Briefly explain Gene’s visit to the infirmary. How does Finny act? Why? Does this feel “realistic”? How does Gene’s visit impact Finny?
Gene is informed one morning that Phineas is better, something he had been dreading because if Phineas’s condition has improved, that means Gene must confront Finny and he believes Phineas knows what really happened. As Gene finds out Phineas will only be able to walk once more, but never again play sports, he becomes immediately distressed as he knows it was his fault, and for the first time Gene displays genuine concern for Phineas’s safety and future, the first time he has worried about Phineas since the fall or something other than others discovering it was him or how he himself was dealing with the accident. From the moment Gene enters the infirmary, he feels nervous, even stating he felt like he would black out. Phineas acts completely normal and friendly, as he does not believe it was Gene’s fault for his accident, or that Gene had anything to do with his fall. But Phineas does notice Gene’s nervousness to confront Phineas, stating that Gene looks even worse that he does.
Starting in the infirmary scene, Gene begins to show what appears to be true concern for Phineas. From here, Gene pushes Phineas to tell him what really happened on the tree in his opinion, which Phineas responds to very casually, as if he knows his future is uncertain and he will not be able to play sports, but has accepted that, and is not letting that be a burden to him. He tells Gene “I just fell, something jiggled and I fell over. I remember I turned around and looked at you, and it was like I had all the time in the world. I thought I could reach out and get hold of you” (Knowles 65). But Gene, still paranoid about Phineas’s intentions after all that has happened, flinches and exclaims that he was trying to get a hold of him to drag him down too while it was only to save himself from falling, but this time they were not as successful as when Phineas saved Gene. Phineas also admits that he had a nagging feeling or suspicion of what was really the truth, but is too noble to accuse a friend based only on a feeling, stating he must have been delirious to convince himself he was wrong, only further showing how good of a person he is, even apologizing for ever accusing Gene. This makes Gene feel guilty as Phineas’s accusations were true and he knows almost for certain that Phineas never meant them any harm and that they were never competitors, and that the whole accident had been his fault for nothing but anger about something that never happened. After this realization Gene decides he must tell Phineas the truth, as that is what Phineas would have done to him. But right before he gets it out, the doctor returns and he loses his chance. I feel that this visit is realistic as even though Gene shook the branch on purpose, he does feel terrible about it as his anger that caused the shake was over nothing. This is what this scene illustrates, as he feels so guilty as it was intentional and his fault, which is shown through his nervous aura, yet he realizes he made a mistake and regrets it more than anything, shown as he is frantically demanding how Phineas got hurt and he feels so bad he is willing to tell Phineas the truth about the accident and risk their friendship. This whole scene is kept realistic however, by showing that Gene has not all of a sudden turned into an angel, but still has some of his former anger and paranoia as when Phineas mentions he attempted to grab a hold onto Gene, Gene believes momentarily that it was to drag him down with him, while it only to save himself from falling, showing that Gene still refuses to completely accept that he was wrong as that would be, in Gene’s mind, a defeat under Phineas.
JJ Ma
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