This chapter emphasizes the changes in Devon and in Gene now that the Summer Session is over — brought to a close, symbolically, by Finny's fall. The chapter begins with Finny's absence, but ends with him not only reasserting his presence, but also his influence over Gene.
Without Finny, Gene notices, peace seems to have "deserted Devon." The "gypsy days" of summer are gone, replaced by the "duration" of the war, and now Gene sees authority reasserting itself — as in the chapel sermon, for example — and demanding hardship and sacrifice.
The "gypsy music" of the summer has also vanished, replaced by the drone of duty and tradition. Note especially the title of the hymn, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Forgive Our Foolish Ways" — an outright apology, it seems, for all the fun the boys had during the Summer Session.
Within this atmosphere, Gene cannot help but feel responsibility for his part in Finny's fall. In this chapter, he begins to understand his world more deeply as he struggles with the consequences of his inner turmoil — and his own darker self.
Water symbolism runs through the novel, and here it helps to dramatize Gene's sense of loss in the wake of Finny's fall. As narrator, Gene uses the metaphor of the two rivers flowing on either side of Devon to express the dual nature of the school as a protected, isolated community and also as a place connected directly to the world at war. It also symbolizes the sense of innocence and evil that Gene must come to understand and accept.
