1.)   Explore the significance of the fight with Quackenbush. Why does it happen? What exactly sets Gene off? How is related to his narrative earlier in the chapter? Why might Quakenbush be so disdainful of Gene? (Tom)

When Gene and Quackenbush have their fight, Gene is set off by the fact that Quackenbush knows nothing of the pain that Gene went through in the summer. In the book, Gene has just started his fourth and final year at Devon. It is fall and Gene finds himself in need of a sport, so he decides to try out for the assistant manager for the crew team. When he tries out for the job, Gene and the manager, Cliff Quackenbush, get into a fistfight. What Gene gets set off by is the fact that Quackenbush is being ignorant towards Gene. What pushes Gene over the edge is when Quackenbush says “Listen you maimed son of a bitch…” (Knowles 79). Gene reacts to this by punching Quackenbush because he referenced Gene as being “maimed” or in Gene’s mind, as Finny.