{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"14818767","dateCreated":"1254244720","smartDate":"Sep 29, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"candithomson","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/candithomson","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1202793136\/candithomson-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/thomsonenglish.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/14818767"},"dateDigested":1532287469,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Does Gene act deliberately?","description":"Are Gene's actions in "jiggling the limb" deliberate? Cite information from the novel to support your opinion.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"14882894","body":"I'm sorry, but I don't agree with the people who think that Gene shook the limb by accident. You all said that Gene's knees "bent and I jounced the limb" (52). He seems to be tricking Phineas in believing that he is losing his balance, but after Phineas falls, Gene says "It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make" (52). Gene seems to be mocking Finny's clumsy move. Finally, after the fall, Gene says that "With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten" (52). He doesn't care about Phineas here and becomes ignorant about Phineas's injuries, and keeps going. He doesn't want to be seen as responsible, so he jumps off and doesn't bother to be a Good Samaritan to Phineas.","dateCreated":"1254352534","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"ElisabethSwanson","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/ElisabethSwanson","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14886204","body":"I most certaintly agree with you chloe. Especially for the reason you said you dont think he did it. But I mean Gene makes his personality through his thoughts so envious and jealous it makes all of us believe that he really did indeed do it. Which is why I find it to be both ways because even Gene himself does not truly know what happened on that tree and he is just as confused with himself about if he did do it or not. I just think we will truly know the answer by the end of the book and that is why I am eager to read ahead.","dateCreated":"1254356155","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"swaldschmidt-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/swaldschmidt-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14886572","body":"Dale, your statement has almost convinced me to look at this with two sides. I still think that Gene most likely shook the limb on purpose, but I don't know you're view has made me think it could have been otherwise. It is true that those two statements do have completely different meanings, but I still find that he probably did it on purpose. He may have done it on purpose, but without the intentions to hurt Phineas so badly.","dateCreated":"1254356513","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"filiaggic-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/filiaggic-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14888688","body":"Dale,
\nI disagree with you because Gene did jounce the limb on purpose. You can see that Gene is getting tired of Finny always getting his way and being great at everything he does. I think Gene got to the point where he was so envious of Finny that he even wanted to do better than him in sports. So Gene was thinking if i make Finny fall and he gets hurt then i can be better than him at sports. Also, when Finny looks back at him when he is about to fall off the limb, Gene makes no attempt to save him. Even after Finny falls to the ground Gene still doesn't seem to care so he jumps off the limb as if nothing happened. This shows that Gene did jounce the limb on purpose.","dateCreated":"1254358679","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"jnigro-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/jnigro-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14889060","body":"I agree with Dan's opinion. Even though it may not be conciously, it's still intentional to try and even the playing field. Because Phineas would be injured afterwards, it would give Gene the perfect chance to beat out Finny.","dateCreated":"1254359129","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"cbates-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/cbates-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1254359320\/cbates-htsd-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14890554","body":"Tommy, could it have been that Gene was in complete shock? It continues to say later that Finny saw Gene's face in shock. Another thing that is hard to determine is the timeframe of the situation which can drastically change the views. Did Finny fall, Gene stood in shock for a second then jump into the river as a quicker route to the bottom? These are more questions to ask yourself","dateCreated":"1254360762","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"btruckenbrod-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/btruckenbrod-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14891480","body":"Gene purposefully jounced the limb because he felt extreme guilt after the fall. The guilt builds up until Gene has to go to Finny's house to try to apologize. Gene says that he has to apologize with him but he doesn't know how to bring it up when they are talking at Finny's house. He feels the urge to tell him that his actions were purposeful because of he cannot stand the guilt and he has to express the situation to Phineas. If Gene didn't do this on purpose, he wouldn't feel the extreme guilt that he did.","dateCreated":"1254361952","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"BelloF-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/BelloF-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1256682042\/BelloF-htsd-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14891640","body":"Jonathan,(and sorry if I misspelled your name) I completely agree with what you have say. I think that Gene has so much anger bottled up inside of him, that he finally got enough and this was just his way of showing it. If he didn't purposely push Finny, then why didn't he try to save him as he was falling? This is an excellent point that you bring up. Plus after Finny falls, Gene doesn't even think about going to help him, he just jumps from the tree like usual. It's pretty sad that Gene got so tired of Finny's accomplishments that he would physically hurt him.","dateCreated":"1254362164","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"NatalieHaubach","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/NatalieHaubach","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1252778208\/NatalieHaubach-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14891680","body":"I also agree with Dan. Gene did not have the chance to think before he jounced the limb. The action was subconcious, so it expressed his true feelings because he could not lie without thinking first.","dateCreated":"1254362211","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"BelloF-htsd","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/BelloF-htsd","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1256682042\/BelloF-htsd-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14891956","body":"I personally agree with what tommy was saying about Gene doing it on purpose. It makes sense that Gene was frustrated with Finny about taking his study time. And the way he describes the sound of the thud as Finny hit the ground was so matter-of-factly that it didn't even seem like he cared. Gene jumped into the river anyways, instead of running to Finny's aid. How could that even be perceived as an accident?","dateCreated":"1254362643","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"kellygarrett123","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/kellygarrett123","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"14893742","body":"Benny,
\n
\nI have to say that I do disagree with you. I think that Gene did, in fact, make Finny fall on purpose.Going back to the quote you mentioned, "Holding firmly to the trunk," I think the logical assumption is that Gene was holding on so that he would not fall of when he jiggled the branch. At no other time in the book does it mention Gene holding on the trunk, so there must be a reason why it says so this time.I also think that Gene would hurt a fly. In my opinion, Gene is a psychopath. Also, why would Gene continue to jump into the river if it was an accident? He clearly knew what he was doing because he wasn't suprised when it happened. He just jumped like nothing happened.","dateCreated":"1254365466","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"tmerigliano3098","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/tmerigliano3098","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"15024518","body":"i feel that gene did shake the limb but not on purpose to hurt finny. i think it was a reaction to make him wobble a little and see him out of his comfort zone. evidence of this oin when the book says that genes leg moved not he moved it. also, i feel that gene is too nice to do that to finny. he may be jealous but he's not so jealous as to break his leg and end his whole athletic career.i also think he planned to steady finny but didnt get the chance because he fell.","dateCreated":"1254712148","smartDate":"Oct 4, 2009","userCreated":{"username":"anthonybianco","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/anthonybianco","imageUrl":"https:\/\/ssl.wikicdn.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":44}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}