"Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence."
I think the mood that is conveyed in the first five pages of the novel is reminiscent. This is reinforced when Gene looks at how things have changed and how they have stayed the same since he left Devon fifteen years ago. In the last part of the chapter the mood turns to playful as Gene and Finny play their games and wrestle making them late for dinner.
In the first chapter it becomes obvious that Finny will also be a major character in this novel. You find out that Finny is impulsive and brave. You also find out that Finny and Gene are great friends.
Chapter two ends as Gene loses his balance when preparing to jump out of the tree and Finny catches him.
On the same topic chapter three starts with Gene looking back on this and realizing that Finny probably saved his life by reaching to catch him.
Gene says that "It made Finny seem too unusual -- not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry" because Finny's attitude toward the swimming record leaves nothing to be rivaled against because Finny doesn't need to prove anything to anyone else, as long as he knows it himself.
Surprising even himself Gene agrees to ride to the beach with Finny and stay there overnight. He did simply to please Finny and keep the respect Finny has for him.
