Gene's fear at the end of the chapter completely disappears due to another overwhelming fear for Finny. For the most part, this chapter was focusing the height of Gene and Finny's friendship, as well as the start of their rivalry. At the very end, Finny falls from the tree and Gene leaps from the branch without any fear: "With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten," (Knowles, 60). The forgotten fear he speaks of is his original fright of the jump itself, which he mentions while doing this every other time. It is not forgotten forever, just fully submerged by a stronger pure terror and concern for Finny's well-being. This also proves how the two boys's great friendship overcomes the rivalry that was being set up, as well as the anger of their previous fight over studying. Just before, Gene thought: "Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us," (Knowles, 59). Although their friendship could have been questioned before due to Finny forcing Gene to do things against his will and now his discovery of their rivalry, this quote plus Gene's actions in the tree proves that their bonds cannot be doubted. Overall, Gene's original fear became insignificant compared to concern for Finny, nothing being more important than each other and their bonds of friendship.
What other factors do you think influenced Gene's fearless action of jumping out of the tree?
I do agree with what you say Nicholas, but when I read it I thought about his fear deeper than jumping off. I think that Gene's fear was that he didn't understand Finny, he was confused. Gene realized that he wasn't the same "quality" as Finny. So when Finny fell off the tree the fear was gone because Finny was gone. Also when Finny looked over at Gene while he was falling, I think that he was thinking why wasn't Gene catching him. In an earlier chapter when Gene was falling Finny was right there to catch him. I think this issue on Gene not catching Finny will come up in later chapters.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason Gene jumped off the tree was because of Finny, but in multiple ways. First, I think Gene has noticed how amazing everyone thinks Finny is. He's good at sports, fearless, all the students like him, all the teachers like him and there's nothing Finny can't get away with. Gene was looking for a way to be equally as good as him so when Finny jumped off the tree, Gene might have thought that this was a way that he could be equal to finny. The second reason Finny influenced Gene jumping off the tree was by simply doing it and the peer pressure from him. Finny "shamed [him] into it" (18) and by doing so Gene felt like he had no choice to jump of the tree or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sharron, that I also thought that when Gene jumped off the brach, it meant more than just jumping. Throughout the novel, Gene has shown to be a devoted follower of Finny. When the two friends are debating whether or not to go to the beach Gene ends up doing what Finny does. ".... and it also involved the kind of long, labored bicycle ride I hated. 'All right,' I said (Knowles, 46). Gene is willing to risk it all to stay loyal to Finny. Meaning Gene always questioned whether he was better, worse or equal to Finny. So when Gene had the chance to show friends that he was truly better than Finny, he took his chance.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you, Geoffrey. I think that his fear went away because he was genuinely concerned for Finny. Even though they may become rivals, I do not think that Gene wants Finny dying. Once Finny falls, Gene's immediate actions are to jump off and help him. "I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten" (Knowles 60). His fear is too overwhelmed by concern for Finny. He jumped for Finny and not for the friends.
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