Thanks for appreciating my perspective on the title. I think that that statement is relevant to the book because Finny convinced this classmates to forget the war that was taking place around them and instead he got them to have a little of fun. While the rest of the nation was busy training and stressing for the war, Finny got the boys to ignore the urgency of the event. In real life, I think that this characteristic of Finny’s would make him an excellent therapist. I think this way because he has the ability to get people to look at serious situations with a childish perspective. In terms of the clothes enhancement, I think that at that moment in the book, Gene felt superior to Finny, and his clothes were the only representation of him—Gene finally mustered gained the popularity and “strength” that Finny always possessed by posing as Finny. If the two boys were actually really good friends, I think that this situation in the book would have been pointless—two boys sharing their clothes with each other. Just like the previous book that you connected this one too, I have not read Catch 22, but I do know that just like A Separate Peace, it is also popular.
I think that you were right have a sense of worry for Leper. In this section of the book, Finny himself realizes how enlisting in the war was no joke like he believed it to be. When Finny finally came to realization that he was wrong about the war this entire time, I felt that deep-down he must have been very embarrassed for his truth to be revealed. I know that if I said something with a lot of confidence and it was proved to be incorrect, I would be really ashamed of my arrogance and in turn, I would not have been able to look my peers in the eye. I feel that it was Finny’s strength to realize and accept his mistake. “If a war can drive anyone crazy, then it’s real all right” (page 146). Reading this section, I still pitied Finny because he was under the influence and he was ready to believe anything and everything that Gene told him. “Of course I believed you” (page 147). Getting into the relation of the two boys, I think that as much as Gene had been regretting his actions towards Finny, the right thing to have done would have been to step up and take responsibility towards his actions. I wish that Gene did not use Finny’s innocence and instead would have told him the truth about the tree incident in the beginning of the book.
I think that Brinker had conducted the meeting about Finny’s past with the best of intentions. “everything about Finny’s accident was cleared up and forgotten.” However, I think that this quote is ironic because Brinker should have known that the past was already forgotten—neither Finny nor Gene were bringing up the topic until he decided to be nosey and take matters into his own hands. The result of this meeting was not in the least bit positive for Finny because he realized how Gene played a major role for his condition. For Finny, it must have been very difficult to relive his life’s horrible memoires by narrating them to his peers. For a friend, the realization of Gene’s hand in Finny’s condition must have been heartbreaking. Finny must have begun to hate Gene for not showing him his true colors. This incident must have also stirred up a lot of remorse for Gene. When Finny was hospitalized and Gene came to visit him, I think that the roles of the two characters were revered. Gene had been the aggressive one while Finny had been the caring one, but in the hospital, it was evident that Finny was furious at Gene for betraying him, and as a result. In a way, this reminds me of the stereotype “two-faced.” Different situations can obviously cause people to react in a different way.
In the end, I feel that while the rest of the world was fighting a outside enemy, Gene had actually been fighting his own feelings. It had been his personal feelings and reactions of fury which had caused him to be hostile to Finny. The death of Finny represents a loss that Gene got over himself because he had not won against his own feelings, but instead he let his feelings take the best of him.
As the book wraps up, I have a few unanswered questions, and I was hoping that you may have a clue. One thing that I was really curious about was why Gene had returned to his school. I mean to dig up his past was really brave considering his emotional growth. Also, I wanted to make a prediction about Gene’s future: I believe that his past will always have a major impact on the way that he looks upon his actions because he had already experienced the aftermath of when his emotions control him. What do you think Lauren?
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