In chapter 7, Gene and Brinker go to the Butt room to go smoke a cigarette. There were a few other kids there smoking as well, and Brinker brings up Finny and the incident. Gene ends up telling the "story" about the accident. At first he tries to make up a story by saying, " I - all I did was drop a little bit.... a little pinch of arsenic in his morning coffee." (Knowles 89). But Brinker stops him and tells him that he was there when the accident happened. Gene says this beause he feels guilty for doing this to Finny and he really doesn't want to people to know it was him, Finny's best friend, that really did this. Once Gene finds out that most of the people in the Butt room were at the 'crime scene' when it happended, he tells the truth. However, Gene leaves out one part, the part about how he shook/pushed Finny out of the tree. Gene tries to have them guess how Finny fell out of the tree, " 'What did I do then?' I demanded. 'I'll bet you've got a lot of theories. Come on, reconstruct the crime. There we were at the tree. Then what happened, Sherlock Holmes?' " (Knowles 91). One of the kids actually guessed correctly, but Gene lies and answers, "You lose. I guess you're Dr. Watson, after all." (Knowles 91) Gene tries to avoid any other conversations with anyone in the room and leaves.
Before this whole conversation, Brinker tells Gene, "But the truth will out." (Knowles 88). Gene was affraid the truth would come out and he would be thought of as the bad guy at Devon. In the end most of the truth did come out, except the most important part. Gene was affraid that if he talked to someone about that night, the real truth would have come out, and everyone would know that he was the bad guy who hurt his best friend, Finny.
Gene still feels guilty about what he did to Finny. He makes up this fake story to make everyone else think he is joking. "I could feel my throat closing on them; I could never say them never." (Knowles 90) Gene couldn't say that he pushed Finny off the tree because he is still in denial about the whole thing. Knowles uses the word 'never' and emphasizes that by repeating it. This shows that Gene feels that he will never forgive himself for what he did. Gene's tone changes throughout this scene, showing his guilt. He is scared that people will find out the truth, not only because he would get in trouble, but because he would have to accept what he did. Most of the conflict in this chapter is between Gene and himself, he is in between accepting and denying what he did to Finny and how that affects him.
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ReplyDeleteGene covers up the truth by creating an exaggerated and dramatic story. "first I stole all his money. Then I found that he cheated on his entrance tests to Devon and I blackmailed his parents about that, then I made love to his sister in Mr. Ludsbury's study, then I..." (Knowles 90). Gene makes this story intentionally over-the-top so that the other boys know that he's joking. He hopes that this will make them believe that the fact that Gene caused Finny's injury is a joke as well. Gene becomes more elaborate with his lies, to make sure that no one realizes that he actually did cause Finny's fall.
ReplyDeleteBrinker Hadley is the new “dominant student” at Devon, or the new Finny. So, when Brinker is prosecuting Gene in the makeshift court of the Butt Room, it is almost as though Finny is prosecuting Gene himself. Brinker also has Finny’s smooth way of speaking, as seen in the quote “High in that… that funereal tree by the river” (Knowles 90). This makes Gene even more uncomfortable, and contributed to why he could not say that he pushed Finny off the branch. If Brinker pushed hard enough, could he have made Finny admit to jouncing the limb?
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