The Dark Side of Human Nature (Marc, Keneth, Farrah, Daniel, Jared, Jacob)
What are the "dark" sides of human, and how are they revealed in the novel? In what ways do the characters in A Separate Peace reveal character traits and instincts we all share, but might not like to admit?
The "dark" sides of human that are seen in this novel is horror and suffering. Horror is shown by Gene. He is scared of the things that Finny does. Even though Gene has jump off the tree many time he still has the fear and he cant say no to jumping off the tree because he will be yelled at by Finny. Also he doesn't like what Finny does because it could get them into a lot of trouble. For example when Finny talks his way out of trouble when Mr. Prud’homme goes to there dorm to teach them discipline Finny gets him and Gene out of trouble. another "darkness" is suffering. Gene threw out the book suffers from the thought of going to war, and constant competition and jeously that Gene has for Finny. throughout the book Gene is Jealous of Finny because he is good at everything and has all the friends. this is a trait that most people wont admit but it is true about most of use.
I like that you have identified horror and suffering as dark sides of human nature. These elements will certainly develop as the story progresses, but have we seen them in the first two chapters? What details are you thinking of? Try to provide examples and page numbers.
In the book so far the two boys have shown many diffferent dark sides of themselves. One darkness shown was Genes envy towards Finney. He has this envy because Finney can escape from any type of trouble by just talking to the teachers. Another dark side of a person is fear. Gene expressed fear when thinking from jumping from the tree but then Finney asked if he was scard to jump and he denied fear of jumping from the tree.
I agree that we have seen Gene be very jealous. Does this make him a dark person, or just human? Also, what aspects of Finny's personality would you describe as dark?
Gene's jealosy makes him a drak person because his jealousy made him want to harm his best friend, which is wrong. Jealously is alright to have because it is human nature, as long as it does not bring you to harm someone else.
Humans have many tragic flaws, such as jealousy, wrath. These tragic flaws or dark sides of human nature are expressed by Gene in the novel. In A Separate Peace, Gene shows jealousy over Finny's ability to be a great athlete, and ability to get out of any situation. Gene shows that he is jealous of Finny when he says, "No one else in the school could have done so without some risk of having it torn from his back." (pg. 25) Gene wishes that he could be like Finny, and have no one care that he wears a pink shirt because everyone likes him. Moreover, Gene's jealousy makes him happy that Finny is gouing to get in trouble. Gene says, "This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that." (pg. 27)
Do Gene's feelings make him a bad person, or just a really honest person? It seems as though Finny is a bit too perfect. Are there any dark sides to his nature.
Genes feelings make him a disloyal freind because he was actually happy that Finny was going to get in trouble. If he is going to be jealous, he should not be jealous to this extent, where his best freind, Finny, is gooing to get harmed in some way. At the moment, Finny seems like a character that has no bad intetnions, or dark sids/ tragic flaws. He is character that is similiar to Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird.
An example of the dark side of human nature in A Separate Peace could be when Gene says on Page 28, bottom paragraph, “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment.” When Gene says this he is revealing his character. He reveals that he is jealous of Phineas’s superiority over him. He wants to see Phineas fail in some way so he can see that he isn’t some perfect human being with no issues in life. This evil, Jealousy…Envy. Is what causes friendships and even relationships to fail horribly. People envy what others have, but once they accept that they aren’t that and can’t obtain that which they envy, they are no longer bothered by it. If Gene continues to envy Phineas in the next few chapters Gene may do something that scars they’re relationship…Forever.
In the book so far I think Gene has showed his dark side, by showing his jealousy towards Finny. Finny is a good student and likes the Devon school, but hes Continuously breaking the rules and He doesn't get in trouble. Gene wants Finny to get in trouble, and every time Finny gets in trouble he always finds a way out. "This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that."(pg.27) Even when Finny disrespects the school by wearing the Devon tie as a belt, he still manages to find an excuse.
