4.) What is guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can someone live guilt free?
Guilt is a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. It gives rise to a feeling which does not go away easily. Guilt is a feeling which everyone goes through in life. There is an emotional side of everyone's character. Everyone shows guilt, this is shown in chapter 5. "I never forgot, and that evening I put on his cordovan shoes, his pants, and i looked for and finally found his pink shirt, neatly laundered in a drawer" (Knowels 62). In this part of the chapter Gene is trying to comfort himself by wearing Finny's clothes. Guilt is starting to take over his emotions. All he is doing is trying to coverup everything he did. It is not possible for one to live a life free of guilt. Everyone is going to make mistakes in life and are going to regret some of those mistakes.
I agree with you Jordan, that guilt is something that you feed badly about, and that everyone needs it. You said that every one will make mistakes in life, and I totally support that, but what kind of guilt has Finney had? Has he even had guilt so far in this novel? Gene is so jealous of Finney that he bounces him over the edge, and that is what Gene feels guilty about. So jealousy also has to do with guilt because it leads up to an action with leads to guilt sometimes. Guilt and jealousy could be connected in some way.
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