On page 60, when Gene and Finny are climbing the tree to jump off, they plan to jump together. However, Finny loses his balance and falls to the ground. Gene claims his fear disappears. Gene says this because this is the first time he sees Finny make a physical mistake. The rest of his peers in their grade respect Finny and like him because he has a certain “shining” effect (Knowles, 40). Finny falling was the first time Gene sees him as something other than this perfect athlete.
Gene is extremely jealous of Finny and turns their whole friendship into a competition. Gene believe Finny thinks this way for awhile also, which makes Gene feel like he is someone to be jealous over and that he is not so bad for constantly competing with Finny since Finny does it too.“Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies...he wanted to share everything with me, especially his procession of D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be ahead of me...the sweat of relief when nausea passed away; I felt better...The deadly rivalry was on both sides.” (Knowles, 53).
Gene compares himself with Finny in every instance in his mind; he is always trying to be better than him. “I was more and more certainly becoming the best student in schooll Phineas was without question becoming the best athlete...But while he was a very poor student I was a pretty good athlete and when everything was thrown into the scales, they would in the end tilt definitely toward me.” (Knowles, 55) By seeing Finny lose balance and fall, and Gene remaining in contact with the branch, he believes he is inferior and no longer is in fear of being worse than Finny.
I agree with Reina, that once Finny fails to retain his confident leadership when he falls out of the tree, Gene's own personal ego soars. Using the creation of the tree as a metaphor, Knowles has used it as a metaphor for Finny's power. "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?" (Knowles 17). In this early example of the book, Finny is characterized to be an influential figure in Gene's world. In the scene when the concept of jumping from the tree is first introduced, it is Finny that bravely leaps first, who next challenges Gene to follow. While in the end Gene jumped, his initial thoughts were of hesitation and terror. Being able to jump first seemed to be Finny's way of subtly reminding him of his dominance and superiority. Then, the one day Finny jumps first and fails, he exposes his own weakness. Even such a phenomenal athlete may be brought to his knees. Seeing this reminded Gene that not everything was so easily swayed by his friend's charm.
ReplyDeleteGene feels this way due to the Finny's failure as my classmates said. This is yet another symbolic moment showing how competitive Gene is. He was scared because he was afraid that his jump wouldn't be as outrageous or good as Finny's. Once Finny ends up simply falling from the tree he knows he can do better. Confidence takes over and his fear disappears. Even in a feat as simple as jumping into a lake Gene wants to be the best at it. Finny makes one mistake and Gene is gleeful over it and it even gives him confidence. He viewed Finny as a godly figure and not that the god has failed he feels he can perform a jump better than a god and does so fearlessly.
ReplyDelete