Gene is a character that, at first, was one that I could relate to in the ways that he always followed the rules and wasn’t the best at sports. This basically defines him as a geek or nerd or basically anyone who cares way too much about school and the rules to get out there and have fun. This is where Finny comes in, and with that, Gene’s jealousy and means to follow under peer pressure appear. All of a sudden, Gene’s competitiveness comes on top of the surface and begins to reveal his true colors. This is where I began to dislike Gene as a character because not only was he letting his insecurities rule over his friendship, but he was helplessly hurting himself along the way. Gene feels a need to show up Finny and get a chance in the spotlight, but jouncing the tree and subconsciously making him fall isn’t the way to go about it. I feel as if Gene needs to take a breather, do some yoga, or go take a hike. He needs to be one with himself and get out of the mindset that Finny is everything holy, because Finny has just as many problems as him.

Speaking of Finny, he had to be one of my favorite characters in the beginning because of his keen and manipulative ways of getting himself out of trouble. He’s the kid everyone wants to be because he carries a sense of control and confidence about him, even when he doesn’t know what he’s doing. However, when things don’t go the way he planned he goes through this mindset where he tells himself that all of this is unreal and it never happened. For example, Finny didn’t want to believe that Gene made him fall off the tree so he threatens Gene when he tries to justify it. Also, his impaired leg doesn’t allow him to be involved in sports or more importantly in the war, so Finny simply disregards the fact that the war is even going on, and continues to focus on how everyone else is living under a lie presented by big fat guys who sit around and eat steak. Finny might be a bit more psychotic than Gene, but either way… these boys worry too much about their own insecurities to focus about the things that they could improve on.