Did Gene intentionally jounce the tree limb or was it simply an accident? Use specific evidence from the text to support your answer and make sure to cite the page number. You must say something new. Do not merely repeat what someone else has already said.
11 comments:
I believe that Gene intentionally jounced the tree limb. Over the previous pages before the situation occurred, Gene had convinced himself that Phineas was striving to become better than he. When Gene found out this was not the case, he realized that Phineas was in fact the better person, because he had not done anything, while Gene had been driving himself crazy with rivalry.
Page 59 says that: "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."
Gene couldn't stand the fact that he had been working so hard, when Phineas was simply being himself, and for that reason Gene grew bitter and wanted Phineas to somehow pay for what Gene had done to himself.
I am conflicted on this topic. I whole-heartedly believed, when I read the book at first, that Gene had intentionally jounced the branch to cause Phineas to lose his balance. There is a plethora of evidence throughout the book to support that Gene actually jounced the branch on purpose. Now I read page 59 and 60 and then thought about if I could apply it to my own life. All literature is written by human beings and therefore there must have been a reason to write it. In every piece of literature in the world, you can apply it to your life at least once throughout the writing. When I get together with my friends and we do stupid things like roll down hills in boxes, fight each other with boxing gloves, or just actually jump off of trees; there is a playful swagger with which you have to go about these things to make them seem like they are acts that only a sane person would commit. I know that I might have jounced the limb while some of my friends were on it just to get a rise out of them. Friends fool around like that all the time and always will until they mature and realize the stupidity of their actions. You also have to take into account the effection that Gene constantly felt towards Phineas. Gene idolized him and really would have no reason to restrict him to the lmitations of someone who is handicapped with a broken leg. Then you ask yourself: Well it says clearly in the book that Gene is jealous and therfore it must have been purposeful. Now I nor nobody except the writer can validate the possibility that Gene intentionally jounced the limb to hurt Phineas, however now that I have talked about the alternatives to malicious intent on Gene's part, I must be fair and list the reasons that it would have occured under other circumstances not so innocent. On Page 59 Gene says: " I couldn't stand this". Gene obviously was losing an emotional and mental battle with himself concerning his jealousy of Phineas. Earlier on Page 59 he speaks about his mind exploring all the new dimensions of his isolation. He also followed it up by saying : "Any fear I had ever had of the tree was nothing beside this". So if you see that and disect it well you can notice that it was not the tree that alone plagued his consciousness. He felt alone, paled in comparison to Phineas's accomplishments and the person he was becoming. So it would be very believable to say that the incident was on purpose . One last thing, all throughout the earlier pages of the book where the tree had been mentioned, Gene spoke of fearing the tree. Now a person who is scared will sometime subconsciously act without thinking of another safety to preserver his or her own life. So you must take into account that the whole thing may not have only been an accident as a result of horseplay, but also just an attempt to save his own hide in the form of a natural bodily reflex
Using personl experience, I will side Intentional. Reason? Natural Human nature to dominate. It is a subconscience urge to be the top dog and have that sense of superiority over someone or something. Gene feels inferior to Finny because he is such a natural athlete. He tries to convince himself they are equal. He says,"We are equal in enmity... You hate that he broke that swimming record...he hated your getting an A in every course but one..." Now he has just filled that desire to dominate half way. He still does not have superiority over Finny. He then says," While Finny was a great athlete I was an exceptional student... when everything was thrown into the scales in the end they would definitely lean toward me." Words mean nothing without physical evidence behind them. Gene seeks a more tangible means to feel superior. This is why he jounces the limb. He hopes that Finny will fall and become crippled and leave him to be both the superior student and athlete. The feeling of fear that leaves him is substituted now by a feeling of superiority. This makes Gene appear both weak, and cunning. The weakness is shown by his giving in to the urge to dominate by any means possible. The cunning is shown by his use of the means he is given to fulfill this urge. It is almost admirable, in the most cynical sense of the word.
