The Leftovers discussion

Throughout the novel, Gene displays many signs of intense jealousy towards Finny that slowly lead to the deterioration of their friendship. Find an example of Gene's jealousy and how it affected Gene and Finney's relationship as best friends.

Well Gene was always very jealous in the way Finny could get away with anything. He also was jealous of his athleticism especially when Finny was able to beat the schools swim record in one try without training. Gene eventually broke, fueled by rage and he was the reason Finny got hurt, by making him loose his balance on the tree branch (60).

Thomas wrote: "Well Gene was always very jealous in the way Finny could get away with anything. He also was jealous of his athleticism especially when Finny was able to beat the schools swim record in one try wit..."

Thomas, you make a good point. Another addition I also wanted to add was that another thing that Gene was jealous of was just how easily Finny's charisma. I believe that this goes into partially how you were saying that Finny could get away with anything. Because of Finny's charisma, he was able to bring people to him, and get them to do things just because he said so.

I think the general notion throughout of Gene constantly fighting his own jealousy and remaining in a sort of denial of it is as clear as you can get. He tries to hide it even from himself by reassuring himself that he is grateful and fortunate to be so close to a person like Finny, but deep down he subconsciously wants it all for himself more bitterly than any of them could imagine. The interesting thing is that while you would expect everything to fall apart between them the second Finny had a decent enough suspicion of Gene’s subconscious malice, Finny initially discredits the notion that Gene initially made him fall, and eventually appears to cling to his idea that “something just seized [Gene]” (191) and made him randomly shake the branch, and Finny seems to make himself believe this with the purpose of keeping alive his and Gene’s true friendship.

Gene was constantly jealous of Phineas and it really made him a very annoying main character. It came to a point where Gene felt that every move Phineas made was to make his life worse. When Gene said, "He had also practically lost it for me," I was so annoyed (Knowles 33). Why is Gene blaming Phineas for the tree incident when Gene willingly got up there. If anything, it's Gene's fault for constantly letting people persuade him into doing things he would ordinarily feel uncomfortable doing.

Michael wrote: "Gene was constantly jealous of Phineas and it really made him a very annoying main character. It came to a point where Gene felt that every move Phineas made was to make his life worse. When Gene s..."

Michael, while I agree with you, I also wanted to note that not all protagonists are likable, especially Gene. Originally I thought that his character seemed relatively decent, he revealed his true colors when he became jealous of Finny. I truly felt disgusted when he went as far as making Finny fall off the tree.

June wrote: "Michael wrote: "Gene was constantly jealous of Phineas and it really made him a very annoying main character. It came to a point where Gene felt that every move Phineas made was to make his life wo..."
What also bothered me was the way Gene joked about the incident with the boys in the Butt Room. It just seems odd for him to say things like "'Come on, reconstruct the crime. There we were at the tree. Then what happened, Sherlock Holmes?'" (Knowles 91). It's very tacky and inappropriate to make jokes about an incident where your friend was permanently injured, especially if you caused said injury. I would feel extremely hurt if I found out somebody who really hurt me was making jokes about it after they apologized for their actions.

Another thing that felt odd to me was how Brinker quickly changed into a more spiteful person. When he was in Gene's dorm, at first it seemed that he was kind and caring. This quickly changes when he says "'I bet you knew all the time Finny wouldn't be back this fall. That's why you picked him for a roommate, right?" (Knowles 88). The tone completely shifts from friendly to tense. Brinker starts interrogating Gene about what really happened on the tree. Brinker is able to see right through Gene's lies.

Michael wrote: "June wrote: "Michael wrote: "Gene was constantly jealous of Phineas and it really made him a very annoying main character. It came to a point where Gene felt that every move Phineas made was to mak..."

Michael, I totally agree. No one should treat their friend like that, especially if you hurt them.

Michael wrote: "Another thing that felt odd to me was how Brinker quickly changed into a more spiteful person. When he was in Gene's dorm, at first it seemed that he was kind and caring. This quickly changes when ..."

I definitely agree, Knowles really did use that to subtly abet the main characters' change during this time.

June wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Well Gene was always very jealous in the way Finny could get away with anything. He also was jealous of his athleticism especially when Finny was able to beat the schools swim record..."

This is exactly accurate. The one nuance though is that Gene did to a degree manage to get himself back into the mindset of being grateful to be so close and pretty much Finny's right hand man.

Michael wrote: "Another thing that felt odd to me was how Brinker quickly changed into a more spiteful person. When he was in Gene's dorm, at first it seemed that he was kind and caring. This quickly changes when ..."
I like how you also included Brinker in this discussion as it is a prime example of crumbling friendships. Initially, Gene and Brinker seem to get along well and are friends however as you said this quickly changed when Brinker purposefully attempts to make Gene feel bad when he kept bringing up the incident on the tree that hurt Finny. I also think Brinker did this for attention as there was other boys in the conversation at the same table. (90)

June wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Well Gene was always very jealous in the way Finny could get away with anything. He also was jealous of his athleticism especially when Finny was able to beat the schools swim record..."
Yes. This charisma as you mentioned is shown on page 25. Finny is able to "hypnotize" the Masters of Devon as said by Gene. Anybody else would have gotten in trouble but not Finny he was able to get out of it because of his personality.