The boys at Devon are in a very competitve environment, specifically with regard to sports and academics? In what ways does this environment help the students thrive, and in what ways does it impact them negatively?
The Positive and Negative Effects of Competition (Leandrew, Tony, Allison, David, Javier)
The boys at Devon are in a very competitve environment, specifically with regard to sports and academics? In what ways does this environment help the students thrive, and in what ways does it impact them negatively?
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An environment that involves competition can affect students in a positive way. For example, when a group of friends plays the same sport or are in the same academic class, the competitor inside of you will want to get the best grade and be the best athlete of the group. It will push that group to the limits of their abilities. There is also a negative affect that comes with this competition. In my opinion, people can take their competitive natures to far. For instance, a person can be jealous, and might want to sabotage another just so they can do better. For example, Gene gets upset that Finny didn’t get in trouble for wearing the school tie as a belt. Since Gene is not as superior as Finny in lots of different ways, he sometimes is rooting for him to fail. But in my opinion, competition mostly brings out the best in people.
ReplyDeleteYes, competition can push us to work harder. In fact, in many ways our society and economy are based upon competition. That said, I like your comment that competition can lead to jealousy. We will see if Finny brings out the best in Gene, or if it brings out the worst in him.
DeleteI also agree that competition brings out the best and the worst in people. In the book so far it brings out the worst of Gene specifically. I think you used a great example, this scene brings out the worst so far in Gene because Gene starts to become very jealous of Finny because Finny is so likeable and is always getting away with everything and Gene is just there to watch. Even though Finny is so likeable and athletic Gene has the brains and is extremely good at academics. Good job!
DeleteI agree with you that competition can push us to work harder because both Phineas and Gene feel jealous of each other, because one is popular and athletic and the other one is a good student and everyone wants to be better than the other.
DeleteI agree david,jelousy is a negative point and it can hinder some students progress.
DeleteA competitive environment can impact a student both negatively and positively. In the case of Gene his competition with Finny mostly impacts him negatively as seen in the quote on page 17, paragraph 2, "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?' 'Jump!" This is negative because Gene obviously does not want to jump but he feels like he has to in order to prove that he's brave enough and doesn’t want Finny to be braver then him.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that competition can push us do things we might not feel comfortable doing. So, in what ways can conpetition be good? Do you think Gene's desire to not be seen as weak might get him into trouble as the story develops?
DeleteI agree with all of your points about competition. It is also showed in the beginning of chapter three, when Gene isn't grateful that Finny saved him from falling of the tree. Instead of being thankful he is upset that Finny pressured him into jumping of the tree, even though he didn't need too.
DeleteAnother example of competition in chapter three is, on page 38 paragraph 5. "Knock him down,' Finny yelled at me.' Knock him down! What are you crazy? He's on my team!' 'There aren't any teams in blitzball,' said Finny as he disentangled us." This quote relates to the war that is going on because in the war it's every man for himself and the rules are made up as you go along just like in blitzball. I choose this quote because it really stock out to me because of it relates to the war in so many ways. The way that Finny tells Gene to "Knock him down" reminds me of how in the war if someone is approaching you your first instinct is that they are bad and so you shoot in order to defend yourself and that's exactly what Gene did by knocking Bobby down.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Alison, I think this quote really shows competition because when the said that Everyone is by them selves and there were no teams that could cause many problems with their friendship because everyone want to be the winner.
ReplyDeleteA competitive atmosphere has its good in affecting the students. With evevybody being competitve, they all strive to get ahead one another. This way everyone will strive to be on top in academics and in sports. In a more general view, competiton allows us to beat out our competitors in every way possible. An example would be in economics , how every person creates the next big thing, but a company will create their product to be more advanced than their competitors. This allows our society to move foward.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, competition is affecting Gene both positively and negatively. Gene is being pushed to succeed in the academic world, but for the wrong reasons. For instance, to try to be Finney’s equal. In chapter 4, Gene has failed a trigonometry test because he was out at the beach with Finny all night. When Gene shows Finny that he is upset about what happened, Finny just says that Gene doesn’t have to worry about grades since he is so smart. The problem is, Gene thinks academics are his ticket to being an equal to Finny in the competitive world. This is shown on page 51-52, when Gene says, “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all.”
ReplyDeleteAn example of competition is on page 59, paragraph 2, "Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn't stand this." This quote is spoken by Gene and basically what he is saying is that he's sick of being jealous of Finny. Gene came to realize that he could never compete with Finny and that there could never be a rivalry because Gene was not of the same quality as Finny.
