Gene dresses in Finny’s clothes to abandon his guilt about the accident. The clothes make him confident and optimistic because this is how Gene sees Finny. After the accident, right before dinner, Gene has an impulse decision to wear Finny’s clothes. He put on “his cordovan shoes, his pants…[and] his pink shirt” (Knowles, 62). Gene describes that he felt like Finny “to the life”. Gene immediately felt comfort from his guilt. “I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again” (62). The clothes help Gene comfort himself in the middle of feeling like he didn’t know who he was. After realizing how bad of a person he conjured Finny to be, he lost all self respect for himself and started to forget who he was. He admires Finny as a confident, moral and optimistic person, by putting on his clothes Gene felt like how he thinks of Finny. By putting on the clothes, Gene temporarily abandons his identity and “becomes” Finny. When he wakes up the next morning, the confidence is gone, and he wakes up feeling sad and ashamed of who he has become because he has to succumb to his own identify. Gene admires Finny as such a good person, that by putting on Finny’s clothes to imitate him, Gene can forget who he feels like he is.
I agree with Mali that Gene puts on Finny's clothes to abandon his guilt, but I also think that Gene does this to try to sort of bring Finny back. Gene is overcome with guilt and impulsively decides to try on his friend's clothes. When fully dressed he notes that "I was Phineas, Phineas to the life," (Knowles 62). Gene takes full responsibility for Finny's broken leg, and because of his emotions he tries to bring Finny back, and restore his health by being him for a moment. As Mali stated, this effect wears off quickly, but it does seem to help a little. Also, In this scene we see how damaged Gene is by Finny's injury, so much so that the guilt clouds over any thought about war. The fact that Gene's emotions towards a friend are able to overcome other feelings shows how powerful friendship and guilt are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mali and Dylan, but I think by putting on Finny's clothes Gene is trying to become Finny. After hurting his best friend he feels guilty and responsible for his injury. Gene's insecurity that he will never be as good as Finny is what fuels the rivalry between the two of them. By taking away Finny's athletic ability, he has evened the playing field between them. Now, we see Gene put on Finny's clothes to try to fully transform into a different character. After putting on Finny's clothing, Gene says, "I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again" (62). This means he feels like by transforming into Finny, he is becoming the perfect person. By completing this transformation, he is trying to leave all his insecurities behind and become Finny.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mali, when she said that Gene is wearing Finny's clothes to abandon his guilt about the accident. He realized that he should not have done it after he realized the terribly injury that he caused his best friend to have, even though he already knew that he would get injured badly. I think that Gene wore his clothes more to honor him and less to feel like him.This accident caused their rivalry to expand and now Gene feels like they are even now that Finny has lost his athletic abilities.
ReplyDelete