When Gene and Finny are coming back from the little "party" that Mr. Patch-Withers had thrown, they talk about it, and Gene basically says that Finny did most of the talking. Making a joke out of it, Finny asks Gene if he really thought that, and Gene denies it, saying, "You? Talk too much? How can you accuse me of accusing you of that!" (Knowles 29). However, looking back on it, Eugene tells us that, "It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak."(Knowles 29). Eugene, both older and wiser, now realizes that sarcasm is simply a way to hide the true feelings of yours under a layer of humor. Gene, not wanting to stand up and tell Finny what he had really meant, instead sarcastically agrees with Finny, keeping his true opinion to himself. He doesn't want to give out how he really feels to Finny, so he decides to hide with humor, to keep Finny away from his opinions, because he is too scared and too "weak" to share them. He thinks that if he tries to give out his opinion, he might receive some negative feedback from Finny, and Gene does not want anything like that at all. So Gene, weak as he is, decides to keep his opinion to himself, and uses sarcasm to hide it.
(Tayseer Chowdhury)
This raises a question we talked about in class about a true friend. If Gene and Finny are truly close and best friends then there shouldn't be a reason that Gene feels weak or scared to say something to him. This also brings up another question that we talked about, can you be jealous of your friends. At the dinner with the Patch-Withers Gene says that Finny did most of the talking. This could have made Gene feel inferior to Finny. In other parts of the book Gene talks about how popular and how good of a leader Finny is. There is clearly jealousy between the two friends. "I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal" (Knowles 25). In this quote Gene is saying he is jealous of Finny because could "...get away with anything" (Knowles 25).
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After observing Finny succeed with almost no effort in many different aspects of his school life, it seems like Gene has grown insecure to the point where he feels the need to use sarcasm to mask his lack of confidence. Finny is the star of Devon, so it is not unlikely that Gene might feel like he is standing in the shadow of a giant. Gene says, “At that time it would never have occurred to me to say, ‘I don’t feel like it tonight,’ which was the plain truth every night” (Knowles 34). Gene feels like he has to impress Finny and constantly live up to his expectations, even if he is uncomfortable doing so. He never disobeys Finny’s orders to jump off of “the tree,” and he’s too afraid to upset Finny by accusing him of talking too much after the tea party. This increasing insecurity and committal to pleasing Finny are some of Gene’s major weaknesses, and Gene uses sarcasm in an attempt to hide them from Finny. The solemn tone of Gene’s return to Devon 15 years later might be a hint that this now simple, innocent insecurity will grow into something larger, ultimately threatening Gene and Finny’s friendship.
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