Young Gene revealed that he considers himself weak compared to Finny because he is incapable of get away with anything, and he uses sarcasm to mask this weakness by making comments towards Finny to express something that he disapproves of. One summer day, Gene and Finny went to a tea party hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Prud'homme and they discussed topics such as the bombing in Europe. When the tea party had ended, Finny talked to Gene about how the tea party had bored him. Gene then said, "Yes. It was boring. Who did most of the talking anyway?" (Knowles 29). Young Gene is envious of Finny for always getting away with things, and he had hoped that at the tea party he would finally have gotten busted. When he didn't get in trouble, Gene thought to himself, "He had gotten away with everything. I felt a stab of disappointment.... He had gotten away with everything because of the extraordinary kind of person he was. It was quite a compliment, as a matter of fact, to have such a person choose me for his best friend," (Knowles 28-29). Gene pointed out that he is weak because he can't get find ways around getting in trouble. Gene also meant that he isn't an extraordinary person, and that he was just lucky to be friends with someone who is. Gene had made that sarcastic comment towards Finny because, in his own way, he was trying to protest to Finny about his ability to get away with everything, and to show that he doesn't completely approve of this ability. This also shows that he is envious of Finny, and in a way he wishes that Finny wasn't superior to him. This envy and rivalry reminded me of a scene in To Kill a Mockingbird. I was reminded of the sibling rivalry between Jem and Scout when Jem and Dill were going to play. Jem told Scout that she doesn't have to come because she's a "girl". Scout was jealous of Dill going off to play with Jem instead of her. Young Gene is feeling insecure compared to Finny and is using sarcasm to express his feeling about Finny's ability to get away with anything.
In class we talked about how a little bit of competition and rivalry is good and healthy, but too much is bad. Do you think this is a healthy amount between Gene and Finny? Why?
Do you think this rivalry will turn into something more as the book progresses? Why?
Do you think that Finny's ability to get away with anything is something to be jealous of or not? Why?
Gene also tries to cover up the fact that he and Phinny have a bad relationship by lying to himself. He says "I couldn't help envying him that a little... There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little" (Knowles 25). The amount of competition and envy between Gene and Phinny is unhealthy because he feels so inferior to Phinny that he lets himself get pushed into dangerous situations. He wants to stay in Phinny's good graces because Phinny is a "cool" kid, but he ends up not seeing the problems with their relationship.
ReplyDeleteAs the book progresses Gene and Finny's relationship will diminish. Gene is constantly looking up at Finny and seeing him as an obstacle rather than his best friend. Whenever Finny does something positive Gene always takes it as competition to one up him. Gene also shows disapproval for certain actions such as creating a new club, " It would have never occurred to me to say, " I don't feel like it tonight, which was the plain truth every night" (Knowles 34). Not being able to say this to Finny's face shows that he has a lack of trust in confidence in his best friend. And with Gene not being able to trust Finny there may be a potential fall out between the two friends in the near future.
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