity and discipline. He lives in the same room that he shared with Finny over the summer. The room across the hall, which belonged to Leper, now houses Brinker Hadley, a prominent personage on campus. After lunch, Gene starts to go across the hall but suddenly decides that he doesn't want to see Brinker. He realizes that he is late for an afternoon appointment at the Crew House. On his way, he stops on the footbridge at the junction of the upper Devon River and the lower Naguamsett River. He envisions Finny balancing himself on the prow of a canoe on the river, the way Finny used to do. Gene has taken the thankless position of assistant senior crew manager and has to work for Cliff Quackenbush, an unhappy, bullying type. After practice is over, Quackenbush pesters Gene as to why he has taken the job: normally boys only tolerate the position of assistant in hopes of becoming manager the following year, but Gene is already a senior. Quackenbush begins to insult him, implying that Gene must be working as a manager because he cannot row; indeed, as Gene knows, disabled students usually fill such positions. Gene hits Quackenbush hard and they start to fight and fall into the river. Gene pulls himself out and Quackenbush tells him not to come back. As Gene walks home, he meets Mr. Ludsbury, the master in charge of his dormitory, who berates him for taking advantage of the summer substitute and engaging in illegal activities: in addition to his escape to the beach with Finny, Gene had participated in late-night games of poker and transgressed the rules in other ways. Gene only regrets not having taken fuller advantage of the summer laxity. Mr. Ludsbury then mentions that Gene has received a long distance phone call. Gene enters the master's study and, calling the number written on the notepad there, soon hears Finny's voice. Finny asks about their room and is relieved when Gene replies that he has no roommate. Finny says that he just wanted to be sure that Gene is no longer "crazy" like he was when he visited Finny and claimed that he jounced the limb. Finny then asks about sports and throws a fit when Gene tells him that he is trying to be assistant crew manager. Finny tells Gene that he has to play sports, for his sake, and Gene feels oddly joyful to think that he must be destined to become a part of Finny.

Finny

Gene's classmate and best friend. Finny is honest, handsome, self-confident, disarming, extremely likable, and the best athlete in the school; in short, he seems perfect in almost every way. He has a talent for engaging others with his spontaneity and sheer joy of living, and, while he frequently gets into trouble, he has the ability to talk his way out of almost any predicament. According to Gene, he is rare among human beings in that he never perceives anyone as an enemy, and never strives to defeat others. Finny's behaviors also suggest that he relishes pure achievement rather than competition. His fatal flaw is that he assumes that everyone is like him—that everyone shares his enthusiastic and good-natured spirit.

Chet Douglas

Gene's main rival for the position of class valedictorian. Chet is an excellent tennis and trumpet player and possesses a sincere love of learning.

Chapter 12

In the moments following Finny's crash on the staircase, the boys behave with surprising presence of mind as they fetch the wrestling coach, who lives nearby, to give Finny first aid; they also send someone to Dr. Stanpole's house. Dr. Stanpole arrives and has Finny carried out on a chair. Dr. Stanpole tells Gene that Finny's leg is broken again but assures him that it is a much cleaner break than last time. The crowd of boys breaks up and Gene sneaks off to the infirmary to peek in and try to see what is going on. He sits outside in the dark, imagining Finny saying absurd things to the doctors and nurses, until finally the doctor and the other adults leave, turning out the light in Finny's room. Gene crawls up to the side of the building and opens the window. Finny recognizes him in the darkness and begins to struggle angrily in his bed, accusing Gene of coming to break something else in him. He falls out of bed, but Gene restrains himself from going into the room to help him back up. Gene tells Finny that he is sorry and then leaves. All through the night, Gene wanders the campus, thinking that he can see a new level of meaning in everything around him and feeling that he himself is nothing but a meaningless dream, a "roaming ghost." He falls asleep under the stadium, imagining that its walls can speak, that they can say powerful things, but that he, as a ghost, cannot hear them. The next morning, he returns to his room before class and finds a note from Dr. Stanpole asking him to bring some of Finny's things to the infirmary. Gene packs Finny's suitcase and brings it to him. Finny's voice betrays no emotion, but as he looks through the suitcase, Gene sees that his hands are shaking. Finny tells Gene that all winter he has been writing to various military branches all over the allied world, begging to be allowed to enlist but that all of them have rejected him because of his leg. He says that the reason he kept telling Gene that there was no war was that he could not be a part of it. Gene tells Finny that he would never have been any good in the war anyway because he would have gone over to the other side and made friends and gotten everyone confused about whom they were fighting. Finny bursts into tears and says that some sort of blind impulse must have seized Gene on the tree those many months ago, that he hadn't known what he was doing. He asks Gene to confirm that it was some impulse, not some deep feeling against Finny, that took hold of him that day; Gene answers that some "ignorance" or "crazy thing" inside him made him jostle the limb. Finny assures him that he understands and believes Gene. The doctor tells Gene that he is going to set the bone this afternoon; Gene can come back that evening after Finny comes out of the anesthesia. Gene goes about his day mechanically and comes back to the infirmary at the appointed time. Dr. Stanpole finds him in the hall outside Finny's room and tells him that Finny is dead. As Gene listens numbly, the doctor explains that a bit of marrow escaped from the bone as he was setting it, entering Finny's bloodstream and stopping his heart. Gene doesn't cry, not even later at Finny's funeral. He feels that, in some way, it is his own funeral as well.

