Finny and Gene have remained the best of friends for at least their entire stay at Devon. They have supported each other, stood up for each other, and most importantly, been there for each other at the most crucial of times. This naturally would indicate that one would deny any wrongdoing of the other. Another point of interest that supports this statement is the fact that Finny has a particular belief that everyone is innately good. With this being the case, Finny would automatically excuse any misconduct on the part of his comrades. Finny’s instinct though, later causes him much pain, both mentally and physically.
Towards the end of the novel, Finny decides to confront Gene about what really happened on the night of the accident. Finny insists that Gene acted on a ‘blind impulse’. Finny makes this statement only because he could not bear to think that his own best friend would dare do such a horrific thing to him. Gene did not act on a ‘blind impulse’, but rather on a premeditated impulse; Gene jounced the limb intentionally, so Finny would fall.
Immediately following the accident, Gene makes an attempt at revealing the truth, although he is unable to, for he is interrupted by Dr. Stanpole before he is able to: “‘I don’t care who I sound like, and you won’t think so when I tell you. This is the worst thing in the world, and I’m sorry and I hate to tell you but I’ve got to tell you.’ But I didn’t tell him. Dr. Stanpole came in before I was able to…” (John Knowles, A Separate Peace, 815). Gene knows that the course of action he took was deliberate, although he knows that Finny would never accuse him of such a thing, for Finny believes that all people are naturally good. “I couldn’t say anything to this sincere, drugged apology for having suspected the truth. He was never going to accuse me” (Knowles 815). Gene unquestionably realizes his guilt, although he is convinced that Finny could never accuse him of committing such an act as he did. “‘It must have been that. I did have this idea, this feeling that when you were standing there beside me, y— I don’t know…’” (Knowles 815). Finny too grasps the reality that the jouncing of the limb was intentional, although he refuses to accept it. Finny’s ‘personal Decalogue’ refuses to allow him to accept the truth, only causing further unnecessary hurt. Some may argue that Gene accidentally disturbed the limb, although Gene’s attempt at a confession clearly illustrates that this is besides the case.
Further on in the novel, Brinker Hadley and a few friends of his decide to investigate Finny’s accident, and to uncover the truth and what really occurred on the limb that day. Brinker decides to call in Leper to hear his interpretation of what actually took place.
“I kept quiet. To myself, however, I made a number of swift, automatic calculations: that Leper was no threat, no one would ever believe Leper; Leper was deranged, he was not of sound mind and if people couldn’t make out their own wills when not in sound mind certainly they couldn’t testify in something like this” (Knowles 877).
During this time, Gene is extremely uneasy, because he knows that Leper is really a smart person, with a photographic memory. Gene knows that Leper will tell the truth, and that makes him uncomfortable because Gene knows that it, in truth, it is his fault that Finny fell out of the tree. Brinker vigorously interrogates Leper, and information is revealed, almost to the point of absolute truth. At this point, Leper realizes that he is being used, and he lets the entire room know this. Leper decides to hide the truth from the world because he knows that Gene is guilty of the crime, and that if he said so, then his testimony would be used against him in the future. During Brinker’s deliberation with Leper, Finny gets up unnoticeably, and announces: “I don’t care!” (Knowles 879). After this, Finny decides to walk out of the auditorium. It is plausible to argue that Finny is just thoroughly annoyed with the consideration of his accident that he is receiving, although he is not walking from any such thing, but rather, Finny is walking away from the truth. Finny is not only physically walking out of the auditorium, from the truth, but he is mentally walking away from the truth as well. He refuses to believe that Gene caused his fall intentionally, for according to Finny, everyone is innately good.
Finny’s venture out of the auditorium, and from the truth, proved to be an immense mistake, for he took a devastating tumble down the flight of stairs just outside of the auditorium. Finny’s leg broke again, and he later died in the operation to reset his bone. This event causes Gene to feel that the death of Finny was his fault, since all of Finny’s problems began with his fall from the tree. Gene knows that he was the cause of that fall, and that if he hadn’t have done that, then he wouldn’t have been in the auditorium investigating the accident in the first place, and thus Finny wouldn’t have run out and fallen down the stairs, bringing about his death. “He [Phineas] possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had” (Knowles 892). Gene did not act on a ‘blind impulse’ when he jounced the limb on which Finny was standing. What Gene did was undoubtedly intentional, and not only does he know that, but Finny knows it as well. When Finny stated that Gene acted on a ‘blind impulse’, he was merely making an excuse for him, as a way of evading the truth for longer, for according to Finny, everyone is innately good.
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