“I did not know everything there was to know about myself, and knew that I did not know it.”
This sums up what every teenager feels and that includes the boys at Devon. At the school, the boys must create an identity for themselves. For Gene, he has trouble finding who he is and decides to attach himself to Finny, a confident athlete with a strong personality. But Finny has his own share of trouble. When he breaks his leg, everything he made for himself no longer matters. All the time he placed in sports is gone and he cannot even enlist in the war, a war he’d been preparing for throughout school. As for Gene, being wrapped up in Finny, he searches for his identity within Finny. Yet, when Finny is injured, Gene is lost once more in who he is. Everyone experiences this identity crisis, searching for who they are, and most of the boys at Devon center their search around the war. Leper enlists despite the war being against everything he’s known to be, quiet and laid back. As well, Brinker enlists into the Coast Guard, utilizing his political skills without being forced onto the front lines for certain death. Still, their positions are relatable as I know as a teenager it’s tough to create yourself with so many choices along the way that form you.
What is his identity then? How would you “classify” him as a person? boze
At the end of the novel, it seems that Gene is still lost and that he joins the service simply because it’s the obvious choice. One thing Gene is though is a thinker. This hurts and helps him, but it’s something he’s realized throughout school. He thinks through every action, including the actions of others and their motives. Often though, he confuses the actions of others as harmful when they’re truly innocuous.