But there are many times when they turned on each other, which makes them human.
Gene and Finny are such good friends because they are able to tell each other things they wouldn't regularly tell anyone else and
are true with one another. When Gene says, " I jounced the limb. I caused it. shows Gene's honesty to Finny by telling him that he is the real
reason that he fell out of that tree and broke his leg (Knowles p.62)". This shows Gene's honesty to Finny by telling him that he is the real
reason that he fell out of that tree and broke his leg. This shows that Gene is trying to be a good friend by telling Finny the truth and maybe is
seeking repentance for his sin against Finny. Another part where we see honesty between Gene and Finny is when Finny asks Gene if it was
some blind impulse that made him jounce the the limb and not any hate towards him and Gene replies and says, " It was just some ignorance
inside me, some crazy thing inside me, something blind, that's all it was.(p.183)" This also shows honesty because it shows Gene replying
truthfully and not trying to lie his way out of it by telling Finny the real reason he jounced that limb. These events show the honesty these two
friends had with each other.
Just like any other friendship's Gene and Finny had some disagreements with one another, for example, " holding firmly to the
trunk, i took a step toward him, and then bent my knees and jounced i jounced the limb.(p.52)" This is the first disagreement between Gene and
Finny, in which Gene causes Finny to lose his balance and fall out of a tree and break his led. This even shows that Gene got pissed of at Finny
for some reason and took action. The second disagreement is when Finny is nagging on Gene to go with him to the super suicide society and
gene gets pissed off,'" Oh, for God sake." I slammed the book shut. "whats the matter?" What a performance! His face was completely
questioning and candid. "Studying!" I snarled. (p.49)' This shows another disagreement between the two friends in which it's not a perfect one.
These events show that not all friendships are perfect and I know from experience there is no such thing as a perfect friendship because friends
have fights all the time.
In Gene and Finny's friendship there was also alot of motivation, for example, when Finny tells Gene, " I know. We kid around alot
and everything, but you have to be serious sometime, about something, i mean if there's nobody, or hardly anybody, who's as good as you are,
then you've got to be serious about that. (p.50)" This shows Finny motivating Gene that if he is really good at something then he should take it
seriously and not slack off. This is the same with lots of friends who motivate their friends to take things they're really good at seriouly, which is
the same with parents who are their childrens best friend. In Gene and Finny's relationship their motivation comes from wanting to be better than
each other, for example, when Gene is contemplating about the reason he failed his trignometery test and thinks to himself,"That way he,the
great athlete, would be ahead of me. it was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was enmity.(p.44)" This shows motivativation through
competivness. Motivation also seems to be the reason for the major arguments, such as the tree incident. Gene and Finny's relationship relates
to that of regular friends because lots of friends compete against each other to be better than one another and sometimes that a good thing.
In friendship's, friends tend to watch out for each other, for example, during the trial that Brinker set up to try to make Gene admit
that he shook the limb causing Finny to lose balance, Finny tries to get then to back off Gene, " How do you expect him to remember?(p.162)."
Here Finny answers a question intended for Gene, which shows Finny backing up Gene just like all friends do with each other, for example,
gangs. Another example, is when Gene sneaks in through the window into the nurses office to see Finny, " Then he recognized me and i thought
at first he was going to get out of bed and help me through the window.(p.176)" This shows Gene attempting to sneak in through the window in
the nurses office to see how Finny was doing. This is something a friend might do like at a hospital by sneaking in after visiting hours to see
someone.
Gene and Finny's relationship lasts so long because of forgiveness because there are so many times where Gene and Finny
could have stopped being friends but didn't because they were able to settle their differences and remain best friends, for example, when Gene
forgives Finny for making him fail his trignometery test. We dont really see this happen in the story, just that it fades out of Gene's mind after a
while. In life, friends go through many ordeals and it might be with one another or life, but one thing they can depend on is each other. The
importance of friendship is trust. We all need someone to trust and care for and they care back because when the world gets tuff thats who you
turn to. Just like Finny when he broke his leg he turned to Gene for help and comfort because Finny isn't the type to just sit there doin nothing and
it was hard for him. So maybe what John Knowles is implying is that there ain't such thing as best friend's for life.
