Gene Forrester Character Analysis

Gene Forrester as a Matured and Reflective Adult

(TH) Although many critics believe that (TSIS pivot) John Knowles portrays Gene as a childish and jealous character, the path that he sets for Gene helps him overcome his self-centered, childish mindset and become an insightful and compassionate adult who has found inner peace from his past feelings and experiences.

BP 1: Call to Adventure/Meeting with the Mentor

John Knowles’ main protagonist Gene Forrester is a student at the Devon School in New Hampshire, living a content life during World War II. An intellectual and quiet student, he surprisingly befriends his adventurous and spontaneous roommate Phineas, also known as Finny. If Robert Zajonc could comment on their friendship, he would allude

it to his theory of mere exposure.

With Gene as an inhibited, austere individual, and Finny as a zealous and sociable person, it is unlikely that the two would have been friends without an outside factor. This factor is mere exposure, meaning that Gene and Finny’s friendship is feasible due to “propinquity, the idea that one of the main determinants of interpersonal attraction is physical proximity” (Breines, “Love, Decoded”). Nonetheless, Gene’s journey begins when he follows Finny and jumps out of the tree into the river. Gene remarks, “We were best of friends at that moment” (Knowles, 18). The jump marks the beginning of Gene and Finny’s close friendship, with Finny becoming Gene’s mentor. As the two boys become closer, Gene learns to be more daring and spontaneous, often willingly following Finny on his adventurous escapades. In one instance, Finny randomly said, “Let’s go to the beach” (Knowles, 45). Even though going to the beach would cause the boys expulsion and required physical labor - the beach was hours away by bicycle - Gene still

acquiesced to go with Finny. This demonstrates the strength of their friendship, as they were both willing to risk so much for one beach trip; however, the apparent strength wavers when Gene hesitates to tell Finny “... that he was my best friend also” (Knowles, 48). Held back by an unknown feeling, Gene realizes that what he felt was something deeper than expected, which is the pivotal point in starting his adventure.
BP 2: Crossing the Threshold
Gene begins crossing the threshold to his adventure when he develops feelings of jealousy and resentment for Finny. When Finny suspects that Gene wants “to be head of the class, valedictorian… be the boy wonder of the school” (Knowles, 51), Gene realizes that he does want to be valedictorian - so he can compete with Finny’s amazing athleticism. This leads Gene to mistakenly identify a mutual feeling of rivalry and envy between the two boys: “I found a single sustaining thought… You and Phineas… even in enmity” (Knowles, 53). Gene falsely assumes that Finny has been trying to wreck his studies by befriending him and making him participate in all his fun antics. His jealousy propels him to work even harder in school in hopes of provoking Finny’s jealousy, even though Finny’s jealousy doesn’t even exist. If Alfred Adler were to comment on Gene’s sense of rivalry and jealousy, he might refer to his compensation theory. Gene would be overcompensating, meaning that he tries to hide a weakness by demonstrating a strength. Due to his lack of athleticism, Gene stresses the importance of his studies to jealously compete with Finny’s athletic capabilities. As time passes, Gene’s jealousy manifests into a deep resentment and hatred. However, when Finny expresses his sincerity in wanting Gene to succeed, Gene realizes that Finny shares neither his jealousy or rivalry, and becomes more bitter than ever, as Gene “was not of the same quality as he” (Knowles, 59). Gene finally crosses the threshold when he causes Finny to fall out of the tree. After realizing that he is not even morally superior to Finny, he succumbs into a state of shock. While he is still in shock, he climbs up the tree with Finny and bends his knees, causing the tree branch to shake. His movement makes Finny lose his balance and “hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud” (Knowles, 60). At this moment, Gene’s life changes, and he enters a new world full of tests and challenges. Finny’s fall also symbolizes a fall from innocence for Gene; ‘an initiation into the ignorance and moral blackness of the human heart” (Ellis, Fall from Innocence, 315). It marks the end of the carefree summer school session at the Devon School and the beginning of the dark winter session. In other words, Finny’s fall is the turning point where the young, naive students of the Devon School become adults in a world of war (WWII). However, Finny’s fall is also representative of irony. Finny, in Gene’s eyes, is the most athletic and graceful boy at the Devon School.
BP 3: Tests, Allies, & Enemies
After Finny’s fall, Gene faces an overwhelming amount of guilt and denial - his test.

