ASP essay

Is Gene a Savage or a Good Boy Underneath?

Are human beings born good, or are they born bad? That is a question that may never be answered. Humans have the ability to be both, just like they have the ability to be happy or sad. similar to a movie with villians and heroes, two forces clash against each other. In the movies, good usually triumps over evil, but in reality, that is not always the case. No one person is truly bad or truly good, and everybody sins. most of the time, the good shows more than the bad, and sometimes vice versa. This makes a person seem more good than bad, or, in Gene Forrester’s case, more bad than good. Mistakes are a part of life, and one impulsive act can change a life forever. Gene makes mistakes, but he has real love for Finny.
According to Leper Lepellier, Gene was a savage underneath. “‘...always were a savage underneath’” (145). Leper, who was mentally insane at this point, saw the bad in Gene. He brought up a sensitive topic: Phineas’ accident. This caused Gene to snap and tip his chair. Gene wasn’t a savage for tipping Leper’s chair, he was just an overwhelmed teenage boy who couldn’t control his guilt. Gene felt guilty for hurting Finny, which proves that he was not a savage; he just lacked self-control. Leper did not take that into consideration, but his mother did.
Gene infers Mrs. Lepellier’s thoughts, and guesses her opinion of him. He believes she was thinking: “‘He’s a good boy underneath,’ she must have thought, ‘a terrible temper, no self-control, but he’s sorry, and he is a good boy underneath’” (146). Here, Gene is evaluating himself, as if he’s seeing himself through her eyes. He describes himself perfectly, and is perfectly fine with accepting his faults for the first time in the book.
Throughout the story, Gene puts himself first. He wanted to be noticed, a reason why he
wanted to be valedictorian. Like Finny said: “Nobody at Devon has ever been surer of graduating than you are. You aren’t working for that. You want to be head of the class, valedictorian, so you can make a speech on Graduation Day... and be the boy wonder of the school” (51). He wanted to be the best, and that is why he hurt Finny. All people have ambitions and hopes; Gene just hoped more intensely than most people. Gene jounced the limb of the tree and let Finny fall out Like all humans, Gene shows his worse sides at times.
Gene’s problem was his extreme envy. It made him act without thinking, and he ended up forever crippling his friend. His intention was not to so seriously hurt his best friend, but to get rid of the source of his envy so that he didn’t feel that way anymore. However, he went about it the wrong way. He let his jealousy take over his instincts instead of trying to sort things out within himself. When Gene realized that Phineas was never his rival, his envy took over him, much like anger would. “He had never been jealous of me for a second... I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn’t stand this” (59). When Phineas was ready to take a double jump, Gene let him fall alone. Everybody goes too far, and they are usually found out.
Brinker was extremely suspicious of Gene since Finny’s accident. Brinker confronted Gene several times during the course of the book, only to be met with anger or longwinded stories. Gene lied, and this is especially noticable when he and Finny were brought to the trial by Brinker. “‘Or on the rungs!’ I burst out. ‘I said I might have been on the rungs!’” (172) Lying to save himself does not make him a bad person. Once again, it was something he did without thinking. Gene has intense emotions that he couldn’t control well as a teenager. When he feels jealous, something inside him that he can’t control seeks to end the feeling. When he is guilty, like he was when Leper brought up Finny, the same thing seeks to end it. Like everyone else, his first instinct is to save himself.
Gene saw Finny as his friend and as someone he wanted to be. This is obvious after Gene visited Leper and needed comfort. Gene’s first thoughts were, “I wanted to see Phineas, and
Phineas only” (152). Hurting him wasn’t something he wanted to do, and not something he would have done if he had been able to gain control over his actions. After Phineas came back, Gene awarded himself the role of his guardian, doing anything Finny asked. It was a childish way to compensate for his thoughtless actions, but it was the only thing he could think to do. He stayed with Finny and helped him, and got closer to him through the pain he had inflicted upon him. Finny wanted to keep Gene close because he thought that if he could, he could forget that Gene had ever hurt him, and Gene was just as willing to forget the same thing. He cared about his friend a lot. No savage could care about a friend the way Gene did.
Unlike Gene, Phineas was an obviously good person. Gene admits that it wasn’t hate for Finny that caused Gene to make him fall, and Finny replies: “’I believe you. It’s okay because I understand and I believe you. You’ve already shown me and I believe you’” (191). Phineas is a good judge of character, and he knows Gene inside and out. He believes and forgives Gene when he confesses and apologizes after Finny’s second break. If Gene was never sorry, if Gene was bitter with him, or happy that Finny was hurt, Finny would have noticed and not have believed him.
One of the easiest ways to see that Gene is a good person is after Finny’s passing. Dr. Stanpole comes to speak with him after simply setting the second break to Finny’s leg. “He was incomprehensible. I felt an extremely cold chill along my back and neck, that was all. Dr. Stanpole went on talking incomprehensibly” (193). Shock is his intial reaction to being told of Finny’s death. He felt so much shock that he didn’t know what to do. His brain was barely functioning after being told that Finny’s heart had stopped. Not only that, but during his funeral, Gene feels something else. “I did not cry then or ever about Finny... I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.” (194) Gene thought of Finny’s death as his own. A part of Gene died along with Finny; the enemy he was trying to conquer. In place of his old self grew the Phineas-like qualities he had always wanted.
Gene goes off to be in the navy, and grew up changed, like he wanted to. He became better than he was in high school, and he was happy about it. Inside of his soul, Gene was a good person. Gene makes mistakes, but he has real love for Finny.