How old is finny and gene

He has a talent for engaging others with his spontaneity and sheer joy of living, and, while he frequently gets into trouble, he has the ability to talk his way out of almost any predicament. According to Gene, he is rare among human beings in that he never perceives anyone as an enemy, and never strives to defeat others.

His fatal flaw is that he assumes that everyone is like him—that everyone shares his enthusiastic and good-natured spirit. Read an in-depth analysis of Finny. A classmate of Gene and Finny. Leper is a mild, gentle boy from Vermont who adores nature and engages in peaceful, outdoor-oriented hobbies, like cross-country skiing.

A charismatic class politician with an inclination for orderliness and organization. Brinker is very straight-laced and conservative. He has complete confidence in his own abilities and has a tendency to carry his ideas through with startling efficiency—at times even ruthlessness. Manifesting a mindset opposite to that of Finny, who delights in innocent anarchy, Brinker believes in justice and order and goes to great lengths to discover the truth when he feels that it is being hidden from him.

Read an in-depth analysis of Brinker Hadley. The manager of the crew team. In his own defense, Gene hides his resentment and lets his seemingly justified anger burn within him while he single-mindedly pursues his goal to become the best student and so show up Finny. But Gene's sudden recognition that Finny does not want him to fail proves even more devastating. If Finny is simply being Finny in his free, careless ways, then Gene has lost the meaning of his resentment, the energy that has been fueling his drive to succeed despite his enemy's plotting.

Gene's anger and bitterness toward his friend make sense only if Finny is really a lying, manipulating enemy bent on destroying Gene. And Gene's quest for academic excellence makes sense only as means of showing up Finny. The realization that Finny is not acting as a rival or an enemy, but simply as himself, makes Gene feel insignificant. Like a child who discovers he is not the center of the universe, Gene rages at the insult.

On the limb, beside his friend, Gene acts instinctively, unconsciously, and expresses his anger physically by jouncing the limb, causing Finny to fall. The physical release of emotional tension suddenly frees Gene, and he jumps effortlessly, without fear, as he never could before.

With the destruction of the threat, Gene's view of the world, and of himself, is restored. The child's self-image of himself as the center of the world is recreated. Significantly, in describing his actions on the limb, Gene insists not that he bent his knees, but that his knees bent, as if his body were not under his control.

Again, Gene takes shelter in a childish, self-centered defense. I did not do it, Gene seems to be saying, my knees did it. A fall and a tree sharply recall the story of Eden, the Fall of Man, and with it the end of innocence. With Finny's fall, Gene recognizes in himself what Leper condemns as "the savage underneath," the tragic flaw Finny more kindly refers to as "a blind instinct.

Gene knows what he did, and he knows that he is guilty. For the first time, Gene's sense of right and wrong comes not from bells or exams or masters, but from his own shocked soul. Up until now, his gaze has fastened upon one person at a time.

Here, his homoerotic eye surveys a group. His gaze shifts from Finny to Brinker, as a substitute for Finny, and finally rests on an anonymous group that represents multiple objects of desire. The transition from gazing at a single person at a time to a collective group illustrates the beginnings of acceptance of his homo- erotic desires.

In looking at several men, rather than just one, Gene indulges his homoerotic gazing. In watching the anonymous soldiers, Gene is also implying that his acute awareness of male bodies is not limited to his friends. Instead, Gene is illustrating that his homoerotic gaze and desires are universal to the male form and not a coming-of-age curiosity with boys he already has a strong friendship with. Here, however, Gene provides. This verbalization, nonetheless, is only found when he is not in the homosocial environment of Devon.

Finny makes his faltering proclamation at the beach. He concedes to Gene:. Not only is Finny able to verbalize his emotions for Gene here, but he also points to the selective nature of their bond.

This declaration is very close to ideas of monogamous relationships suggesting an exclusive partnership between the two. I started to; I nearly did. But some- thing held me back. Gene admits that he wanted to affirm his longing, but also there was something forbidding that prevents him from doing so. Gene recognizes the homosexual love for Finny, but he panics and cannot express his feelings for Finny. While Gene has a hard time verbalizing his feelings and, at times, inwardly admitting his feelings toward Phineas, he does acknowledge that he has some fondness for Phineas.

Gene is equally aware of the animosity between himself and Finny. Gene thinks that Finny is trying to sabotage his grades and begins to resent him. Despite his intermittent recognition of his desire for Finny, Gene never acts on it. He is sadly aware of his inability to express these feeling, when Finny falls for the second time. Gene, however, is not participating in the activities because the intensity of his relationship with Phineas leads him to suppress his urges, lest homosexual panic consume him.

Gene still cannot outwardly express his desires, but he is able to covertly and enigmatically act on his longing for Finny. This seemingly innocent act later evolves to become a form of sexual displacement.

They are the only two to jump from the tree, which Finny acknowledges as a bond they now share. The eroticism between these two characters immediately intensifies as they begin to wrestle.