Along with the dark side of human nature, there comes a brighter side. We see this in chapter 3, specifically on page 40. "He was my roommate and my best friend." We, as readers, and as humans, naturally tend to look for flaws deep within a person, as seen in Gene's subtle envy for Phineas. Because of this, we often miss admirable traits on the surface, like how most of us are ignoring one of Gene's best traits. As my fellow readers tend to be looking at Gene's covetous views of Phineas, I see him as a strong willed person who does not let this jealousy get in the way of their friendship. Although it may seem that what I'm saying is the opposite of our theme, and while it is slightly off topic, I believe it is important that we note the positive characteristics of Gene as well as the Dark Side of the Force.
I agree that Gene has positive characteristics, and that the Star Wars allusion also applies to Gene's personality in ways such as his envy towards Finny.
At the end of chapter three, on page 48, Gene does not tell Finny that he is his best friend because he knows that there is something keeping their friendship apart. Gene says, "I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth" (p. 48) This shows a dark side of Gene because it shows that his envy and wrath towards Finny is keeping their friendship apart. Finny does not know that Gene has these deep feelings, so he believes that him and Gene are best friends. However, deep down, Gene's dark side keeps this friendship from becoming whole.
At the end of chapter 3 Gene shows his true feelings about finny." you can not come by yourself, and at this teen age period in life the proper person is your best pal. said Finny he hesitated and then added "which is what you are" and there was silence on his dune." this just shwos that the two boys are starting to separate. Gene wants to separate but he cant because then he will have no freinds. Gene has been thinking about there relationship often.
In chapter 4 Gene and Finny become closer friends but also rivals. Gene is good at academics and Finny is good at sports. but this doesn't faze there relationship. they still hang out and Finny respects Genes studying. "i didn't know you needed to study he said simply i didn't think you ever did i thought it just came to you." Finny realizes that Finny has to work hard to be good at academics and his skill just come naturally.
A dark side of human nartue shown in this chapter was on page 48 when Gene was waking up to a gray dark sunrise and he said the waves where all gray, the sky was gray and it seemed the entire world was gray. this is showing darkness because it seems the world has turned bad after sleeping
In Chapter 4, a dark side of Gene is shown when he "accidentally" makes Finny fall off the tree. Gene does this be because his anger towards Finny finally goes over the top. Gene's jealousy over Finny's ability to get people to like him and his athleticism finally makes Gene hurt Finny. Gene then shows another dark side of human nature when he lies about what happens. Gene lies, and tells Finny that his knees bent, which make it seem like be did it accidentally. However, if Gene were to tell the truth, he would say, "I bent my knees," which means that he purposefully harmed Finny.
In chapter 5, Gene yet again shows a dark side when he lied about the accident. Gene lies to Finny, and he tells him that he tried to grab Finny when he was falling out of the tree, but he was moving too fast. Finny showed that he did not trust Gene, when he said that Gene might have purposefully pushed him out of the tree, but Finny immediately took this back. Later on in the chapter, Gene's conscious finally got to him, and he showed a good side of human nature by telling Finny the truth. This is when Finny shows his first real dark side because he gets furious over Gene's actions during the summer. Although, Finny did have some justification for becoming angry.
In Chapter 4 we see one of the most blatant examples of the dark side of human nature. Towards the end of the chapter, Gene lets his jealousy overcome him and maliciously makes Finny fall off the branch. From the similarity to the story of Cain and Abel, I beleive Gene will suffer major consequences just as Cain did.
In chapter 6, a dark side of Gene is shown when he shows wrath towards Cliff Quackenbush. Gene and Cliff get in a fight because Cliff was bullying Gene. Although Gene had justification for being mad, he could have handled his anger in a better way than fighting. Later on in the chapter, Gene gets yelled at by Mr. Ludsbury for taking advantage of the summer substitute and engaging in illegal activities, such as going to the beach and playing poker. This shows Gene's dark side because he was caught for doing things that he wasn't supposed to be doing. Moreover, he was caught lying about it.
