Monday, April 25, 2016
Assignment 5 (72-85) Re-read the last sentence of chapter 6 (p84-85). Explain what is happening in the quote (establish context) and then explore and explain the last part “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas” (85) (Ben Friedman)
The end of chapter six shows that Finny and Gene are living through each other: Finny through Gene's sports, and Gene through Finny's identity. At the end of chapter six, Gene and Finny are talking on the phone about how the first day of school is going. The conversation is going fine until Gene says he is fulfilling his athletic requirement by being a team manager. Finny reacts with, "Assistant crew manager! You are crazy!" (Knowles 84). In the last sentence, Finny says, "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me" (Knowles 85). After Gene hears this, he believes that his purpose from the beginning was to become a part of Finny. "I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas" (Knowles 85). When Gene loses Finny after his fall off the tree, Gene loses the part of him like Finny. He believes the only way for him to get the part like Finny back is to act as a part of Finny. He does this at first by wearing his clothes in the dormitory. When Finny says that he has to play sports for him, Gene believes that he will gain his part of Finny back and become one with Finny. Gene is essentially letting Finny live through him, by becoming the athlete that Finny can no longer be. But Gene is also living through Finny. Gene is escaping his identity, by becoming a person (Phineas) he is not. Each boy is living through one another, Finny through Gene's sports, and Gene through Finny's identity.
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I agree with Ben, and that Gene and Finny are living through each other. Gene has previously felt guilt for what he has done to Finny. Only to realize that what he is doing is actually hurting Finny. Like when he says, "It struck me then that I was injuring him again. It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before" (Knowles, 70). Gene feels guilty about participating in sports when he knows his best friend can't. But at the end of chapter 6 when Finny says "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me" (Knowles, 85), it's clear to Gene that in order to become his best self, and build back his relationship with Finny (reduce his guilt) he has to have a little "Finny" in him. And the best way to do that is to maintain Finny's athletics, even if it's Gene participating, not Finny.
ReplyDeleteGene could be doing this for Finny to forgive him and so he can forgive himself. By doing sports for Finny, he is becoming a part of Finny. This makes him the victim too, and so he can forgive himself. He knows if he did this, Finny would forgive him because he says, "You're going to play them for me." (Knowles 85) Finny is asking Gene to continue his legacy by becoming the athlete Finny once was.
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