At the end of the chapter, Gene went to visit Finny in attempt to piece together what Gene already knew was a broken friendship. Finny would not allow himself to accept the fact that his best friend Gene made him fall and shattered his dreams of being an athlete. He would not allow himself to believe that all the trust he had put into his best friend was shattered. "I would have to make every move false (p. 71)", Gene tells the reader while trying to get out of the conversation. Gene is now aware of their shattered, hopeless friendship. This seems to be a foreshadow for many lies soon to come. The action Gene made can not be forgiven, and an apology will not fix this. Check out this image of shattered glass. Do you think if it were not for the tree, this friendship would have lasted? Will Gene and Finny ever be able to be good friends again? If you believe good friendships are built on trust, do you think they were great friends in the first place?
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Chapter 5: What is the symbolism of the fact that Finny’s leg was “shattered”?
The word shattered comes with a large amount of imagery. You think shattered glass, shattered dreams, but most importantly, you think of something that can never be put together again. If you've ever seen shattered glass, you know immediately it can never be fixed back to the way it was originally. After Gene jounced the limb and Finny fell off the tree, everything in Gene's life seemed shattered. Shattered is worse than broken; this is because broken can be fixed. Finny's shattered leg symbolizes their shattered friendship. By the end of this reading, we can tell that they are not comfortable in the presence of one another. Gene is afraid to be honest with Finny. Their trust was always broken glass, held together by glue with a few cracks, yet their trust wasn't shattered until Finny fell off the tree.
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I think that this friendship would not have lasted, even if there was no tree. Gene and Finny are constantly competing, and trying to one-up each other. They would have gotten into an argument or had an incident just like this is there was not tree. I also doubt that Gene and Finny will ever be friends again. I really didn't see too much of a friendship before Finny shattered his leg. They were merely friendly competitors. Also, the conversation that they had at Finny's house just pulled them more apart from one another. I feel that Finny is based around honor and trust, and he would never try to hurt his friend. Gene not only broke Finny's leg, but he broke there trust and loyalty for each other.
ReplyDeleteI think that the symbol of Finny's shattered leg means that the friendship is shattered. Just by the way Gene describes shattered, "...broken in one or several places, cleanly or badly..." (pg. 61) sort of describes their friendship. It could quite possibly be broken in one piece, meaning that the friendship will no longer exist. It could also be broken into several pieces meaning that Finny may have less trust in Gene than before or he may not behave the same way around Gene. Lastly, it could be broken up cleanly were they just resolve things but are not friends or the friendship could end badly with them always fighting. Even if it were not for the tree, I still think the friendship would not work out. The first reason why is because deep down, Gene always wants to be "even" or better than Finny. Throughout chapter four, Gene kept subtly referring to being even or equal to Finny. If the two are still friends again, I think the relationship will be broken in several places. Finny will definitely act different around Gene because he knows that sometimes, Gene does not always think before he acts. I do think good friends are built off of trust. I think that Finny is someone who could be trusted but Gene is not. Especially the way the dialogue ends on page 71.
ReplyDelete"'You aren't going to start living by the rules, are you?'
I grinned at him. 'Oh no, I wouldn't do that,' and that was the most false thing, the biggest lie of all."
I agree with what has been said before, I like how Allie points out the difference between a "shatter" and a "break". Finny's leg symbolizes in a way how much their friendship has fallen apart and how it was finally shattered. I believe that the friendship would not have lasted even if Gene had not caused Finny to get into that accident. Their friendship was constantly being strained in different ways and they were slowly growing farther, and farther apart. I believe that this event was the final push the dysfunctional friendship needed to be pushed over the edge and shattered. The way I pictured this friendship in my mind was, I saw a delicate vase and each time some event happened between Gene and Finny I would see the Vase slightly crack, but then when Gene jounced the limb I pictured the vase falling from that limb and landing on the river bank shattered.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Gene and Finny will never be good friends again. I think that their friendship has been strained too much for it to ever work out for them. Their relationship was based off of lies and jealousy. Gene will never be able to accept Finny as a friend and Finny will never be like Gene. They are two completely opposites that tried to make their friendship work for so long, but it didn't work and now they have dug a hole to deep and they can't get out of it.
I believe that good friendships are built on trust and their friendship wasn't. I think that it is very important that friends can trust each other because if not it is hard to feel comfortable around one-another. I don't think they were good friends in the first place because there was always that thought in the back of his mind about how he was jealous of Finny. Over the course of this novel I think that Gene's jealousy was growing and growing and it all just burst out when they were both up in that tree. When they were up there he let his emotions, hatred and jealousy get the best of him and that is the final break that shattered their friendship.