Quackenbush uses the word “maimed” as an insult in hopes of aggravating Gene during their argument. Gene is aware that most people who sign up for the position that he chose often have some sort of physical disability holding them back from participating in the sport. Gene notes, “Quackenbush was studying [him] to see if he could detect a limp” (Knowles 77). The word “maimed” refers to someone who has been wounded or injured so that part of their body is permanently damaged. Quackenbush uses the term because he wants to tick off Gene further, yet what he doesn’t know is that Gene had actually injured Finny so that part of his body was permanently damaged. Quackenbush’s comment causes Gene to leap to his friend’s defense instead of angering Gene directly. However, Gene later reflects that “it felt as though [he] had done it for [himself]” (Knowles 80). Gene gets defensive over Quackenbush’s use of the term “maimed” as an insult because he knows that some people, including Finny, are actually maimed and it’s entirely inappropriate to use it as an insult. Unfortunately, his motivation to defend the term’s use as an insult is more based upon his own feeling of needing to get back in Finny’s good graces because he still feels guilty. Gene’s reaction is significant because he still feels extremely guilty about what he did to Finny. He is more concerned about his own relationship with Finny than he is about the people who the term affects because he hopes that a multitude of right things will cancel out the huge mistake he made with Finny.
I completely agree with Madison. I also think that by calling Gene "maimed", Quackenbush only meant to insult Gene as a form of defense during their argument. However, Quackenburg did not know that he was hurting Gene more than he anticipated. Since Quackenbush didn’t know what Gene had done to Finny and that in a way, both Finny and Gene are "maimed". Gene is wounded from the pain and guilt that came along with hurting his best friend and Finny is physically wounded from falling out of the tree. Gene narrates “it was almost as though I were maimed. Then the realization that there was someone who was flashed over me”(Knowles 79). This quote is significant because Gene is just coming to the realization that he had permanently injured Finny and in a way permanently ended his life.
ReplyDelete