Saturday, April 28, 2018
(61-71) Q4. What is guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can someone live guilt free? (Phoebe)
Gene has immense guilt for making Phineas fall of the tree and does not know how to tell him that it was his fault. Guilt is a human emotion and is defined by Websters Dictionary as "a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined" and this is just how Gene feels. Everyone is susceptible to the heavy feeling of guilt. It is part of being human. Guilt is usually caused by an irrational and reckless decision. When Gene decided to jounce the branch, he had not thought through it entirely. Phineas is an incredible athlete and seems invincible and untouchable. This is shown in the text when Gene says, “‘You’re too good to be true’ I said after a while. He glanced at me, and then said, ‘Thanks a lot,’ in a somewhat expressionless voice,”(Knowles 44). This happened after Phineas breaks the swimming record and doesn't want to tell anyone. Gene believes that Phinease cannot be hurt by anything and that he is perfect however he is frustrated that Phineas does not see it himself. So when Gene made the split-second decision to jounce the branch, he didn't truly believe that Phineas would get hurt. Gene behaved like a child and truly just wanted to see what would happen. However, it was not entirely because he is so jealous of Phineas. But now that Phineas has broken his leg, Gene realized the after affects of his thoughtless decision. Guilt is the side effect of a reckless decision, Gene feels guilty because now reflecting on his actions at the tree, he realizes that he has made a terrible mistake and destroyed Phineas' life.
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I agree that he didn't think his decision through entirely, but I do think he might of known deep down that he was going to get hurt. Throughout the beginning of the book we see Gene's jealousy and envy towards Phineas start to grow and grow and get more severe each chapter. This jouncing of the tree branch seems to be out of resentment and cruelness that Gene has towards Phineas deep down. Now, I don't personally think he knew the type of harm and impact it would do on Phineas's life. If you've lived a guilt free life, than you've never made a mistake. Guilt is a feeling and guilty is a state of being. Although he is feeling guilt, Gene finds it so hard to tell his perfect best friend that he is guilty because of their rivalry.
ReplyDeleteIs this reading, Gene also tries to get rid of the guilt that he feels about hurting Finny by going to his house, but instead he makes it worse. After Gene tells Finny the truth, he ends up feeling more guilty now that he hurt Finny again by doing so. He narrates, "It struck me then that I was injuring him again. It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before" (Knowles 70). In this quote, Gene shows that by telling Finny the truth he ended up hurting him even more, which created more guilt for himself. In attempt to get rid of his guilt, Gene tells Finny that he pushed him from the tree, but instead he hurts Finny and ends up making his guilt worsen.
ReplyDeleteWhen Gene and Finny meet in the infirmary, Finny tells Gene, "I just fell, something jiggled and I fell over. I remember I turned around and looked at you..." (Knowles, 65). Finny suspects Gene of causing his fall, and he is trying to tease a confession out of him. Finny also says, "...I had a kind of feeling. But you can't say anything for sure from just feelings. And this feeling doesn't make any sense. It was a crazy idea, I must have been delirious..." (Knowles, 66). Finny then apologizes to Gene for suspecting him. Knowles shows that even Finny feels a level of guilt, because he doesn't want to accuse Gene. Finny also does not want to admit to himself or to Gene that he thinks Gene did it. Finny apologizes for, "...that feeling [he] had" because he couldn't comprehend how his best friend could do something so terrible to him (Knowles, 66). This shows that everyone, even the victim, can feel guilty. It is simply a part of life.
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