Gentlewoman

Lady Macbeth's servant/maid.

Macbeth

Macbeth is a Scottish general and the thane of Glamis who is led to wicked thoughts by the prophecies of the three witches, especially after their prophecy that he will be made thane of Cawdor comes true. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one. He is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne, and once he commits his first crime and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease. Ultimately, Macbeth proves himself better suited to the battlefield than to political intrigue, because he lacks the skills necessary to rule without being a tyrant. His response to every problem is violence and murder.

Seyton

Macbeth's lieutenant and servant who obeys his every command.

Lady Macbeth

Macbeth's wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide.

Lady Macduff

Macduff's wife. Becomes angry at Macduff for going to England and leaving the family unprotected. Murdered by Macbeth's murderers.

Chapter 2

Mr. Prud'homme, a substitute teacher for the summer session, comes by the next morning to discipline Gene and Finny for missing dinner, but he is soon won over by Finny's ebullient talkativeness and leaves without assigning a punishment. Finny decides to wear a bright pink shirt as an emblem of celebration of the first allied bombing of central Europe. Gene envies him slightly for being able to get away with wearing this color (which he says makes Finny look like a "fairy," or homosexual); indeed, Finny seems capable of getting away with virtually anything he wants to do. Mr. Patch-Withers, the substitute headmaster, holds tea that afternoon. Most of the students and faculty converse awkwardly; Finny, on the other hand, proves a great conversationalist. As Mr. Patch-Withers enters into a discussion with Finny about the bombings in Europe, his wife notices that Finny is wearing the school tie as a belt. Gene waits tensely in expectation of Finny's reprobation, but Finny manages to talk his way out of the display of disrespect, accomplishing the impossible feat of making the stern Mr. Patch-Withers laugh. For a moment, Finny's escape from trouble disappoints Gene, but he pushes the emotion aside, and the two boys leave the party together laughing. Finny suggests a jump from the tree and pushes Gene along toward the river. Finny declares that he refuses to believe that the Allies really bombed central Europe, and Gene concurs. They swim for a while in the river, and Finny asks if Gene is still afraid of the tree. Gene says that he is not, and they agree to form a new secret society—the "Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session." When they get out on the limb, Gene turns back to Finny to make a delaying remark and loses his balance. Finny catches him, and then they both jump. It occurs to Gene that Finny may have saved his life.