Unlike my peers, I believe that Gene joucing the limb was accidental. Yes, there is ample information that says that he meant to, but when examined carefully, you can see the truth. You may argue that Gene was mad at Phineas, but Gene had lost his frustration to indifferency. Gene shows his apathy with the statement, "I would have listlessly agreed to anything." (Ch. 4, pg. 59) Also, you need to consider is that Phineas had asked him to join him on the limb so they could jump at the same time. Here, you must realize that this is a branch that has been described as "slender" (Ch.1, pg. 17). A slender branch doesn't seem to be a good branch for two teenage boys to both be standing on. Remember that Gene is scared of the jump. Now, combining those ideas, we have set the scene for the facts. Gene states, "I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jouced the limb." (Ch. 4, pg. 59-60) When you're balancing on something, such as a limb, you don't want to lock your legs or you will fall. So instinctively, Gene's knees bent. Also, note the way he states that his knees bent, not that he bent his knees. This simple way of stating things gives me the feeling that this was something he did not think consciously about. Everything else begun with "I" as the subject but not that. That small detail, along with my other inferences, leads me to believe that Gene acted on a subconscious instinct, not an impulse.
I don't think you can look at this question and answer it based on personal situations because you cannot relate to the exact relationship between Finny and Gene. There are small points already mentioned that are a good defense for either side. My opinion, though, was never strictly intentional or accidental. Yes, Gene had started thinking Finny was trying to ruin what he was good at (academics), but you must recall the discovery made just before they went out to the tree. On pages 57 and 58 Finny tries to get Gene to go jump from the tree, but Gene becomes angry (thinking Finny is sabotaging his studying)and says he'll go but makes it clear he's not happy. Finny stops him and tells him to stay and study. He encourages him to do what it takes to excel in what he's good at (academics). Because of this, it is hard to think he was doing that much sabotaging and I believe Gene became aware of this. Finny makes it clear that no matter how much he studies he will never break a C. Then he follows talking about what he would do if his brain was like Gene's. This could hint that Finny is jealous in return (which should relieve Gene), but you must remember that Finny is very secure with himself. A good example of that was him saying he was 5'8'' and a half instead of 5'9''. He has simply accepted that Gene is better scholastically. This could have triggered more envy on Gene's part because he is unable to do that because of his insecurities. When you leave on that thought you are lead to believe Gene must have jousted the limb purposefully. Throughout the book, though, Gene expresses how much he loves Finny. I believe he truely does, and that they are best friends. However, with Gene being so insecure with himself, it was hard for him to truely bond or be as close to Finny as best friends could be. With that interference, their friendship wasn't as strong as it could be which allowed Gene's jealousy to dominate their relationship. With that said, it is not that Gene jousting the limb to knock Finny off was a deliberate plan, but more of an instinct. He instinctively acted on his negative feelings which, at the time, were over-powering the positive ones. He may not have been fully aware of what he was doing at the time. He definately couldn't have been thinking of the full consequence too. That is why he is so surprised to hear that Finny will never be doing sports again (ch. 5 pg. 63). Because of this, i don't think you can say it was intentional. Just based on Gene's feelings, though, it is hard to say it had to be an accident. It was just him acting on instinct.
I believe that when Gene jounced the limb it was a mixture of intentional and unintentional. When he jounced the limb I think that it was obvious that it was him doing the action on purpose, but at the same time he wasn't completely aware of his actions. In the back of his mind somewhere I believe he wanted to prove that Phineas wasn't as amazing as he was. When he fell he described it as it being the first clumsy thing he had ever seen Phineas do which made him normal and not as perfect as he seemed to make himself out to be. I don't believe that he intended to hurt Phineas but prove to everyone else and himself that he was susceptible to what everyone else was. When he fell and Gene jumped saying that he had lost all fear, I think it meant that he had lost all fear that Phineas was indeed better than him having proved it wrong.
I think Gene jouncing the limb was both intention and accident depending on how its interpreted. They were best friends, and both thought of each other as equals, this indicates that it was nothing more than a playful gesture gone wrong. Likewise Gene was jealous of Finny and over time his feeling of jealousy grew slightly into hatred , which shows that this was an intentional move. Then again if you think about both of them you understand that Gene jounced the limb purposely but he didn't mean Finny any harm.
I believe that subconsciously, Gene meant to jounce the tree limb. He had come to realize that he believed Phineas was so much better than him. He couldn't stand that, as on page 51, when it says "He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there was never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn't stand this."
