Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is? NEPAL


In A Separate Peace, Gene discovers that Finny has been declared dead,
“The marrow of the bone…” I repeated aimlessly. This at last penetrated my mind.
Phineas had died from the marrow of his bone flowing down his blood stream to his heart,”
(Knowles, 194). Although Gene is partially responsible for a lot that had happened to Finny,
there are many other factors that play their part. Gene isn’t at fault for Finny’s death. Gene is
as fault for Finny falling out of the tree, but he isn’t to blame for Finny’s last fall. As Finny
was storming out of the Assembly Room, cursing Brinker out, he clumsily fell down the stairs.
This fall was caused by Finny, and solely him. This was the fall that ultimately cost his life,
and Gene was not the reason this occurred. In the end, there is no one to blame. Gene isn’t at
fault because the first fall hadn’t put Finny’s life at risk. Even Finny isn’t to blame because he
was emotionally distracted, and it might have been near-to-impossible to go down slippery,
marble stairs with a broken foot, and a cane without even stumbling. But in this case, he didn’t
stumble. Brinker was also involved, but he obviously isn’t at fault. He’s the reason that Finny
was distracted, but he’s not the reason that he fell. Saying Brinker is the reason that Finny fell
is the equivalent to saying that the person who bought the milk is at fault for you spilling it merely
because they bought it. 

 1. If Finny never died, what would Gene and Finny's relationship be like?
2. Do you think people will blame Gene for Finny's death?
3. What is Gene going to do next? Will he continue to blame himself, or will he get past this?

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 3:16 PM

    I think that Gene will somehow try to get past this quickly in attempting to make himself forget about it. But as time progresses he will realize that he is unable to put these unresolved feelings behind him. In addition, when Gene goes to check up on Finny in the in the infirmary, Finny asks Gene if he is coming to "break something else in him." In my opinion Finny saying this probably made Gene realize the reality of the situation. The whole time Gene thought to himself it was his fault but now Finny is saying it is his fault which validated Gene's thoughts. During the fifteen years, my guess would be that Gene blames himself more and more as the years go on. This could ultimately be the reason Gene returns to Devon fifteen years later, as he tries to make peace with himself and the past.

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  2. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 3:49 PM

    If Finny had never died and was still alive I think that there relationship would have gotten worse. For example if the surgery was successful and Finny was able to walk again I think it would be way to awkward between the two friends. At that point Finny would have started to believe that Gene caused him to fall of the tree ad ultimately fall at the stairs because he wouldn't have fell down the stairs if he hadn't hurt his leg. In hindsight unfortunately I think there is a positive to Finny's death. Now that Finny is no longer alive, the codependant relationship can no longer exist. This means that Gene will now have to find his own identity and move on so he can live his life. But I don't think that Gene will be able to move on. First of all him and Finny are best friends, I think a piece of Finny lives within Gene that will never let Gene forgive himself. Secondly I think it is safe to say that Gene has not forgiven himself since he came back to Devon 15 years later reminiscing on the events that occurred.

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  3. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 4:05 PM

    I believe that Finny and Gene would have ended up forgiving each other and mending their friendship to how it was at the beginning of the novel before the incident of Finny. Although in the last chapter Finny was upset at finding out the truth about Gene causing his fall, he also stared to forgive Gene. On Gene's last visit to see Finny, Gene apologizes many times and says that It was just an out burst and didn't mean it. Finny states that he forgives him and also believes him. Since the truth got out and time had passed, it allowed Finny to think and start to forgive Gene. Since the truth got out and Finny had started to forgive him, Gene's guilt would have gone away. Therefore, I believe that since the truth got out and Finny excepted it and forgave Gene, the guilt would be gone and they friendship would reappear.