PAUL'S CASE CHARACTERS AND SUMMARIES

Paul has been suspended from his high school in Pittsburgh. As the story opens, he arrives at a meeting with the school's faculty members and principal. He is dressed in clothes that are simultaneously shabby and debonair. The red carnation he wears in his buttonhole particularly offends the faculty members, who think the flower sums up Paul's flippant attitude. Paul is tall and narrow-shouldered, with enlarged pupils that remind one of a drug addict's eyes. The faculty members have a difficult time articulating their true feelings about Paul. Deep down, they believe that Paul loathes, feels contempt for, and is repulsed by them. They lash out at Paul, but he betrays no emotion. Instead, he smiles throughout the barrage of criticism. After Paul leaves, the drawing master says aloud that Paul's mother died in Colorado just after Paul was born. Privately, the drawing master remembers seeing Paul asleep one day in class and being shocked at his aged appearance. As the teachers depart, they feel embarrassed about their viciousness toward Paul. Paul goes straight to Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, where he works as an usher. Because he is early, he goes to the Hall's gallery and looks at paintings of Paris and Venice. He loses himself in one particular painting, a "blue Rico." After changing in the dressing room, where he roughhouses with the other ushers, Paul begins to work. He is excellent at his job, performing every aspect of it with great enthusiasm. He is annoyed when his English teacher arrives and he must seat her, but he comforts himself with the knowledge that her clothes are inappropriate for so fancy a venue. The symphony begins, and Paul loses himself in the music. As he listens, he feels full of life. After the performance, he trails the star soprano to her hotel, the Schenley, and imagines vividly that he is following her inside the luxurious building. As if awaking from a dream, Paul realizes that he is actually standing in the cold, rainy street. He dreads returning to his room, with its ugly knickknacks and pictures of John Calvin and George Washington. As he reaches Cordelia Street, where he lives, Paul feels depressed and repulsed by the commonness and ordinariness of his middle-class neighborhood. Unable to face his father, Paul sneaks into the basement, where he stays awake all night imagining what would happen if his father mistook him for a burglar and shot him—or recognized Paul in time, but later in life wished that he had shot his son. The next day, Paul sits on the porch with his sisters and father. Many people are outside, relaxing. It is a pleasant scene, but Paul is disgusted by it. His father chats with a young clerk whom he hopes Paul will emulate. This clerk took his boss's advice: he married the first woman he could and began having children immediately. The only tales of business that interest Paul are those of the iron magnates' expensive adventures in Cairo, Venice, and Monte Carlo. He understands that some "cash boys" (low-level employees) eventually find great success, but he does not enjoy thinking about the initial cash-boy work. After managing to get carfare from his father by pretending that he needs to study with a friend, Paul goes to see Charley Edwards, a young actor who lets Paul hang around his dressing room and watch rehearsals. The narrator notes that Paul's mind has not been "perverted" by novels, as his teachers suspect. Rather, Paul gets pleasure solely from theater and music, which are the only things that make him feel alive. At school, Paul tells outrageous lies about his close friendships with the members of the theater company and the stars who perform at Carnegie Hall. Paul's effort to prove that he is better than his classmates and teachers winds up alienating him from them. In the end, the principal speaks with Paul's father, and Paul is forbidden to return to school, Carnegie Hall, or the theater where Charley Edwards works. The theater company's members hear about Paul's lies and find them comical. Their lives are difficult, not the glamorous dream worlds that Paul imagines. Paul takes an overnight train and arrives in New York City, where he buys expensive clothes, hats, and shoes. After purchasing silver at Tiffany's, he checks into the Waldorf, paying for his rooms in advance. The eighth-floor rooms are nearly perfect. All that's missing are flowers, which Paul sends a bellboy out to buy. The narrator explains what has happened to make all this possible: Paul got a job with Denny & Carson's, and when asked to take a deposit to the bank, he deposited only the checks and pocketed $1,000 in cash. He is using this stolen money to fund his spree in New York. After a nap, Paul takes a carriage ride up Fifth Avenue. He notices banks of flowers, bright and vibrant, protected by glass from the snow. He dines at the hotel while listening to an orchestra play the Blue Danube. He feels utterly content. The next day, Paul meets a rich boy who attends Yale. The two of them enjoy a night on the town, staying out until 7 a.m. The narrator notes that although the boys begin the evening in a happy mood, they end it in a bad one. A lovely week passes, and then Paul finds that his theft has been discovered and reported by the Pittsburgh newspapers. According to the stories, his father has paid back the $1,000 and is headed to New York to find his son. Paul enjoys one last dinner at the Waldorf. The next morning, he wakes up, hungover, and looks at the gun he purchased on his first day in New York. In the end, he takes cabs to a set of railroad tracks in Pennsylvania and leaps in front of an oncoming train. Before he dies, he recognizes "the folly of his haste" and thinks of the places that he will never see.

A SEPARATE PEACE

SUMMARIES

METAMORPHOSIS

SUMMARIES

PAUL'S CASE

SUMMARIES

Donalbain

Son of Duncan, Brother of Malcom, Flees to Ireland after father's murder.

Macduff's Son

Son of Macduff, murdered by Macbeth's murderers.

Young Siward

Son of Siward, murdered by Macbeth.

Banquo

The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches' prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo's character stands as a rebuke to Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is Banquo's ghost—and not Duncan's—that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth's guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo's reaction to the witches' prophecy.

Porter

The drunken doorman of Macbeth's castle.

The Monster

The eight-foot-tall, hideously ugly creation of Victor Frankenstein. -Intelligent and sensitive, the monster attempts to integrate himself into human social patterns. -But all who see him shun him. His feeling of abandonment compels him to seek revenge against his creator.

Hecate

The goddess of witchcraft, who helps the three witches work their mischief on Macbeth.

Cliff Quackenbush

The manager of the crew team. Quackenbush briefly assumes a position of power over Gene when Gene volunteers to be assistant crew manager. The boys at Devon have never liked Quackenbush; thus, he frequently takes out his frustrations on anyone whom he considers his inferior.

Mr. Ludsbury

The master in charge of Gene's dormitory. A stern disciplinarian, Mr. Ludsbury thrives on the unquestioning obedience of schoolboys and works hard to restore order after the anarchic summer session.

Gene Forrester

The narrator and protagonist of the novel. When A Separate Peace begins, Gene is in his early thirties, visiting the Devon School for the first time in years. He is thoughtful and intelligent, with a competitive nature and a tendency to brood. He develops a love-hate relationship with his best friend, Finny, whom he alternately adores and envies. He often seems to want to lose hold of his own identity and live as a part of Finny, a tendency suggesting that he is strongly uncomfortable with his own personality. Yet the reader must infer this aspect of Gene, like much of his character, from the actions that he recounts rather than from any explicit statements regarding his mindset: Gene often proves a reticent and unreliable narrator when it comes to his own emotions.