In chapter 5 you can clearly see Genes dark side. Gene lies about the accident to Finnys face. Gene asks Finny what he remembers and Finny says that he remembers reaching his hand out to Gene to catch him from falling but Gene recoiled his arm and let him fall. Finny then says that Gene might of shook the limb but then apologizes for even thinking it. eventually Gene can not stand the guilt and tells Finny but finny doesn't believe him. this shows that Gene is "human". will Finny accept the fact that his best friend did this to him or will there friendship end?
in chapter 6 you can see how Gene is trying to fill Finnys shoes when Gene applies for a higher position in crew. Cliff Quakenbush has other ideas though. he gets in a fight with Gene and tells him to never come back. Gene is having a tough time without Finny around. he is sick of school, gets pick on in crew, and gets in trouble for the bad things they did over the summer session. if Finny was there he would talk his way out of it. Gene is feeling the impact of hurting his best friend.
in chapter 7 Gene is tired of School and Brinker and Gene talk about enlisting in the army. Gene wants to start over and forget about what happened. He thinks going to the army will solve his problem's. Gene trys to forget about what happened but he cant. by enlist in the army Gene is trying to run away from his problems. The day he is going to sign up Finny shows up in his room.
In chapter 7, Gene shows a dark side of human nature by being lazy, and giving up. Gene decides that he is going to give up on fixing his life at Devon by signing up for the military. Gene says, "I think I had been waiting for a long time for someone to say this so that I could entertain these decisive words myself." (pg. 100) What Gene means by this is that he couldn't wait for someone to say that they wed going to enlist and give up, so that he could say that he would enlist and give up himself. By deciding to enlist, Gene has decided to give up on fixing his life with Finny, Devon, and his regrets. Moreover, he has decided to give up on "What I Owed Devon," which was their greatest athlete, Finny.
in chapter 8 Finny comes back and convinces Gene to not go to war. Finny thinks war was made by fat, rich, old men to keep young people in their place. later in the chapter Finny starts to train Gene to become an olympic athlete. Gene agrees with this because he owes Finny this because he took away Finnys ability to play sports. i was surprise to see that Finny want to be friends with Gene after what he did to him.
In Chapter 8, Gene actually participates in sports under Finny's guidance, and Gene tutors Finny in academics. Gene's dark side of jealousy towards Finny seems to be ridden of, and his guilt seems to be put behind him. The cooperation of Finny and Gene bring much progress towards Gene's athletic ability, and Gene's smarts.
I agree that Gene seems to be losing jealousy for Finny, but Brinker isn't helping Gene to forget the past by continually accusing him of injuring Finny.
this either means that Finny forgave him or that Finny wont accept the fact that Gene did it purposefully. i think Gene is going along with it (Becoming olimpian) because he has to make up for what he did. witch one do you think is the reason why Finny is being so nice to Gene?
In chapter 9, a dark side of human nature is shown when the boys drink underaged at the carnival. Moreover, many of the boys got drunk off the hard cider, and started carousing around school. At the end of the chapter, the boys have found that Leper has gone psycho in the war, after getting a telegraph from him. This shows what the dark side of war can do to people.
In chapter 10, a dark side of human nature is shown, when the inner savage of Leper is released. All of us have a savage kept away deep inside of us, and most people can hide this with their will power. However, given the right circumstances, the savage can be let out. This is the case with Leper, when he becomes insane. The circumstance of him at war was enough to release the inner savage.
In chapter 10, Leper brings up an important topic on human nature. More specifically, he says that all of us have a savage inside. This statement reminds me of the Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes also believed that all people were naturally cruel and selfish. To some extent, I agree with this statement. All people have certain cruel, "savage" thoughts. What separates people is their ability to control these cruel impulses.
In Chapter 5, page 62, in the second paragraph, Gene says to himself "I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to wipe every thought, to forget where I was, and even who I was." This was the chapter after Gene had knocked Finny out of the tree. I believe this specific excerpt is significant to the story because it shows that Gene regrets what he did to Finny, and still has good in him.
