Why does Gene not respond when Finny calls him his best pal? What do you think held him back from agreeing? Why does Finny encourage Gene to play sports when he can’t? Why does he feel so passionately about making him an athlete? Why do you think Gene tells Finny he shook the limb on the tree which cause the accident? What do you think came over him? What does Gene mean when he says his purpose is to become a part of Phineas? Why does Gene put on Finny’s clothes? Did Gene cause Finny’s accident on purpose? What would have his motives been? In the beginning of the novel, why do you think Gene returns to the school? In chapter 8, Finny explains his conspiracy theory for the war. Why do you think he believes the war is a hoax? What is your opinion
Throughout the novel Gene loses his innocence and matures under the influence of Finny. Gene gradually lets go of his childish jealousy over Finny, who he believes is superior to him and feels hatred towards. He however comes to realize what Finny’s friendship holds for him and recognizes his need to be a part of Finny. Gene first gains confidence in himself and starts maturing when he refuses to lie about his rich heritage...
“some kind of hold”(9) over Gene. The fact that Gene lets Finny talk him into things
Gene is much like Cain and because he is like Cain he has jealousy and hatred against Phineas who is Abel. When Gene wakes up at sunrise on the beach, while Finny is still sleeping. Gene realizes that he has an important exam and it will take him a long time to get back to Devon. He makes it back in time to Devon, but fails the
This symbolises how the innocence of Gene is dying inside, and the war is looming over him, and indirectly coming to the devon campus through Quackenbush’s anger. One main symbol is also how he was thrown into the Naguamsett, not the Devon. With the salty water covering him, he is extra uncomfortable, and also he uses the Devon to remove the salt and other remains from himself after the incident. This shows how Devon is used to heal the thoughts of war, and used as a safe space from the brutal reality they
Gene believes that people are deliberately out to get him and concentrates only on grasping the evil within his friends. Therefore, Gene decides to defeat his enemies before he gets defeated himself. During the summer session at Devon, Gene encounters a dark suspicion that his friend Finny is drawing him away from his studies in order to make him fail. This makes sense to Gene since he religiously follows the rules to win approval from the staff at Devon, and anyone who persuades him to disobey these rules wishes failure upon him. Therefore, Finny
In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and doing well. Finny has a reputation for being the the best athlete in school, and Gene attempts to counterbalance Finny’s power by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny’s activities, Gene thinks that Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny and his activities, and Gene starts interrupt...
To begin with, Gene Forrester acted artificially. There are several instances throughout the novel where Gene disguises himself or is influenced by artificial things. Towards the beginning of the novel Gene tells the reader that he was a half inch taller than Finny ("I had been claiming five feet nine inches before he became my roommate..." (Gene Pg. 8) and that Finny weighed ten pounds more than he did. "He weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did..." (Gene Pg. 8) Because Gene mentioned those facts, the reader can tell that even having a slight height and weight advantage or disadvantage to Finny were important to him. What people, especially Finny, thought about him worried him. "...I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable." (Gene Pg. 26) Later in the novel, when Finny wanted to wear a pink shirt to school, Gene told him it would make him look like a "fairy". "Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!' (Gene Pg. 17) Gene knew that people might question Finny's masculinity and ridicule him so he spoke up. Gene would have never taken such a risk as wearing a pink shirt because it was not socially acceptable at Devon School. This again points out Gene's obsession with what people thought of him. Gene had a cautious, competitive nature and let grades and trying to outdo Finny run his life. When Finny broke the school's swimming record, Gene did not understand why he did not want people to know about it. "The worst thing is that there weren't any witnesses. Tomorrow. We'll get the coach here, and all the official timekeepers, and I'll call up the Devonian and send a reporter and a photographer-...Not say anything about it! When you broke the school record!" (Gene Pg.
Gene praises Finny in the beginning of the novel and sees him as a much higher person than many others. Gene and Finny were best friends in the beginning of the novel. Finny even says; “‘It's you, pal,(...) Just you and me” (pg 17-18) He thought very highly of their friendship. Gene does however have some jealousy towards Finny. He thinks it’s okay to do have this jealousy in fact, stating; “I couldn't help envying him a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little”(p 25). Gene believed that this envy was harmless and believed that this envy was “no harm” to their friendship. When Gene finally came to reality with his envy, it indeed endangers this bond between the two.
