Pages 40-60, Question 3 Julia Burnett

On pages 52-54, how does Gene’s view of their relationship change? (Be sure to explain his usage of enmity). What does he think of it? How do you know this? Why does he feel this way? Do you think it is accurate? Why or why not?

After Gene learns that Finny is jealous of his success in academics, he looks at their relationship as a competition more than a friendship, attempting to decide who is the loser and who is the winner based on academic and athletic achievement. No longer is he trying to catch up to Finny in the competition that is their current friendship, but now he believes that Finny’s jealousy condones his own, saying “You are even in enmity. You are coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone.” (Knowles 53). This newfound knowledge about Finny provided comfort for Gene, allowing him to admit, “You did hate him for breaking that school swimming record,” and giving him the courage to change his target focus, working to excel in academics and earn the title of valedictorian (Knowles 53). As the chapter continues, readers discover that Gene is looking at his relationship with Finny as war, explaining, “while he was a very poor student I was a pretty good athlete, and when everything was thrown into the scales they would in the end tilt definitely toward me. The new attacks of studying were his emergency measures to save himself. I redoubled my efforts.” (Knowles 55). This competition has driven him to a hatred of Finny, however Gene expressed his emotional struggle with the status of their relationship and of the current status of the world, saying, “It was hard to remember in the heady and sensual clarity of these mornings; I forgot whom I hated and who hated me. I wanted to break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promise, or because these mornings were full of beauty for me, because I knew of too much hate to be contained in a world like this.” (Knowles 55). John Knowles, the author of the book, used Gene and Finny’s relationship to describe the world at that point in their boyhood, a world filled with war between nations, uncertainty of what will come next and hatred of those different or of those who dare to disagree. According to Gene’s description of their relationship, Finny and him are at war, , as he fears what will become of their relationship due to grades and athletic prizes causing him to develop a hatred for Finny, although it is hard to continue as they get along so well. Gene’s relationship with Finny has become a reflection on the world around them, one filled with turmoil, hatred, uncertainty and war.