In Chapter 6, on page 79, Gene and Cliff Quackenbush (captain of the crew team) have a brawl, and they both end up in the water. Although this is an act representing the dark side of human nature, I believe the war also played a role in this fight. I believe so because all of the older boys at Devon are distraught about getting drafted, and an argument as small as such can lead to a fight. Also, Gene said that he fought for Finny, but by saying that he was just try to justify to himself what he did to Finny.
"You knew all the time. I'll bet it was all your doing.", said Brinker Hadley on page 88 of chapter 7. Brinker, for the first time subtly accusing Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. There was a hint of sarcasm, but there was also a definite sliver of truth in Brinker's mind. Brinker thought that Gene had injured Finny just so that he could have the room all ti himself. In this scene, you see a dark side of human nature in Brinker, accusing Gene of something he has significantly inefficient evidence against. Although Gene tries to play it off, from this point on I as a reader can sense that Brinker will not just drop it.
Yet again, in chapter 8 (p.106), Brinker discreetly accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. "your little plot didn't work so well after all." This time, Brinker is clearly serious. So far in the story, Brinker is the only one to see the dark side of Gene's personality. Gene's jealousy and lust for Finny seems to be disappearing, but Brinker keeps bringing back a subject that Gene is trying hard to forget about.
"What deceived me was my happiness" says Gene on page 123 of chapter 9. Even after shattering Finny's leg, Gene does not seem to feel an ounce of guilt. This is a whole new level of dark for Finny, not only crippling Finny, but then afterwards not feeling any sort of remorse. To me it doesn't even sound human, and shows that although Gene does not seem to be as envious of Finny as before, he is showing his dark side of human nature to a more exaggerated extent.
Chapter 13, page 203: "My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever." This quote is very significant to the end of the story. Although it's a little late, Gene has finally let go all the envy, hatred, and fury built up inside him. This is significant because one of the main themes, and also a major contributor to the plot was Gene's dark human nature. I don't think the book could have ended (well) without some sort of closure on that topic.
The "dark" sides of human that are seen in this novel is horror and suffering. Horror is shown by Gene. He is scared of the things that Finny does. Even though Gene has jump off the tree many time he still has the fear and he cant say no to jumping off the tree because he will be yelled at by Finny. Also he doesn't like what Finny does because it could get them into a lot of trouble. For example when Finny talks his way out of trouble when Mr. Prud’homme goes to there dorm to teach them discipline Finny gets him and Gene out of trouble. another "darkness" is suffering. Gene threw out the book suffers from the thought of going to war, and constant competition and jeously that Gene has for Finny. throughout the book Gene is Jealous of Finny because he is good at everything and has all the friends. this is a trait that most people wont admit but it is true about most of use.
ReplyDeleteI like that you have identified horror and suffering as dark sides of human nature. These elements will certainly develop as the story progresses, but have we seen them in the first two chapters? What details are you thinking of? Try to provide examples and page numbers.
DeleteIn the book so far the two boys have shown many diffferent dark sides of themselves. One darkness shown was Genes envy towards Finney. He has this envy because Finney can escape from any type of trouble by just talking to the teachers. Another dark side of a person is fear. Gene expressed fear when thinking from jumping from the tree but then Finney asked if he was scard to jump and he denied fear of jumping from the tree.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we have seen Gene be very jealous. Does this make him a dark person, or just human? Also, what aspects of Finny's personality would you describe as dark?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGene's jealosy makes him a drak person because his jealousy made him want to harm his best friend, which is wrong. Jealously is alright to have because it is human nature, as long as it does not bring you to harm someone else.
DeleteHumans have many tragic flaws, such as jealousy, wrath. These tragic flaws or dark sides of human nature are expressed by Gene in the novel. In A Separate Peace, Gene shows jealousy over Finny's ability to be a great athlete, and ability to get out of any situation. Gene shows that he is jealous of Finny when he says, "No one else in the school could have done so without some risk of having it torn from his back." (pg. 25) Gene wishes that he could be like Finny, and have no one care that he wears a pink shirt because everyone likes him. Moreover, Gene's jealousy makes him happy that Finny is gouing to get in trouble. Gene says, "This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that." (pg. 27)
ReplyDeleteDo Gene's feelings make him a bad person, or just a really honest person? It seems as though Finny is a bit too perfect. Are there any dark sides to his nature.