Algernon falls in love with Cecily, Jack’s niece and Jack is in love with Gwendolen, Algernon’s cousin. Algernon and Jack on the surface seem to be very similar, they have some of the same ideologies, love for their romantic partners and same reaction wh...
Ellis proves how every symbol is relevant to the novels meaning of transferring from innocence, to adulthood. One important aspect and symbol that Ellis connects to the loss of innocence to adulthood is the Devon tree. Ellis reveals that “both fall from innocence and at the same time prepare himself for the second world war” and that “this tree is a temptation” thanks to Phineas (Ellis 34). James Ellis explains that from Gene and Finny jumping from the Devon tree during the Summer Session, it imitates a new loss of innocence because Gene gives into Finny’s temptation of jumping, rather than listening to his own secluded mind and respect towards following the rules. Finny, falling into the temptation of the tree, and Gene, giving into Finny’s dare of jumping from the tree into the Devon river, allows them to officially initiate the start of their second world war, in this case the start of their adulthood. In addition to the Devon Tree corresponding with the start of adulthood, Ellis explains how the two rivers are a symbolic meaning towards the loss of innocence. Ellis says, “The Devon, a familiar and bucolic river suggestive of Eden, that Finny and Gene had jumped from the tree. But after his fall from innocence, Gene experiences a baptism of a different sort as he plunges into the Naguamsett” (37). Ellis reveals that the
In the early pages of the novel, Finny confesses that Gene is his best friend. This is considered a courageous act as the students at Devon rarely show any emotion. And rather than coming back with similar affection, Gene holds back and says nothing. Gene simply cannot handle the fact that Finny is so compassionate, so athletic, so ingenuitive, so perfect. As he put it, "Phineas could get away with anything." (p. 18) In order to protect himself from accepting Finny's compassion and risking emotional suffering, Gene creates a silent rivalry with Finny, and convinced himself that Finny is deliberately attempting to ruin his schoolwork. Gene decides he and Finny are jealous of each other, and reduces their friendship to cold trickery and hostility. Gene becomes disgusted with himself after weeks of the silent rivalry. He finally discovers the truth, that Finny only wants the best for Gene, and had no hidden evil intentions. This creates a conflict for Gene as he is not able to deal with Finny's purity and his own dark emotions. On this very day Finny wants to jump off of the tree branch into the Devon river at the same time as Gene, a "double jump" (p. 51), he says, as a way of bonding. It was this decision, caused by Finny's affection for Gene and outgoing ways that resulted in drastic change for the rest of his life.
Gene jounces a limb of the tree he and Finny were standing on, causing Finny to fall and break his leg. Gene's jealousy of Finny's perfection causes him to have childish feelings of resentment and hatred. After Finny's leg was broken, Gene realized "that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between" (Knowles 51) him and Finny. Gene looked at himself and became conscious of what a terrible, self-absorbed friend he had been. Understanding there was no competition caused him to discard the majority of his feelings of jealousy. Getting rid of these feelings made him grow-up because he was no longer spending countless hours believing a childish game was being played between Finny and him. Gene began to understand more of Finny's goodness and love towards all, making him strive to be more like Finny.
Gene is a well-educated, athletic individual. He takes his school work seriously and keeps to himself, meaning he doesn’t favor standing out or being in the spotlight. He is a follower, especially when it comes to his best friend, Phineas. Throughout the book, he often compares himself to Phineas and talks about how perfect Finny is.
a best friend like Finny is an accolade and he should see it as an achievement. However, this transparent excuse of Gene's maturity at this point, portrays a very young, foolish, and selfish young man. "It was hypnotism. I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying that a little, which was perfectly normal."(Knowles p. 25) Here we see Gene as a simply confused young man who doesn't know the real value of friendship, and can't refuse a feeling of envy towards his so called "best friend.
own stuffy Victorian world as Jack. While explaining his presence in town to Algy, Ernest states, “Oh,