In the novel, what role do authority figures play in exposing truth?

• A. They suppress truth.
• B. They attempt to organize accountability and expose truth, but truth remains complicated by personal bias and guilt.
• C. They have no effect.
• D. They reveal truth completely.

Answer: (B)

Authority figures in the novel act to enforce rules and push for accountability, trying to reveal what really happened when Finny falls. They organize inquiries, call for confessions, and attempt to assign responsibility. But the truth remains shaded by the boys’ feelings—Gene’s guilt and jealousy, Finny’s denial and pride, and the ways loyalties color what each person can honestly admit. Even when an official-sounding inquiry is mounted, the accounts conflict, and a single, clear truth stays elusive. The war-rattled outside world also shapes how seriously people take events, blending expectations of honesty with the pressure not to ruin someone through blame. So the role is to push for truth and accountability, but that truth is never clean or objective; it’s filtered through personal bias and guilt, leaving an understanding of events tied to character as much as to facts.