As they were approaching the tree, Gene seemed as if he was so fixated on Phineas and the "rivalry", or lack of rivalry as he then saw it. "Phineas began talking in wild French, to give me a little extra practice. I said nothing, my mind exploring the new dimensions of isolation around me", "None of this mattered now; I would have listlessly agreed to anything" both also on page 51.
To me, he seemed as if he was so zoned out that he could have potentially not been aware of his knees. He could have been uncomfortable from trying to balance, as other students have stated, but I don't think that was it. It's a possibility, but since he was so obviously paranoid of Finny, he had decided to cause him harm because he had then realized he felt he was so much better than him.
You don't know what he was thinking when he jounced the limb. It simply stated ".. and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb." (p. 52)
It's impossible to tell, but I believe that since he used so much "sarcasm" to hide his feelings, and since he was so jealous of Phineas, he had some real issues with himself. I don't feel that he even knows what he did, and he's too scared to remember it long enough to find out. Nobody wants to know that they hurt their best friend so badly, and the results of that injury caused their death. I think that Gene blocked out that part of his mind, and he was kind of lost in thought the whole time of the jump. I think that the whole thing about him being lost in thought, almost, was stated because Gene refuses to admit what happened.
My point is, why would you block something like that out of your mind if you didn't believe you were guilty? I think that Gene believes he was guilty, and so he doesn't want to tell anyone what really happened, and he didn't. I think that if he really didn't do it intentionally, and if he really thought of Finny as his best friend, he would have defended himself. The only two options that make sense for me are that he either did it intentionally and won't directly say it, or he deeply believes that he did it, and he tried to repress those thoughts.
Either way, I believe that Gene thinks he intentionally did it, or he at least believes he did.
Throughout the novel there are several clues that are misleading, thus making it hard to
determine rather or not Gene had any intent to harm Phineas. I personally must say that I believe
Gene's actions may have been intentional. Going along with what Brooke said, Gene did not say
"I bent my knees" but rather "my knees bent". This could show that the action was accidental,
but he follows this by saying "I jounced the limb" not "and the limb jounced". Also if you skim
through the novel you will find that in several places Gene finds it hard to talk about the incident.
Take the scene in the butt room for instance, while confronted by Brinker and the other boys in
the room, Gene finds it hard to say that he purposely caused Finny any harm. This could be seen
as a form of uneasiness or guilt towards the situation. Also, another statement that is
misleading is the on page 60 when Gene says that all of his fear he had ever had was gone and he
went ahead and jumped. The question is why didn't Gene hurry done to Finny rather take the
time to walk out onto the limb and jump. Gene's calm attitude after Finny falls shows that
possibly he had intended to jounce the limb.
I believe that Gene jouncing the limb was accidental, although the text would seem to suggest otherwise. Yes, it was made quite clear that Gene felt inferior to Finny, but it also clear that Gene has security issues. Gene was harboring very strong emotions, but I do not believe that his jealousy toward Finny should be mistaken for hatred so fierce that it would drive him to the point of purposefully causing Finny bodily harm.
In pg. 51, in Finny and Gene's previous dialogue before the jump, Gene comes to the conclusion that Finny was not in fact sabotaging his studies.
As Finny and Gene made their way to the tree, Finny began to talk in "wild French" to give Gene practice, Gene then states
"I said nothing, my mind exploring the new dimensions of isolation around me. Any fear i had for the tree was nothing beside this."
Obviously Gene was engrossed in thought, sheltering himself from the world around him, causing him to "listlessly agree to anything."
We know that Gene despite how many times he performed the jumping ritual still had a fear of the tree. So perhaps when Finny suggests they do the double jump, which due to the branches slenderness make the task even more dangerous. Gene's fear combined with his confused emotions causes him to act in a clumsy manner, which jounces the limb.
The guilt Gene feels afterward is not because he intentionally caused the accident, but perhaps it was because he was unable to stop it. Later on in the book we find that Gene tries to confess to Finny, which obviously implies his efforts to salvage their friendship, and his genuine affections toward Finny.
I believe that the incident was both accidental and intentional. Gene was intentional in the aspect that he wanted Finny to fall, although it was accidental because he was not intending for him to be harmed.
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