DeleteGenes feelings make him a disloyal freind because he was actually happy that Finny was going to get in trouble. If he is going to be jealous, he should not be jealous to this extent, where his best freind, Finny, is gooing to get harmed in some way. At the moment, Finny seems like a character that has no bad intetnions, or dark sids/ tragic flaws. He is character that is similiar to Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird.
DeleteAn example of the dark side of human nature in A Separate Peace could be when Gene says on Page 28, bottom paragraph, “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment.” When Gene says this he is revealing his character. He reveals that he is jealous of Phineas’s superiority over him. He wants to see Phineas fail in some way so he can see that he isn’t some perfect human being with no issues in life. This evil, Jealousy…Envy. Is what causes friendships and even relationships to fail horribly. People envy what others have, but once they accept that they aren’t that and can’t obtain that which they envy, they are no longer bothered by it. If Gene continues to envy Phineas in the next few chapters Gene may do something that scars they’re relationship…Forever.
ReplyDeleteIn the book so far I think Gene has showed his dark side, by showing his jealousy towards Finny. Finny is a good student and likes the Devon school, but hes Continuously breaking the rules and He doesn't get in trouble. Gene wants Finny to get in trouble, and every time Finny gets in trouble he always finds a way out. "This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that."(pg.27) Even when Finny disrespects the school by wearing the Devon tie as a belt, he still manages to find an excuse.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the dark side of human nature, there comes a brighter side. We see this in chapter 3, specifically on page 40. "He was my roommate and my best friend." We, as readers, and as humans, naturally tend to look for flaws deep within a person, as seen in Gene's subtle envy for Phineas. Because of this, we often miss admirable traits on the surface, like how most of us are ignoring one of Gene's best traits. As my fellow readers tend to be looking at Gene's covetous views of Phineas, I see him as a strong willed person who does not let this jealousy get in the way of their friendship. Although it may seem that what I'm saying is the opposite of our theme, and while it is slightly off topic, I believe it is important that we note the positive characteristics of Gene as well as the Dark Side of the Force.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gene has positive characteristics, and that the Star Wars allusion also applies to Gene's personality in ways such as his envy towards Finny.
DeleteAt the end of chapter three, on page 48, Gene does not tell Finny that he is his best friend because he knows that there is something keeping their friendship apart. Gene says, "I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth" (p. 48) This shows a dark side of Gene because it shows that his envy and wrath towards Finny is keeping their friendship apart. Finny does not know that Gene has these deep feelings, so he believes that him and Gene are best friends. However, deep down, Gene's dark side keeps this friendship from becoming whole.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of chapter 3 Gene shows his true feelings about finny." you can not come by yourself, and at this teen age period in life the proper person is your best pal. said Finny he hesitated and then added "which is what you are" and there was silence on his dune." this just shwos that the two boys are starting to separate. Gene wants to separate but he cant because then he will have no freinds. Gene has been thinking about there relationship often.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4 Gene and Finny become closer friends but also rivals. Gene is good at academics and Finny is good at sports. but this doesn't faze there relationship. they still hang out and Finny respects Genes studying. "i didn't know you needed to study he said simply i didn't think you ever did i thought it just came to you." Finny realizes that Finny has to work hard to be good at academics and his skill just come naturally.
ReplyDeleteA dark side of human nartue shown in this chapter was on page 48 when Gene was waking up to a gray dark sunrise and he said the waves where all gray, the sky was gray and it seemed the entire world was gray. this is showing darkness because it seems the world has turned bad after sleeping
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHow does this represent Gene's nature?