To deal with his guilt, Gene puts on Finny’s clothes and blurs his identity with Finny’s. Gene admits “I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief… I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again” (Knowles, 62). In addition to putting on Finny’s clothes, he also becomes Finny’s athletic replacement, training for the Olympics as a swimmer. By doing so, Gene is trying to alleviate his guilt and escape his own self by taking on Finny’s identity. However, he only feels ephemeral succor, and begins to hate himself for causing Finny’s fall. This is comparable to Garcin from Jean Paul Sartre’s play No Exit. Garcin, who is in Hell, tries to avoid and ignore Inez and Estelle, his roommates who are there to torture him. He proposes that they “mustn’t speak. Not one word” (Sartre, 1.11). Similarly, Gene is in a figurative Hell after Finny’s accident, and tries to his ignore his test - his guilt - and live normally while Finny recovers. Gene also childishly tries to deny his feelings of guilt and feigns ignorance when he asks Finny what had happened up in the tree: “Do you remember what made you fall?” (Knowles, 66). His guilt is only stimulated again when Finny apologizes for somewhat accusing Gene for causing his fall. When Gene ultimately decides to confess to Finny that he caused his fall, Finny doesn’t believe him and vehemently refuses to believe Gene: “‘Of course

you didn’t do it. You damn fool’” (Knowles, 70). Gene finds a surprising ally in Finny; Finny is completely against the idea of Gene purposely causing him to fall and break his leg. He even goes as far as to lie and recall what happened differently when Brinker Hadley, Gene’s classmate and enemy, conducts a trial to question Gene formally, believing him to be the culprit behind Finny’s fall. Brinker reproaches Gene, stating “I’ll bet it was all your doing” (Knowles, 88). Another enemy, Elwin “Leper” Lepellier, testifies against Gene and betrays him at the trial. Leper begins implicates Gene until Finny declares that he does not care and rushes out of the trial room. In his hurry, he falls down the stairs and shatters his leg, once again inciting Gene’s guilt.
BP 4: Ordeal
Gene’s ordeal is when Finny dies from a surgical procedure gone wrong. When Finny breaks his leg falling down the stairs, he goes insane with guilt and wanders the campus of the Devon School alone at night. He enters a trance, calling himself “a roaming ghost, not only tonight but always” (Knowles, 186). He feels as if his whole life at Devon had been a dream, and realizes that he spent much of his time losing himself and his identity because he was so immersed into Finny. Gene feels the worst when Finny passes away “from the marrow of his bone flowing down his bloodstream to his heart” (Knowles, 194). Gene does not even cry during Finny’s funeral, because he “could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral” (Knowles, 194). The theme of self-identity is most prevalent here, as Gene’s and Finny’s identities have become so intertwined that Gene cannot distinguish himself from Finny. Now that he has lost Finny, he feels as if he has lost a part of his own identity, and ultimately loses his objective and direction in life. Similarly, Jay Gatsby loses his purpose in life after Daisy Buchannan, his first love, proclaims that she loves both Gatsby and her husband Tom. Gatsby, shocked, states, “‘You loved me, too?” (Fitzgerald, 264).Gatsby ultimately has no purpose in life because Daisy, for whom he had done everything to attain his wealth, rejected him.
BP 5: Reward/The Road Back
After Finny dies, Gene realizes how the war was affecting him and his relationship with Finny. To Finny, the war was nonexistent and that “[fat old men] cooked up this war” (Knowles, 115). His belief in a fake war put him and Gene in a bubble in which they can only rely on themselves. However, for the rest of his classmates, the war is real and causes the world to be a dull and lifeless place for them. In Finny and Gene’s reverie, they focus on training Gene for the Olympics rather than preparing to enlist in the war. Both become determined to make Gene an athletic star like Finny once was. When Gene finally proves himself athletically, Finny is proud and notes that Gene has learned something about himself through exercise. In retrospect, Gene learns his how easily he could change himself to be Finny’s double. After Finny’s death, he adopts Finny’s spirit and persona, taking on most of Finny’s traits, “..I fell into step as well as my nature, Phineas-filled, would allow” (Knowles, 204). When he prepares to leave Devon, he realizes that “wars were not made by generations… something ignorant in the human heart” (201). He acknowledges his guilt and admits his wrongdoing, stating, “I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204).