ReplyDeletean would be when finny asks gene why he studys and he says that hes pprobaly going for some title. gene takes this as a serious manner and studies harder, in order to compete with finnys athleticism, he strengthen his academics
ReplyDeleteYet another example of how competition negatively affects Gene is showed on pg. 65, when Gene says, “To drag me down too!” He says this while Gene and Finny are talking about what happened when Gene fell of the tree. Finny said that he thought Gene would be there to save him from the fall, but he wasn’t in sight. Therefore, this quote shows that Gene is so worked up over competition, making him think that Finny is trying to bring him down with him even though Finny is a genuinely great guy.
ReplyDeleteanother example of competition is when they play blitzball. they all show competition because the rule is that everyone is against eachother. they play the game and it becomes ahit in the school. it shows that students like the head on rules of the game and shows their competitive spirit.
ReplyDeleteAs the book is progressing, Gene is realizing how big a deal hurting Finny was. The guilt is starting to get to him, but he is also less competitive now, since he has no big rival. Therefore, Gene stops playing sports and applies for assistant senior crew manager. While applying, he gets into a fight with the manager, and shows that he really does care for Finny, and that he took his competitive nature to far. He said, “I fought that battle, that first skirmish of a long campaign, for Finny.” This could prove to be a turning point for Gene, since from now on he will probably take competition more positively than before, because of what he did to Finny, and what the outcome was of that incident.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the Chapter, " I lost part of myself top him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." This is when Gene is on the phone with Finny and Finny tells him that he has to play sports because Finny can't but Gene says, “I’m too busy for sports" because he feels guilt for being the reason why Finny can't play sports because negative competition got the best of him.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the reason Gene doesn't want to continue playing sports is because he has guilt for what he did to Finny. So, instead Gene quits sports and tries to get the assistant crew manager's job.
DeleteThroughout all of this competition there has got to be some end to it all and I believe that’s a little of what we start to see in chapter 7. On the last paragraph of page 100, Gene says, "To enlist. To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shed everything down to my last bit of clothing, to break the pattern of my life... I yearned to take giant military shears to it, snap!" This quote is one of the most powerful one throughout this chapter because this is when Gene decides that he wants to go off to war and he want to forget about or leave the past behind and just go to war and start fresh. This is when Gene realizes that he can go away and do he’s own thing without Finny, not having to worry about his competition with him.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 7, Brinker explains to gene that he wants to enlist in the army. Gene explains why the thought of joining the army excites him. i see this as a sign of competition because he would like to forget his old lifestyle and begin a new one in the war
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gene sees some sort of competition involved with enlisting, but I think the main reason he wants to enlist in the army is to help him forget what he did to Finny. Enlisting will make him think that by putting his life in danger, that will replace the pain he caused to Finny, Since he can no longer do what he loves, sports.
DeleteIn chapter 9, Leper enlists to join the army. I think he does this because of the competition at Devon. It has finally gotten to him, so he'd rather go off and start over. Joining the army would let Leper be himself and also see the world, even if it involves violence.
ReplyDeleteis this really in the book #caught
DeleteThere many examples of competition in chapter 9. One would be leper and his decision to join the army. He was influenced by documentary of ski troppers, and he concluded that the war is a test for him. He enlist because of his thought of this being a test, even though it is the opposite of his characterization. Another obvious one would be the Winter Carnival orchasrtated by finny.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 10, the competition of war drives Leper to run away. War isn't what he expected to be like (Having a fun time skiing). Instead he starts to hallucinate because he can't take it. Since Leper is no longer mentally stable, the army is giving him a section eight discharge. So, Leper runs away from the war before he can't get the discharge or else he won't be able to be successful in life because of it. For example get a good job.
ReplyDeletecompetition in war drives Leper to run away. the war is not what he believe is suppose to be. he cant just go into ski troops, he has to go through bootcamp.leper later starts to hallucinate , this is probalby due to the fact that war is the opposite of his mji characteristics and nature. because of his mental instability, the army has given leper a section eight discharge
ReplyDeleteAs the book comes close to an end, Finny still doesn't know the truth about what happened during the fall. Brinker tries to solve this problem once and for all by trying to collect evidence from Finny, Gene, and Leper. The problem is, Finny doesn't want to know what really happened because of how close he and Gene have always been. Gene feels bad for what he did, and he is only trying to support Finny with everything he does. So when Brinker tries to make Gene look like the bad guy, Finny can take it and he runs away.
ReplyDeleteWhen Finny dies, Gene feels responsible for his death. He feels this way because it was his fault that Finny couldn't enlist in the war because of the accident. This shows that Gene truly does care about Finny and he realizes that he took his competitive nature way to far.
ReplyDeleteAs the book concludes, Finny has died and Gene goes out to war. In my opinion, Gene enlisting shows that he cares for Finny, and it also shows that he knows that he took his competitive instincts to far. Finny always wanted to go to war, even though he broke his leg. So, Gene is carrying on Finny's spirits with him by enlisting into the war. Also, this shows some of the guilt that Gene is feeling for pushing Finny of the tree.
ReplyDelete