2) Re-read Gene's recognition of his use of sarcasm in the middle of pg. 29. In what way has Gene revealed himself to be weak and then use sarcasm to hide this weakness?
pg. 29: “ …As I said, this was my sarcastic summer. It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are too weak”
Already in these few short chapter, Gene has been revealed as more of an academic person then an athletic person, while Finny is the exact opposite. Finny also has a way with words, though, as seen when he convinces the strict teachers to let him off for all kinds of minor offences such as skipping dinner and using a tie for a belt. In Chapter Two Finny displays such charm that Mr. Prud’homme lets them both off “… he saw that Mr. Prud’Homme was pleased, won over despite himself…” (Knowles 22). Finny and Gene are best friends, but Gene probably feels constantly overshadowed by the more athletic, more charming Finny. Because of this, Gene falls back on sarcasm as a reply to everything in an attempt to prove his cleverness and to prove that he is, maybe, just as good as Finny. When he looks back, he realizes that instead of being witty he was being weak, and trying to cover it up. The fact that his future self realizes that helps the reader to see this as well unlike the past version of Gene.
I completely agree with you Ayame. I find it interesting that we were just discussing whether or not you can be jealous of you best friend. Clearly, as tonights reading showed, you can be. Finny and Gene are best friends and it said that on our reading multiple times. I also find your idea of Gene trying to be more clever by using sarcasm to be very accurate. From what I've read, Finny seems to be better than Gene in most categories.
ReplyDeleteZeke I agree with you on the fact that you can be jealous of a friend. It is clearly stated in the first two chapters that Finny and Gene are very contrastive, but best friends. Finny is more street smart and more of the athletic type, and Gene is more book smart, which makes Gene jealous of Finny's abilities. I feel that jealousy leads to the sarcasm of Gene, and Ayame I agree with you on the fact that Gene is trying to be clever when he uses sarcasm. Looking back at the text Finny defiantly of higher quality than Gene.
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