Assignment #2 (pg 21-40): Question #1 Who is Finny?

Through Gene’s perspective of his best friend, Phineas, or Finny, John Knowles created a character that was not only well adored by his teachers, but also by his classmates which he led around with a gregarious manner. “The Devon faculty had never before experienced a student who combined a calm, ignorance of the rules with a winning urge to be good, who seemed to love the school truly and deeply, ... The faculty threw up its hands over Phineas, and so loosened its grip on all of us.” (Knowles 22).On numerous occasions, Finny has used his casual honesty and smooth charisma to talk himself out of several run ins with his superiors, such as how he easily got himself and Gene out of trouble for missing dinner to go swimming. Such evidence of Finny’s confident attitude can be found on page 25 when he decided to wear a wild pink shirt. “He did wear it. No one else in the school could have done so without some risk of having it torn from his back. When the sternest of the Summer Session Masters, old Mr. Patch-Withers, came up to him after history class and asked about it, I watched him drawn but pink face become pinker with amusement as Finny politely explained the meaning of the  shirt.” (Knowles 25). Even with his bold and somewhat embarrassing fashion choice, his confidence never wavered. All throughout the day he managed to pull it off without any hesitation, even in the face of a strict teacher. Inevtiably, Finny’s magnetic personality also attracted the admiration of his other classmates, which began hang on this excting boy’s every word. His command expanded to becoming the ring leader of a large group, especially in the new game he created called “blitzball”. “ “Stop, stop!” cried Finny in a referee’s tone. Everybody halted, and Finny retrieved the ball; he talked better holding it.” (Knowles 39). To begin with, the author compared Finny’s voice to that of a referee, a person who has absolute power in a match, just as his character is a leader to the boys. The next key word in the phrase was “everybody”, another sign of the control Finny held . Lastly, even his body language suggested immense dominance, as holding the ball was a metaphorical way of displaying that he, Phineas, was the alpha and was in charge of the game. In conclusion, Gene’s best friend, while easily mislabeled a mere supporting character, can be distinguished as a persuasive and alluring commander.