In creating our presentation on the effects of Finny’s friendship on Gene’s rite of passage, Taquonya Washington, Fahid Khawaja, and I, Sairalyn Ansano, approached the project with an almost surgical technique, step by step, dissecting its parts, eliminating the unneeded, and adding ideas that were needed to create an effective interpretive presentation.

First, we all threw out ideas on the different types of rites of passage subjects we could talk about. Our choices ended up being Gene’s rite of passage, Finny’s rite of passage, their respective rites of passage in regard to their friendship, and their effect on each other’s development.

Then we constructed our treatment statement: The treatment on the effect of Finny’s friendship on Gene’s rite of passage. We started to throw out ideas each of us believed should belong in the presentation. I suggested we open by stating something definitive on Gene’s personality, with and without Finny’s influence. Fahid introduced the idea that Gene was unemotional and a coward. Taquonya saw that gene was shy and naive. I added that he was very into his academics, except for the times he was following Finny’s wishes. We all agreed with Fahid’s belief that Gene was an extension of Finny and that a big part of him was Finny. After reading a passage from the book review “A Shadow of Mars” we all accepted that Gene was more of the scholar but also had athletic abilities. He is self-conscious and reflective, is devoted to Finny, and is easily swayed by him.

Next it was suggested that Finny influences Gene to be more daring, spontaneous, and athletic. Fahid supported this idea by referring to the time when gene was hesitant to jump from the tree, but since Finny was going to, he agreed to do the same. I added that this influence created competition in Gene’s mind, and that Gene was both in admiration of and in envy of Finny. Taquonya reported that Gene was “catching up” in becoming a facsimile of Finny. We then inferred that the blind impulse that created the accident on the tree, and Finny’s downfall, was attributed to gene’s inability to reconcile both his admiration and envy of Finny.

We then decided to introduce gene’s acceptance of his act and the steps he went to allow himself very little guilt. Fahid brought out the idea that Gene tried to replace Finny. He got more involved in athletics and began to wear Finny’s clothing. I added that that deed did not keep him from his guilt long, and so he attempted to confess what he had done to Finny. Taquonya then suggested that after each attempt, Gene would forgive himself with the rationale that he “tried.” We all agreed that hid revealed his immaturity but also his slow growth.

From there we went into the second accident. We all agreed that during the trial, Gene kept wondering why Finny would not accept what Gene did. We all agreed that it was after Finny’s fall that Gene really began to mature. We did not exactly know where to go to prove our decision, so we each went back into the book to determine the exact moment. I suggested that it happened when gene saw Finny being helped and led down the steps. At that time, gene realized that it was always Finny the one helping others and that he was uncomfortable being the one helped. He realized Finny’s true friendship and compared it to his betrayal of that friendship. Fahid found another supportive passage for our theory. Finny could not understand why people build wall between what they feel and what they let others know they feel; he feels a two-way avenue between friends is a basis for living.

Finally, we agreed that Gene’s final step of maturation was after Finny’s death Gene began thinking about their friendship, about the effects of war, and about his life in general. These thoughts, we felt, were his true thoughts because his motivation was not to beat Finny. He broke away from being Finny’s shadow and from wanting to be just like him. “Gene frees himself from fear not by hiding from war and the ambiguities of the human heart, not by building barriers between youth and age, but by accepting the inevitability of change and loss.”