Who is really reponsible for finny's second fall?

That's tough. One possible answer is Finny, seeing as he left the trial, but the trial was organized by Brinker, to see if Gene really did cause Finny to fall, but it was Leper who testified which ended up making Finny leave, but the reason Gene tried to make Finny fall in the first place was due to his jealousy of Finny, hmmm. Maybe it was Finny's fault.

I've pondered this for quite awhile seeing as we studied it in 9th grade English, and at first I always thought Gene was responsible because of his uncontrollable jealousy and anger toward Finny, causing him to fall off the tree the first time. Some may argue that it was Brinker's fault, seeing as he was the one that called the meeting and brought the truth about Gene's guilt out. But I've finally come to the conclusion that Finny was actually responsible for his second fall, at least for the most part. Sure, they wouldn't even be there if it weren't for Gene or Brinker, but Finny's fault was deeper than that. Gene had confessed his guilt about "jouncing" Finny out of the branch of the tree to Finny before they began the Winter Session, but he refused to believe it. A part of him knew that Gene had done it, I mean - he watched it happen - but he just couldn't accept the fact that his "best pal" had betrayed him like this. So he told Gene he didn't know what he was talking about, and depite Gene's protests, also told him to shut up and go away. By choosing to remain in blind ignorance, Finny was responsible for his second fall. Ignorance isn't bliss. If he had believed Gene when he confessed, Brinker wouldn't have called the meeting and Finny wouldn't have gotten overemotional to the point where he became disoriented and fell. As much as I hate to admit it, Finny's second fall was his own fault.