DeleteIn Chapter 4, a dark side of Gene is shown when he "accidentally" makes Finny fall off the tree. Gene does this be because his anger towards Finny finally goes over the top. Gene's jealousy over Finny's ability to get people to like him and his athleticism finally makes Gene hurt Finny. Gene then shows another dark side of human nature when he lies about what happens. Gene lies, and tells Finny that his knees bent, which make it seem like be did it accidentally. However, if Gene were to tell the truth, he would say, "I bent my knees," which means that he purposefully harmed Finny.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, Gene yet again shows a dark side when he lied about the accident. Gene lies to Finny, and he tells him that he tried to grab Finny when he was falling out of the tree, but he was moving too fast. Finny showed that he did not trust Gene, when he said that Gene might have purposefully pushed him out of the tree, but Finny immediately took this back. Later on in the chapter, Gene's conscious finally got to him, and he showed a good side of human nature by telling Finny the truth. This is when Finny shows his first real dark side because he gets furious over Gene's actions during the summer. Although, Finny did have some justification for becoming angry.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 4 we see one of the most blatant examples of the dark side of human nature. Towards the end of the chapter, Gene lets his jealousy overcome him and maliciously makes Finny fall off the branch. From the similarity to the story of Cain and Abel, I beleive Gene will suffer major consequences just as Cain did.
ReplyDeletetest
DeleteIn chapter 6, a dark side of Gene is shown when he shows wrath towards Cliff Quackenbush. Gene and Cliff get in a fight because Cliff was bullying Gene. Although Gene had justification for being mad, he could have handled his anger in a better way than fighting. Later on in the chapter, Gene gets yelled at by Mr. Ludsbury for taking advantage of the summer substitute and engaging in illegal activities, such as going to the beach and playing poker. This shows Gene's dark side because he was caught for doing things that he wasn't supposed to be doing. Moreover, he was caught lying about it.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5 you can clearly see Genes dark side. Gene lies about the accident to Finnys face. Gene asks Finny what he remembers and Finny says that he remembers reaching his hand out to Gene to catch him from falling but Gene recoiled his arm and let him fall. Finny then says that Gene might of shook the limb but then apologizes for even thinking it. eventually Gene can not stand the guilt and tells Finny but finny doesn't believe him. this shows that Gene is "human". will Finny accept the fact that his best friend did this to him or will there friendship end?
ReplyDeletein chapter 6 you can see how Gene is trying to fill Finnys shoes when Gene applies for a higher position in crew. Cliff Quakenbush has other ideas though. he gets in a fight with Gene and tells him to never come back. Gene is having a tough time without Finny around. he is sick of school, gets pick on in crew, and gets in trouble for the bad things they did over the summer session. if Finny was there he would talk his way out of it. Gene is feeling the impact of hurting his best friend.
ReplyDeletein chapter 7 Gene is tired of School and Brinker and Gene talk about enlisting in the army. Gene wants to start over and forget about what happened. He thinks going to the army will solve his problem's. Gene trys to forget about what happened but he cant. by enlist in the army Gene is trying to run away from his problems. The day he is going to sign up Finny shows up in his room.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Finny will change his opinion?
DeleteIn chapter 7, Gene shows a dark side of human nature by being lazy, and giving up. Gene decides that he is going to give up on fixing his life at Devon by signing up for the military. Gene says, "I think I had been waiting for a long time for someone to say this so that I could entertain these decisive words myself." (pg. 100) What Gene means by this is that he couldn't wait for someone to say that they wed going to enlist and give up, so that he could say that he would enlist and give up himself. By deciding to enlist, Gene has decided to give up on fixing his life with Finny, Devon, and his regrets. Moreover, he has decided to give up on "What I Owed Devon," which was their greatest athlete, Finny.
ReplyDeletein chapter 8 Finny comes back and convinces Gene to not go to war. Finny thinks war was made by fat, rich, old men to keep young people in their place. later in the chapter Finny starts to train Gene to become an olympic athlete. Gene agrees with this because he owes Finny this because he took away Finnys ability to play sports. i was surprise to see that Finny want to be friends with Gene after what he did to him.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that Gene was able to help Finny, and have Finny help him because Gene has to live with the guilt of taking away Finny's athleticism.
