#aplit14readingthework

Writing annotations was far easier than abstracting my crits.

Retrospectively, as I was reading the novel, I didn’t notice many of the themes and motifs Márquez wrote of.  With both general and specific information in mind from my criticism, though, I was able to better understand and analyze the text. Idk it kind of felt like cheating, but it was actually just using the information from my criticisms to aid me in analyzing my 3 passages. There’s only so much inferring/speculating that I can do on my own. When I did infer, it was almost like solving a mystery. I was trying to uncover Márquez’s sentiments, and I was interpreting them in a way I felt was logical.

At the beginning of Chapter 12 Gene is focusing a lot on Finny, which makes sense as he had just broken his leg again. He also confronts Finny in a way and Finny actually blames him for the first time he broke his leg. Maybe he can't deny some of the feelings he has noticed. "'You want to break something else in me! Is that why you're here!'" (184). After this Gene has no sense of self. He thinks that everything around him could show him something but he can't listen. He connects himself fully to Finny as a person. A lot of Finny's problems seem to be a result of the fact that he feels useless. He can't fight in the war or anything. The only thing that has any meaning in his life is his relationship with Gene. He convinces himself of things relating to Gene in order to keep the friendship, "'I think I believe you, I think I can believe that'" (191). They both rely on each other a lot and feel useless outside of the relationship between the two.

When Finny died a lot of Gene dies with him. He says, "I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case" (194). Finny was a part of Gene. Even with the numerous problems between them they were still the most important people to each other.

In chapters nine and ten I could see the juxtaposition between the war and youth that Gene constantly goes through. At first, with Finny, he doesn't care about the war and it seems mostly because Finny does not fear the war like the others do because he won't have to do it. "This was my first but not my last lapse into Finny's vision of peace" (123). Then one of his classmates goes into the war which brings him into the war more. There is then a conflict between the other classmates and Finny with Gene in the middle because the others all think more about the war and joke about it but Finny tries to ignore it. When Leper, the classmate, returns from deserting the war, he immediately shifts Gene in a way because he has to acknowledge the war because that brings it impossibly close to home. "I no longer wanted this to be true, I no longer wanted it to be connected with spies or desertion or anything out of the ordinary. I knew it was going to be, and I no longer wanted it to be" (143). He tries to not acknowledge it now that he has to.

There is a clear shift here from the relaxed summer session to the much more strict regular session. It also starts to mention the war in this section a lot more. It also makes a difference that he is not interacting with Finny in Chapters 6 and 7. He doesn't seem to want to replace Finny by going into sports until Finny tells him to, "'Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me,' and I lost part of myself to him then" (85), and he still sort of seems to want to "combine" with Finny.

In chapter 7, after the contact with Finny, Gene seems very guilty about what happened to Finny and then he does work and the war has more emphasis put on it. I think he is really trying to escape from his problems because he thinks, "To enlist. To slam the door impulsively on the past, to shed everything down to my last bit of clothing, to break the pattern of my life..." (100). He immediately changes his plans when he meets Finny again. His entire life is based around Finny more than anything or anyone else.

Gene seems to center everything Finny does as a part of a rivalry that they have between each other that doesn't necessarily exist. He seems to have to constantly remind himself that he is supposed to be rivals with Finny such as, "It was surprising how well we got along in these weeks. Sometimes I found it hard to remember his treachery..." (55). Why does he try so hard to hate him and see a rivalry that I don't think is there? There doesn't seem to be a point. Nothing good so far has really come from the relationship between the two. He's got some major problems near the end where it states, "With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten" (60). Why does his supposed friend falling lead to him forgetting about his fear? I think that the only thing that affects him really in this situation is Finny.

Why does Gene Forrester have a fear of the stairs and the tree? I really like the quote "Because, unfamiliar with the absence of fear and what that was like, I had not been able to identify its presence" (10). This first chapter really shows peer pressure in what I think is a rather realistic way. There is always the discussion of people essentially "forcing" others into something like drugs but I think that this description of it is much more accurate.

There is also some sort of problem in the relationship between Finny and Gene because he thinks "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?" (17) which is not how a good friendship goes.

The second chapter addresses jealousy a lot. It seems like if these feelings aren't kept in check the friendship between Gene and Finny could easily deteriorate even if Gene keeps trying to justify his thoughts, "I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little" (25). I can see where he's coming from but really, he saves his life so why should you still be jealous?

Chapter 3 addresses the fact that even if Finny saved his life, Gene still felt that it was his fault that he was there in the first place. There is no way that I can see this friendship going well. Something is fearful about the tree for Gene in the future and his "best friend" that is the reason that he goes there all the time he really seems to not like all that much.

Finny doesn't seem like a bad guy. He doesn't brag about beating the record or anything and he saved Gene's life but he also sort of forces Gene to go on the tree. Gene also never really tells him no though so I'm not really sure.

"High Fidelity" has really gotten me to start thinking about the effect certain moments can have upon other people. At the time, you may not appreciate the impact a certain action or statement may have. On the other hand, words may not carry as much weight the moment that they are spoken as they do later (when other factors fall into play).