Chapter 13

The school year draws to a close, and Gene's class graduates. The school donates its Far Common quadrangle to the military for a parachute riggers' school. Gene watches from his window as the army drives in at the beginning of summer to occupy it. Brinker takes Gene down to the Butt Room to meet his father, who expresses his wish that he were younger, so that he could fight in the war. He chokes back his distaste at hearing Gene's plans to avoid the danger of the infantry by joining the navy and Brinker's decision to join the coast guard. He lectures them on the importance of serving their country honorably, saying that their lives will be defined in large part by what they do in the war. He leaves, and Brinker apologizes for his father's attitude, denouncing the older generation for causing the war and then expecting the younger generation to fight it. He goes to finish packing and Gene walks to the gym to clean out his locker. He finds a platoon of parachute riggers in the locker room and watches the men as they prepare to go to the playing fields to do calisthenics. Gene knows that he will soon take part in the same sort of regimentation, but he is glad that it will not take place for him at Devon. Gene now speaks again from the perspective of his older self. He says that he never killed anyone during his time in the military—that his war was fought at Devon and that it was there that he killed his enemy. Everyone, he says, finds themselves pitted violently against something in the world at some point in their lives; everyone realizes that there is something in the world that is hostile to them, and they are never the same after that realization. For his classmates, Gene says—for Brinker and Leper and Quackenbush—this realization came with the war. Each found ways of defending himself against it, by either adopting a stance of careless unconcern, descending into insanity, or treating others with a bullying anger. Only Finny, Gene reflects, never sensed the existence of an enemy to fight; thus it was that Finny was never afraid and never hated anyone. Finny alone, he muses, understood that the perceived enemy might not be an enemy at all.

Chapter I

The stranger, who the reader soon learns is Victor Frankenstein, begins his narration. He starts with his family background, birth, and early childhood, telling Walton about his father, Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline. Alphonse became Caroline's protector when her father died in poverty. They married two years later, and Victor was born soon after. Frankenstein then describes how his childhood companion, Elizabeth Lavenza, entered his family. -At this point in the narrative, Elizabeth is discovered by Caroline, on a trip to Italy, when Victor is about five years old. While visiting a poor Italian family, Caroline notices a beautiful blonde girl among the dark-haired Italian children; upon discovering that Elizabeth is the orphaned daughter of a Milanese nobleman and a German woman and that the Italian family can barely afford to feed her, Caroline adopts Elizabeth and brings her back to Geneva. -Victor's mother decides at the moment of the adoption that Elizabeth and Victor should someday marry.

Mr. Patch-Withers

The substitute headmaster of Devon during the summer session. Mr. Patch-Withers runs the school with a lenient hand.

Chapter 3

Thinking back on the near-disaster, Gene decides that while Finny may have saved his life, he wouldn't have been up in the tree in the first place if it weren't for Finny. He feels, therefore, that he owes Finny no real gratitude. That night, the Super Suicide Society gets off to a successful start as Finny convinces six other boys to sign on as inductees. Finny invents a list of rather arbitrary rules, including one that requires him and Gene to start each meeting by jumping out of the tree. Gene hates this rule and never loses his fear of the jump. Nonetheless, Gene attends every one of the nightly meetings and never contests the rule. Finny, who loves sports above all else, is disgusted with the summer session's athletic program, especially the inclusion of badminton, and spontaneously invents a new sport called "blitzball" one afternoon. The game utilizes a medicine ball that Finny has found lying around; competition in the game is not between two perpetually divided teams but rather shifts as the ball is passed from player to player. Whichever boy possesses the ball at a given moment becomes the target for the other players, who try to tackle him; the boy may try either to outrun the others or pass the ball off to another boy. The game produces no real "winner." "Blitzball" gains immediate popularity, and Finny himself shows the most skill in it. One day, Finny and Gene are at the swimming pool alone, and Finny decides to challenge one of the school's swimming records. He breaks it on his first attempt, but only Gene witnesses it. Finny refuses to try again in public and forbids Gene to tell anyone about it. Finny remains uncharacteristically silent for a while before proposing that they go to the beach; the trip, which school rules strictly forbid, takes hours by bicycle. Gene agrees despite himself, and they slip away down a back road. The ocean is cold, the surf heavy, and the sand scorching hot. Finny enjoys himself immensely and tries to keep Gene entertained. They eat dinner at a hot dog stand, and each obtains a glass of beer by displaying forged draft cards. They then settle down to sleep among the dunes. Finny says he is glad that Gene came along and that they are best friends. Gene starts to say the same but holds back at the last moment.

Ernest Frankenstein

Victor's younger brother by six years. He is the only Frankenstein to survive the novel.