At the end of the book, Gene says “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). When he said that, he meant that he never ended up killing anyone in the war or hating his opponents. His reason behind that was that he was on “duty” while he was at devon and ended up killing his enemy there. The enemy he was referring to is Phineas. Right before the incident at the tree, Gene thought, “You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity” (Knowles 53). Although Finny saw Gene as his best friend and was never out to get him, Gene felt as he was. His jealousy and clouded mind caused him to push Finny off the tree, causing him to later die. In his quote, Gene doesn’t contradict himself. The way I see it, Gene was talking about the war vs Devon and how his time at Devon was more of war then the war itself, making it his war. His war was basically a war with himself because even though he thought everyone was against him, including the person who cared about him most, Finny, nobody was. The war he created in his head caused him to kill Finny, which is pretty ironic.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
What does Gene mean when he says “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war end before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Who/what is his enemy? Why does he contradict himself there? What was his war? (Aya )
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I agree with Aya, but I also think the war with himself was because of all his insecurities and him wearing a mask. Gene had many of those and he thought that he needed to hide that from Finny as it says, "But you wouldn't mind, would you?' I repeated in a lower and more distinct voice" (Knowles 52). Although this quote is just at the start of the book, throughout the rest of the book Gene continues to feel like Finny is better than him and he feels that if he becomes top of his class, he will become even with Finny. This is some unproven jealousy from Gene to Finny.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that Gene's war was with himself. This war between Gene and Finny existed only in Gene's mind, but that doesn't mean that the Gene's war was actually with himself. Gene's war was clearly against Finny, who he believed was his rival: "You and Phineas... are even in enmity" (Knowles 53). Also, Gene's war had real consequences, namely Finny's injury and, later, death. Gene's war was imagined, however, because a war is mutual, yet Gene's"enmity" was actually not reciprocated by Finny. This is what makes unreliable narrators so interesting; often, you don't know how twisted their perception is.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Aya, for the war that was in Gene's mind was so authentic that it caused the death of his best friend. I don't even think that it is possible for it to be "fake", due to the fact that it had such real results. Although this wasn't some war with guns and bombs, this was a psychological war that would have been just as harmful to them, damaging their feelings and emotions as they carry on with their lives.
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