FIRST, BEFORE THIS BLOG POST STARTS LET'S TAKE A MOMENT OF SILENCE TO HONOR PHINEAS. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
The significance of the last paragraph is Gene finally realizes how close his relationship with Finny is and how in a way they existed as one entity at Devon. When Gene drops off Finny’s stuff at the infirmary, Finny tells Gene how he believes that Gene’s motives of jouncing the branch weren’t to hurt him but rather it was an impulse. Even though Gene and Finny both knew that Gene was the cause of Finny’s injury, Finny never wanted to think that Gene could do such a bad thing. Finny always trusted Gene even when Gene didn’t trust himself. The trust that Finny had towards Gene is what made him never really realizes how much he relied on him. When Finny is being carried away after falling on the stairs Gene realizes that “Phineas had thought of [Gene] as an extension of himself “ (Knowles 180). Throughout the beginning of the book, it seems that Gene is very reliant on Finny but towards the end, the tables turn. Once Finny becomes injured he becomes reliant on Gene because he thinks he will be left by someone so capable like Gene. When Gene is walking home from sneaking out to the infirmary he has realized how much of himself wouldn’t exist without Finny and because of that, he feels like he is a ghost. He never truly embraced himself he just followed Finny so in that sense, at Devon Finny and Gene were like the same person. Until Finny got injured and Gene couldn’t be reliant on him, Gene’s true colors never showed to the other students at Devon.
Do you think that part of Gene still doesn’t regret jouncing the branch?
I completely agree with you about Finny and Gene sort of being like the exact same person. Although, I also think that when Gene says "I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case" (Knowles 194) to him, it felt like a part of himself died too. I think at this point every single piece of guilt that hadn't touched him, washed over him at that moment, realizing that he was the cause for Finny's death. That he was the cause of his 'own' death. I find this part of the book significant because it kind of emphasizes the fact that Gene is the only person in his own way; always assuming what other people think and feeling like everyone is against him.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I don't think there's a part of Gene that doesn't regret jouncing the branch. I think for once he realized how much of a big impact one 'small' action can do, and that it's a good learning experience (Not like people should use others' lives just for the fact of learning).
ALSO-- RIP Finny.
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