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  4. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 6:42 PM


    I think rumors spread and that some people are going to believe that Gene caused the first break of Finny’s leg and therefore Finny’s death is his fault. Gene is not going to get over this any time soon. The fact that he comes back thirty years later shows that he is not over it. If he still has to make amends thirty years later, then he might still be processing. Breaking your friend's leg is very significant, and we saw how that affected Gene and his actions. Now that he might blame himself for the cause of his friend’s death, that will probably take over the rest of his life. People say that it takes a certain kind of person to kill someone intentionally and even though this might not have been Gene’s fault entirely, he has a tendency to overthink things and play things up in his head.

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  5. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 7:23 PM

    If Finny never died I think that the friendship between Gene and Finny would change drastically due to what Finny learned at the “trial” which ultimately led to his death. If Finny had not fallen down the stairs, he would likely not be dead at this point of the book. If he had not died, I think Finny would be very mad at Gene for a while but then he’d eventually get over it and become friends with Gene again. He would not be mad for long though, he seemed like he wasn’t too mad at Gene when he had his last words to Gene. I could tell that he still cared about Gene in the way he spoke and how he was understanding once Gene explained some of the situation. Obviously he would be mad for awhile if he made it out alive, he had just found out his own friend was at fault for ending his athletic career, who wouldn’t be mad at such a thing. I also think that if he was still alive, he would eventually become best friends with Gene again, they were codependent so they would eventually come back to each other.

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  6. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 7:40 PM

    If Finny never died, I think Finny and Gene's relationship would change drastically for the worse. Their conversations would get very awkward, and there would be a silent tension between them for the rest of their lives. I also think that there would be a lot of distrust between the two of them, and they would never be able to rely on each other for trust. Finally, I think that the other boys that attend Devon wouldn’t look at Gene the same, and might think it would be weird if the two were still friends. These factors would cause their friendship to not last, and probably blow up in their faces.

    What will the other boys think of Gene after this?

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  7. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 7:52 PM

    I believe that if Finny never died their friendship would still never recovering. Since the tree accident in the tree Finny and Gene's friendship never recovered, it only became co-dependent to please each other and prevent future issues. If the second accident occurred the same would have happened only worse. Finny's guilt would increase due to him having full capabilities, whereas Finny would only change more when more injured. Overall, their friendship would likely become more awkward as well as a borderline fake.

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  8. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 8:57 PM

    If Finny never died, They would have lost themselves completely. At the beginning of the book, Finny falls out of the tree and breaks his leg and Gene believes it’s his fault. When Finny is back, their relationship becomes very codependent. As Gene becomes more like Finny, he loses more of himself. At Finny’s funeral, Gene thinks, “I could not escape this feeling that this was my own funeral”(194). When Finny dies, Gene loses the part of himself that was taken over by Finny. Earlier in the book, Gene goes back to the tree where everything started to find himself. Gene uses the word escape a lot in this chapter, but the way he uses it in the quote is very significant. Gene realizes that he cannot just run away from things like him and Finny had done when Finny broke his leg. Finny’s death was very sad, but if he hadn’t Gene would have never found himself. Their friendship would’ve fallen apart from running away from everything that gets in their way instead of facing and accepting them. If Finny never died, Gene and Finny’s relationship would crumble and they would only be left with half of themselves.

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  9. AnonymousMay 7, 2020 at 9:11 PM

    I think if Finny hadn't died, I think Finny and Gene would've improved significantly. A huge portion of their friendship in the past year has been separated from reality, mainly with Finny not believing there is a war. On Gene's side, he was always being eaten up by guilt of knocking Finny off the tree. Before Finny died, not only did the two come to the truth about the war, but also finally facing Gene's guilt by letting Gene express the fact that he did push him out of the tree, unintentionally. Finny accepted this, so I think their friendship, while never the same again, would've grown better than before.

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  10. Pauly CMay 8, 2020 at 9:20 AM

    I think that many people like me will agree that it wasn't Gene but the trial which pushed Finny to a point where he ran outside and fell. Despite this, people still might think that because of how Gene caused Finny's first injury, Gene might still end up with some blame. Judging from his line that Finny's funeral was his funeral, Gene's guilt has definitely increased a significant amount after Finny death.

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