How does Brinker goad Gene in Chapter 7 of A Separate Peace and why?

Brinker goads Gene by giving him a hard time for having a room to himself. He is the kind of guy who loves to hear himself talk; Gene notes that "he never let a dull spot appear in conversation if he could help it." His teasing quickly leads to the insinuation that Gene is guilty of having intentionally hurt Finny, for the ostensible reason of securing a room of his own. Brinker's goading is significant because, whether he is fully aware of it or not, it hits very close to home. Gene has been agonizing with the possibility that he had intentionally, out of a sense of jealousy and resentment, caused the accident in which Finny fell from the tree, and, as expressed in Brinker's half-joking accusation, apparently the question has crossed his mind as well. Brinker's goading puts Gene in the very difficult situation of not only having to face the reality of what he may have done, but of exploring it in the presence of the others as well.

Gene says that

"everyone at Devon had many public faces; in class we looked, if not exactly scholarly, at least respectably alert; on the playing fields we looked like innocent extroverts; and in the Butt Room we looked, very strongly, like criminals."

He is making an observation on the different roles the boys are required to play, and how, when they play them, their physical demeanor actually changes to fit the part. His point in discussing this is to highlight the sinister aspect of the Butt Room, fittingly called "the dungeon." There, where the boys gather to smoke, away from the supervision of the ordered world of adult authority, different rules apply. A sort of unpredictable, potentially threatening atmosphere prevails, and the boys take on the look of "criminals" (Chapter 7).

In A Separate Peace, how does Gene perceive Brinker?

In A Separate Peace, Gene finds Brinker "straight" in every sense of the word. But he also detects a certain cynicism in Brinker after Finny's accident, and he begins to perceive Brinker as suspicious of him and a threat.

In Chapter 7 Brinker Hadley walks into Gene's room at the beginning of the term. As Gene describes him, 

His face was all straight lines--eyebrows, mouth, nose, everything--and he carried his six feet of height straight as well. He looked but happened not to be athletic, being too busy with politics, arrangements, and offices.

When the new session begins after the holidays, Brinker insinuates that Gene has known all along that Finny that would not return that term."You fixed it,....You knew all the time. I bet it was all your doing." He later lays a heavy hand on Gene's shoulder, saying, 

"Rest assured....In our free democracy, even fighting for its life, the truth will out."

When Gene suggests that they go to the Butt Room for a smoke, he fails to foresee what can happen. For, the judicial Brinkler, who loves law and order, announces Gene as "your prisoner, gentlemen." But, Gene escapes trial this time. In fact, afterwards, he begins to pattern himself after Brinker somewhat, adopting the same cynicism.

Later, Brinker continues to plague Gene as he breaks in one day and asks Gene if he has talked with Finny about accepting the facts that he will no longer be able to partake in athletics. When Gene asks why he should do this, Brinker intimates that it might serve Gene's best interests. When Gene asks why Brinker has said such things, Brinker insinuates,

"What I mean is it wouldn't do you any harm, you know, if everything about Finny's accident was cleared up and forgotten."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I don't know," he shrugged and chuckled in his best manner, "nobody knows" and his mouth closed in its straight expressionless line, and that was all that was said.

Further, however, Brinker becomes a greater adversary when he and "three cohorts" enter Gene and Finny's room at 10:05 P.M. as though they are FBI agents. "We're taking you out," Brinker says flatly. The inquiry is held in the Assembly Hall, which is used for large lectures, debates, plays, and concerts. With a voice full of authority, Brinker announces that he and the others are investigating Finny's accident. Brinker interrogates Gene as though he is a prosecutor, his voice "full of authority and perfectly under control," Gene narrates. His relentless interrogation of Gene causes Finny great distress, and he emotionally stands and rushes from the Hall, tragically falling down the marble stairs, re-breaking his leg.

Ironically, in Finny's absence, Gene and Brinker become somewhat friendly. Gene, then, considers enlistment after school is out.

What is significant about the scene between Brinker and Gene in A Separate Peace?

There's one particular scene between Brinker and Gene that's especially significant, and that's the one that takes place in the butt room. This is a place in the cellar where the boys secretly go to smoke. Normally, it's a haven of peace for Gene, but not on this particular occasion. Because now Brinker and the other boys confront him regarding his actions at the jumping tree.

Previously, the butt room was a place where Gene could escape his troubles and forget all about his guilt over what he did to Finny. But once his inner sanctum is breached by Brinker and the other boys, Gene can no longer postpone the inevitable; he must face the consequences of his actions. Initially, Gene is unable to do this. He concocts a fake alibi in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence. He also tries to deflect attention by making fun of one of the younger boys present. But he's not fooling anyone, least of all himself. After the butt room scene, it will become more and more difficult for Gene to avoid the terrible feelings of guilt that are eating him up inside.