DeleteIn Chapter 8, Gene actually participates in sports under Finny's guidance, and Gene tutors Finny in academics. Gene's dark side of jealousy towards Finny seems to be ridden of, and his guilt seems to be put behind him. The cooperation of Finny and Gene bring much progress towards Gene's athletic ability, and Gene's smarts.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gene seems to be losing jealousy for Finny, but Brinker isn't helping Gene to forget the past by continually accusing him of injuring Finny.
Deletethis either means that Finny forgave him or that Finny wont accept the fact that Gene did it purposefully. i think Gene is going along with it (Becoming olimpian) because he has to make up for what he did. witch one do you think is the reason why Finny is being so nice to Gene?
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9, a dark side of human nature is shown when the boys drink underaged at the carnival. Moreover, many of the boys got drunk off the hard cider, and started carousing around school. At the end of the chapter, the boys have found that Leper has gone psycho in the war, after getting a telegraph from him. This shows what the dark side of war can do to people.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 10, a dark side of human nature is shown, when the inner savage of Leper is released. All of us have a savage kept away deep inside of us, and most people can hide this with their will power. However, given the right circumstances, the savage can be let out. This is the case with Leper, when he becomes insane. The circumstance of him at war was enough to release the inner savage.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 10, Leper brings up an important topic on human nature. More specifically, he says that all of us have a savage inside. This statement reminds me of the Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes also believed that all people were naturally cruel and selfish. To some extent, I agree with this statement. All people have certain cruel, "savage" thoughts. What separates people is their ability to control these cruel impulses.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 5, page 62, in the second paragraph, Gene says to himself "I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to wipe every thought, to forget where I was, and even who I was." This was the chapter after Gene had knocked Finny out of the tree. I believe this specific excerpt is significant to the story because it shows that Gene regrets what he did to Finny, and still has good in him.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 6, on page 79, Gene and Cliff Quackenbush (captain of the crew team) have a brawl, and they both end up in the water. Although this is an act representing the dark side of human nature, I believe the war also played a role in this fight. I believe so because all of the older boys at Devon are distraught about getting drafted, and an argument as small as such can lead to a fight. Also, Gene said that he fought for Finny, but by saying that he was just try to justify to himself what he did to Finny.
ReplyDelete"You knew all the time. I'll bet it was all your doing.", said Brinker Hadley on page 88 of chapter 7. Brinker, for the first time subtly accusing Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. There was a hint of sarcasm, but there was also a definite sliver of truth in Brinker's mind. Brinker thought that Gene had injured Finny just so that he could have the room all ti himself. In this scene, you see a dark side of human nature in Brinker, accusing Gene of something he has significantly inefficient evidence against. Although Gene tries to play it off, from this point on I as a reader can sense that Brinker will not just drop it.
ReplyDeleteYet again, in chapter 8 (p.106), Brinker discreetly accuses Gene of knocking Finny out of the tree. "your little plot didn't work so well after all." This time, Brinker is clearly serious. So far in the story, Brinker is the only one to see the dark side of Gene's personality. Gene's jealousy and lust for Finny seems to be disappearing, but Brinker keeps bringing back a subject that Gene is trying hard to forget about.
ReplyDelete"What deceived me was my happiness" says Gene on page 123 of chapter 9. Even after shattering Finny's leg, Gene does not seem to feel an ounce of guilt. This is a whole new level of dark for Finny, not only crippling Finny, but then afterwards not feeling any sort of remorse. To me it doesn't even sound human, and shows that although Gene does not seem to be as envious of Finny as before, he is showing his dark side of human nature to a more exaggerated extent.
ReplyDeleteChapter 13, page 203: "My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever." This quote is very significant to the end of the story. Although it's a little late, Gene has finally let go all the envy, hatred, and fury built up inside him. This is significant because one of the main themes, and also a major contributor to the plot was Gene's dark human nature. I don't think the book could have ended (well) without some sort of closure on that topic.
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