7. Truths about Human Nature

The struggle with self identity:“I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again.” Everyone wants to be their own person, to find themselves. Gene seemed to find himself in Finny. By trying on Finny’s clothes, Gene got a hint of what it felt like to have an identity and not question it.

Jealousy: “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that  a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” It is human nature to be a jealous at some point in time. No one can say they have never been jealous of someone. Jealousy can be an evil thing as seen in this book. It caused something evil to come over Gene and made him jounce the tree limb.

Fear of showing affection: “Exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide. I should have told him then that he was my best friend also and rounded off what he had said. I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth.” Sometimes a fear overcomes a person when it comes to showing affection. For some, admitting that you care for someone is a sign of weakness, especially for the boys at Devon. Others fear the outcome after telling someone how they feel.

 

 

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