It seems, especially in this novel, that the expectation of things always contrast dramatically with reality… (and we even see that Finny, to solve this problem, simply makes his own reality and other characters also have their own coping methods).

1) Leper, when he sees the snow patrol, he expects it to be a wonderful nature experience that will allow him to travel the world, but he discovers when he gets there that it’s a grueling and psychologically torturing thing and it literally drives him insane. this reality is such a rude awakening that he runs away from the army to avoid being given a section 8 discharge.

2) In the beginning of chapter four, Gene awakes on the beach and waits for the sunrise. He was expecting a “gorgeous fanfare over the ocean,” but got instead a ghostly grey thing. This foreshadows and symbolizes his and Finny’s entire relationship that all seems wonderful and when Finny suggests anything mischievous, Gene easily goes along, not thinking anything of it or its consequences, but later they both discover that the second tidal wave of the war (the first they ducked under by refusing to admit it was real) has built momentum and power and strikes them with all its force, worse than the first would have.

3) At the first of the book, we as readers were expecting the athletic and leading Finny to be one of the best soldiers in the war, but when he breaks his leg, this all goes down the drain, and in fact even his athletic career is over. Seeing as this was basically the only thing he showed promise in, his life doesn’t really have a point anymore. He tries to compensate for this in his leadership abilities, but this just makes the circumstances worse for everyone in Devon because Finny can only lead astray.

4) Gene also, in his teenage mind cannot grasp the reality of most situations and blows them way out of proportion. For example, the fact that Finny took him to the beach turns into Finny sabotaging everything Genes’s worked for academically and the determination of becoming equal with Finny, and this leads to the accident at the tree. I think he looks back on it and realizes what a child he was… at least I hope he does.

5) The entire war is thought of as a hoax that is run by fat old men and is of no consequence. The boys even convince themselves that the ’44 Olympics will still occur and they train vigorously for it, never once openly considering it a possibility that the war would affect it. In this they completely ignore reality and simply accept expectation as truth.