A Seperate Peice Essay Research Paper Gene — страница 7

says his leg will recover enough for him to walk again, but he will no longer be able to play sports. Gene bursts into tears, and the doctor tries to comfort him and tells him he must be strong for Finny. He says Finny asked to see him specifically, and Gene concludes that he must want to accuse him to his face. Gene goes in to see Finny and asks him what happened at the tree. Finny says something made him lose his balance and he looked over to him to see if he could reach him. Gene recoils violently and accuses Finny of wanting to drag him down, too. Finny explains calmly that he just wanted to keep from falling. Gene says that he tried to catch hold of him, but he was gone too fast. Finny tells him he has the same shocked expression now that he did on the tree. Gene asks if he

remembers what made him fall, and Finny hints that he had a vague notion that Gene had caused it, but he refuses to accept this and apologizes for even considering it. Gene realizes that if Finny were in his position, he would tell the truth. He rises quickly and tells Finny he has something terrible to say to him, but just then Dr. Stanpole comes in and sends him away. The next day, the doctor decides Finny is not well enough to receive visitors, and soon after he is taken by ambulance to his home outside Boston. The Summer Session ends and Gene goes home for a month’s vacation. In September, Gene starts for Devon by train and is delayed considerably. He catches a taxi at Boston’s South Station, but instead of taking it to North Station for the last leg of the trip to Devon,

he goes to Finny’s house. He finds Finny propped up before a fireplace with hospital-type pillows. Finny is pleased (although not surprised) to see him and asks what happened to him down south. Gene tells him a humorous story, and then he says that he was thinking about him and his accident on the trip. He tells Finny that he deliberately shook the limb to make him fall. Finny refuses to believe him. Gene realizes he has injured him further with his confession and that he must take it back, but he cannot do it there. Finny says he will be back at school by Thanksgiving. Gene tries to take back his comments by saying he has had a long trip and has not slept much. Finny tells him not to worry about it, and Gene makes an amiable exit. The masters seem particularly affected by

Finny’s tragedy and feel it is especially unfair for someone young who can still enjoy a measure of peace and happiness during the War. Gene feels intense guilt for Finny’s fall, as he believes he shook the branch on purpose. No one shows any suspicion of him, so he does not develop the strength to defend himself from any accusations (including his own). He believes Finny must know that his fall was not accidental, but is just too sick or too noble to tell anyone it was Gene’s fault. Gene is still reeling from the force of his revelation that Finny was never his rival, and he feels that he does not know Finny at all. He does not realize the extent of Finny’s injury or its implications for the rest of his life, and he is crushed when Dr. Stanpole tells him how serious it

is. He goes in to see Finny, still fully expecting him to accuse of him shaking the limb. He feels cornered as he talks to Finny and reacts defensively to everything he says. Finny, in his drugged state, reveals that he remembers the events of the day perfectly and knows enough to suspect the truth, but because he is not sure, he rejects the unfavorable explanation that Gene maliciously shook him off the tree. He actually apologizes for suspecting the truth, and Gene sees that he is making up a new commandment for himself never to accuse a friend of a crime without solid evidence. This contrasts completely with Gene’s unspoken accusation and conviction of Finny as a duplicitous friend before, and he realizes painfully how ludicrous it was for him ever to think Finny suffered

from the same shortcomings that he does. Gene wonders what Finny would do in his situation and decides he would confess everything, and he starts to do exactly that until Dr. Stanpole enters and stops him. As a result of this interruption, the incident does not close for Gene, and he cannot move on with his life. He senses time suspended with the close of the Summer Session, and he feels detached and uninterested at home. He again experiences a loss of agency when he goes to Finny’s house, as he intends to go to North Station but hears himself give Finny’s address instead (this passage is much like the scene on the tree, when Gene says his knees bent instead of saying he bent his knees to jostle the tree). To Gene, Finny’s house seems intimately connected with his