In A Separate Peace, how does Brinker stage a mock arrest of Gene and what do his war poems reveal about him?

In Chapter 7, Brinker stages a "mock arrest" of Gene when the two boys enter the "Butt Room," the basement room in the dormitory where students gather to smoke. As they approach the door, Brinker seizes Gene's neck and pushes him into the Butt Room ahead of him, announcing,

"Here's your prisoner, gentlemen...I'm turning him over to the proper authorities."

Brinker had accosted Gene in his dorm room just previously, and had brought up the subject of Finny's accident. In the course of their exchange, Brinker had jokingly accused Gene of purposefully causing Finny to get hurt in order to have the room to himself. The banter had become strained, since Gene had himself been struggling with the question of whether his role in the accident had been intentional or not, and to change the subject, Gene gets up and states his intention to go to the Butt Room. Brinker, however, will not let the topic drop, and carries it forward, facetiously responding, "Yes, yes. To the dungeon with you." Once the two boys get there, Brinker enacts the "mock arrest," and the students lounging in the Butt Room then continue the interrogation.

Brinker's "war poems,"

"The War
Is a bore,"

and

"Our chore
Is the core
of the war,"

reveal his apathy and detachment towards the war. The war has not yet had a significant impact on his life other than that he has had to participate in an apple-picking excursion because the regular pickers are otherwise occupied with the war effort. Brinker has not yet had to face the reality of war directly, and his slightly cynical poetry reflects this fact, that the war has not, to this point, made any notable demands on him (Chapter 7).

Brinker gathers everyone in the main hall in order to be present for the investigation and "trial," and proceeds to ask Gene and Finny a lot of questions about what happened at the tree that day.  To make it seem even more like a trial, he calls in a first-hand witness to the events:  Leper.  Leper had been hanging around the school grounds of late, ever since his discharge, so Brinker probably approached him and told him to meet him in the building.  Leper then "testifies" of what exactly happened that day, according to what he saw.

Leper reveals, in very poetic language, that Gene jounced the limb first, causing Finny to lose his balance and fall.  This revelation, even though Gene has tried telling Finny this in the past, upsets the usually calm Finny so much that he curses and flees the room.  It is his hasty retreat that leads to his next fall down the stairs, and his eventual death.  It is an unfortunate thing, and Brinker was the one to gather everyone and drill Leper in regards to the original subject.  I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

How does Brinker stage a "mock arrest" of Gene in A Separate Peace?

In Chapter 7 of A Separate Peace, Brinker stages a "mock arrest" of Gene as they go to the Butt Room, a basement area where the boys smoke.  Seizing Gene's neck, and pusing him into the Butt Room, Brinker "announces,"

Here's your prisoner, gentlemen...I 'm turning him over to the proper authorities.

One of the boys asks what the charge is, and Brinker replies,

Doing away with his roommate so he could have a whole room to himself.  Rankest treachery....Practically fratiricide.

Gene shakes himself free from Brinker, who tells him he will have his day in court.  Gene then says,

Shut up!  I swear you ride a joke longer than anybody I know.

This statement is a mistake, Gene narrates becaus the radio suddenly became quiet and his voice rings out, "galvanizing them all."  One boy asks, "So you killed him, did you?"

Brinker qualifies his statement:

Well, not actually killed.  Finny's hangin between life and death at home, in the arms of his grief-stricken old mother.

Gene tries to diffuse the situation by saying he just a "little pinch of arsenic in his morning coffee."  Brinker will not let Gene out of the situation by declaring "We know the scene of the crime."  Again Gene tries for humor, using a "funny French pronunciation":  "Yes, huh, yes there was a small, a little contretemps at the tree."

When a young boy asks Gene to tell them everything, there is an "unsettling current in his voice, as though he believed everything," so Gene gains confidence and continues his fabrication, saying he stole Finny's money, cheated on his entrance test, blackmailing his parents; then, he made love to his sister....,but when he can easily slip in the truth and have it disbelieved, Gene's throat closes on him:  "I could never say them, never.

I swung on the younger boy. 'What did I do then?' I demanded.  I'll bet yhou've got a lot of theories.  Come on, reconstruct the crime.....
His eyes sung guiltily back and forth, 'Then, you just pushed him off, I'll bet'

After getting the boy to say the truth that he cannot, Gene has effectively defeated the crowd.  However, as they go up the stairs one boy remarks,

Funny, he[Finny] came all the way down here and didn't even have a smoke.

What begins as a mock arrest almost becomes a trial for Gene.  In fact, it has for Phineas.