The significance of Gene and Finny’s training reveals their ability to benefit each other even after their complicated history. Throughout the book, Finny and Gene have been each other's best friend but always seeming to hurt the other, intentionally or unintentionally. Finny has hindered Gene because Gene’s self-image is strongly dependent on Finny. Finny unknowingly hurts Gene in this way because Gene constantly devalues himself when around Finny. Gene physically hurt Finny by shaking the branch to cause him to fall and therefore taking away his “good” and a part of him. When Finny and Gene finally put the past behind them, they learn to help each other and benefit themselves by benefiting one and other. Gene tutors Finny and helps him realize his full academic ability when before he did not think he could ever surpass a C. Finny helps Gene finally realize his full potential, “Then, for no reason at all, I felt magnificent… the aches and exhaustion were all imagined, created from nothing in order to keep me truly exerting myself” (Knowles 120). Finny knew Gene's potential and saw it in him before Gene allowed himself to see it. Through this process, Finny healed a little and helped see that even if he couldn’t help his teammates on the field, he could help them by training and in other ways. This relates to their conversations about the war because they decided to believe in something besides the war, and put themselves first. Finny strongly believes that the war is just a made up scheme by the “fat men” to keep people from recognizing their true potential. Although Gene doesn’t believe this entirely, he follows along and eventually finds himself giving in to the idea at times. Finny has always disregarded the power of authority. Anywhere from the war to headmasters and so on. By allowing himself to be set free from the oppression of authoritative figures he finds his full capacity and even helps others find theirs. Finny and Gene finally find their stride by helping each other reach their full abilities and strengthening their own friendship.
I disagree with Emma that Finny saw Gene's potential before Gene saw it in himself. Gene finishes the course feeling refreshed and completely secure in his athletic abilities, however, "[Finny] seemed older that morning and leaning quietly against that great tree wrapped in his heavy coat, he seemed smaller, too. Or perhaps it was only that I, inside the same body, had felt myself all at once grown bigger" (Knowles 121). While Gene has had this great revelation about how he can do sports and everything is looking up for him, Finny is getting weaker and waning under the stress of everything around him falling apart. Another aspect of Finny's character comes through as we learn that he needs to convince himself that the war is fake because if it was real, Gene might leave him. Before the accident Gene depended on Finny for most things, now there is some sort of role reversal going on where Gene has to take care of Finny now and although Finny can pass off as strong and recovering, Gene can tell that he's really struggling with this new way of living.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma, actually, that Finny believed in Gene before Gene believed in himself. Finny has always thought highly of Gene even after Gene told Finny about what really happened with the tree incident. When Gene tells Finny about his idea of enlisting, Finny nearly falls apart, "Phineas was shocked at the idea of my leaving. In some way he needed me. He needed me. I was the least trustworthy person he had ever me. He knew that..."(Knowles 108). This proves that Finny believed in Gene ever since he met him and Gene doesn't understand why. Gene was lying to him and being a terrible friend. He just accepts that their friendship is deteriorating and is fine to move on, but Finny still wants Gene to be his friend and won't let it go. Because Finny is injured, Gene and Finny reverse positions, so Gene has time for sports and Finny has time for school work. They are telling each other that they need to take advantage of each other's previous strengths in order to adapt to this new way of living. In some way, this gave Gene more appreciation for Finny because if he hadn’t done anything about their relationship, they might not have even been friends now.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Emma. I think the significance of Gene and Finny's training is the Finny is trying to live his style of athletic life through Gene. When Finny says to Gene, “Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me”(77) he doesn't want to lose sports even though he can't play them, so Finny asks Gene to play them so he can use Gene to picture himself playing sports again. When we learn that Finny needs to convince himself that the war is fake because Gene might leave him if it was real it shows how much Finny cares about Gene a lot. This indicates that finny and Gene have a very close relationship and Finny is scared about Gene getting drafted or Enlisting in the war because he doesn't want to lose him.
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