Gene feels like the war could start a new beginning for anyone. Gene has had a slightly troubling past year at Devon University, and as he says on page 100, the war could get rid of his past. "To enlist. To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shred everything down to my last bit of clothing." (100) As Gene talks about how enlisting is a new start for some, he also says how it's a confusing process. He gives examples of enlisting being good and bad, for example, he says "Not that would be a good life. The war would be deadly all right. But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me..." This quote is showing how the war would be deadly but enjoyable for someone like Gene.
Gene feels that if he enlists to the war, he will be happier and the weight will be taken off of his shoulders. "I reckoned my responsibilities by the light of the unsentimental night sky knew that I owed no one anything. I owed it to myself to meet this crisis in my life when I chose, and I chose now." (103) This quote is showing how Gene is swallowing his pride and is going to enlist. By choosing to enlist in the war, he is getting his troubles off of his back and he is swallowing his pride.
I agree with this that Gene feels that enlisting in the war will be a new start. I think that all of the guilt that he has makes him feel like he has nothing worth living for. When Gene is thinking about enlisting in war, he says, "The war would be deadly all right. But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me..." (Knowles 101). He knows that the war will be deadly and yet he still wants to enlist. I think that Gene sees that there are two wars going on; The real war that's happening and there's a war between him and Finny. All of the competitiveness and the enmity between them demonstrates a war that's going on with Gene and Finny. Because of this, Gene wants to enlist in the real war to get rid of all of the guilt he has.
ReplyDeleteI agree that enlisting in the war would be a new start for Gene, but I also think that he wouldn't be able to completely put the past behind him. For example, in the butt room, Gene says "The truth will out... the truth will out" (Knowles 88). I think that this situation is mirrored several times throughout the book, in the sense Gene pulls away from situations whenever he feels threatened, yet he never runs away from them completely. For example at the beginning when he threw himself completely into his studies in order to gain an edge against Finny, however his underlying need to avoid even fake danger keeps him from completely closing himself in. I think this may be foreshadowing for the war. Although Gene has convinced himself that this is the right thing to do, the true horrors of the war will overpower the sense of clarity he feels by doing something new.
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