Why does Gene’s “fear” disappear at the end of the chapter? What was the fear? How is it connected to what happened in the tree? - Fahy
Why does Gene’s “fear” disappear at the end of the chapter? What was the fear? How is it connected to what happened in the tree? - Fahy
At the end of Chapter 4 of the novel, Gene and Phineas are about to jump off the tree. Right when they were about to jump, “Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening unnatural thud. It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten”(60). Gene has always thought Finny could do anything. He was afraid to jump out of the tree not just because it was high up and scary, but because Finny could do it so easily. Throughout the novel, Gene describes Finny as a perfect person who can do whatever he wants. Gene describes the fall as “the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make”(60). Seeing him fall out of the tree helped Gene realize that Finny is human. In Chapter 4, Gene discovers the competitiveness of their friendship, which added to Gene’s reaction in the tree. He gains confidence from seeing him fall because he feels their friendship is a competition.
Questions:
- Do you think Gene is right to assume that their friendship has always been a competition to Finny? Why or why not?
- Do you think that the fall will create competition in their relationship? Why or why not?
- How do you think their friendship will be different now that Gene has seen Finny mess up?
I do not think Gene is right to assume that their friendship has always been a competition to Finny. Gene is an unreliable narrator, and as such the reader gains all of Finny's actions through Gene's point of view, the only part left true being Finny's dialogue. Finny's actions are all portrayed as arrogant, competitive, and malicious, while his dialogue shows what he's truly feeling--affection for Gene and genuine confusion when Gene's competitive state of mind is revealed. He clearly thinks highly of Gene, while Gene views himself as so inferior that in his mind, the only way rise above Finny is if Finny is trying to catch up to Gene in terms of academics. Gene cannot understand Finny accepting him as an equal, and therefore builds a fantasy he feels comfortable in--one in which Finny is as jealous of him as Gene is of Finny, and in which they are both secretly competing against each other. Clearly Gene has only ever perceived their friendship as a competition, while Finny sees their friendship as solely that--a friendship.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rafaela. I think that everything in this book is about Gene getting into his own head. He overthinks everything and even considers/convinces himself that his best friend had been trying to sabotage him this whole time. I think this fall will create some conflict in this relationship. Finny won’t think much about the fall. He will obviously be upset because, in Gene’s mind, sports is the one thing Finny is good at. The impact that was described leads me to believe that Finny will not be able to play sports again. It will be a big lifestyle change, but he has Gene to help him cope. Gene, on the other hand, will overthink this. It was a traumatic event so it will probably replay over and over again in Gene’s mind. He will think he sabotaged Finny back even though Finny never wanted to hurt Gene in the first place. Overall, I think Gene will react to this injury worse than Finny will because Gene is overthinking their friendship.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think that their relationship is different because of Finny's mess up, but because of Gene's reaction to it. If they were real best friends, the minute that Finny fell, Gene would get down from the tree to help him. Instead, he took his time and jumped into the river with "every trace of [his] fear" forgotten. Although I don't think Finny will ever know how Gene felt, Gene, as he's constantly overthinking, will play this moment back in his head and start to act differently because of it. I think their friendship will somehow be even more competitive, but in a way that both of them are pretending that it's not and faking it. I believe that they will compete over little things, and now that Finny may not be able to play sports, he might hold some pent up anger for not recording his swimming record to protect Gene. Overall, I think their relationship is damaged.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's right for Gene to assume that their friendship has always been a competition to Finny. Gene possesses selfish and petty thoughts which leads him to try to surpass everyone else academic wise because he knows that he can't beat Finny in anything athletic. From Gene's point of view, Finny is egotistical which is why he "better" than Gene in almost everything he does. This is completely false, and shows Gene's pettiness, and it also shows that he's most self-conscious when he's with his best friend. This entire time, it seems that Finny was not being competitive, and he was just doing things through his impulsive, and "ask questions later" type of way. Though not to get confused, but most of Finny's actions were fairly harmless. Gene has always thought of Finny as more than he was, so he built up excuses to give a reason for all of Finny's "superiority". In the end, Finny wasn't any higher than Gene was, and Finny didn't know about Gene's jealousy. Gene thought that the friendship between him and his best friend was a competition to Finny, but it's the opposite. Finny never paid much attention to when he bested Gene. Gene was actually the one who thought that the friendship was a competition in the first place, and it led him to studying more, and focusing on his academics. Although lots of good came out of this for the both of them, this was unfair to Finny, and Gene has bigger problems coming out of this: "Now I knew there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he" (Knowles, 59). He came out of all this, more self conscious as ever.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ryan in that I don't think it is right for Gene to assume that their friendship has always been a competition to Finny. I think Gene placing the blame on his occasional bad grades and short-comings on Finny making it a competition is just Gene's way of covering up his own selfish qualities. The reason Gene agrees to everything Finny wants to do, even if it stops him from studying, is because he is afraid of losing Finny. The fear of losing Finny is completely in-valid, as Finny would most likely not end his friendship with Gene over one or two refusals to hang out. Therefore, Gene could easily say no to these situations, but instead he goes along with them. So when he gets a poor grade or flunks a test, instead of blaming his own short-coming, like the fact he didn't study enough, he can blame it on Finny.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the fall will create competition in their relationship? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI believe that the fall will create more tension and competition in their relationship. This is because school is starting and Gene still has academics for him but Finny has lost athletics. Finny has lost what he’s best at, so naturally, he’s going to want to take out revenge for Gene’s academics. I feel like Finny will use their relationship and spending time together as an anchor to get Gene away from studying. This will show Gene how the pain for Finny is not having the thing he was best at anymore. However, Finny might not have these intentions. If this is true, Gene’s state of mind will obviously create a fictional story that is true. In conclusion, yes the fall will create more tension and competition between their relationship.