I think that in the tree, Gene, overwhelmed with his new realization that Finny was not in fact jealous of him, shook the branch intentionally, but did not mean for it to cause Finny to fall. After Gene realized that Finny did not consider Gene his enemy, but only his best friend, as he had generously mentioned earlier, he was upset. It made him feel inferior to Finny's kindheartedness, for Gene had worked hard to excel in his academics, not for himself, but just so he could feel as though he "would be even [with Finny]" (Knowles 52). In contrast, Finny, when breaking the swimming record, wanted to prove to himself that he was a great swimmer, not to impress Gene, or anyone else for that matter. While Gene craved attention, Finny worked selflessly just to prove to himself of his superiority, not for the crowd. When Gene finally became aware of this difference in their personalities, he felt guilty and mad at himself for being so selfish. In his anger at himself, Gene at the top of the tree, casually shook the branch without fully thinking about the potential consequences.
I believe Gene shook the tree branch on purpose out of grief and hatred of his lost competition with Finny. Gene realized in the ending of this chapter that he was never going to be equal to Finny. Finny was always going to be better than him. “Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality of [Finny]” (Knowles 59). Also, in the end of this chapter, Gene figured out that Finny was only trying to be the better sportsman in order to prove to himself that he was good, unlike Gene, who wanted to prove to everyone else at the school that he could be “equal” to Finny. The awareness of this difference caused Gene to be shocked and surprised, which lead to him performing an act involuntarily that he would later regret.
ReplyDeleteI sort of respectively disagree with Lily, and Delila. I think that Finny actually was as responsible for what happened on the tree as Gene was. In the moment right before Finny falls he "swings his head around to look at me for a moment with extreme interest " (Knowles 60). When this happens I think Finny is turning to Gene with this incredible interest because he has also come to this realization about Gene. Opposite to how Gene has just realized Finny does not care about their competition, Finny has just realized that that is all Gene cares about. Surprised by these epiphanies about their best friends, I think both were being carless and Finny just happened to be the one to fall.
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