Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-76.17.103.248-20150812212305

Early in season one, Finn was actually one of the characters that I didn't find annoying. He may have behaved recklessly in the dropship, but he wasn't promoting chaos, deceiving people into removing their wristbands, threatening to kill Jasper because his moans were getting on their nerves, bullying and peeing on people, or threatening to do harm to a 12 year old girl. That was the behavior that annoyed me. By contrast, Finn was rescuing an injured Wells from the bullying Murphy, assisting Clarke in saving Jasper's life, trying to stop a lynching, and protecting Charlotte. I prefer good guys, and it was obvious that this was who Finn was. I admired his moral integrity, his courage and his heroic nature. I could also appreciate that it was his moral compass and voice of reason (not whinning) that served as an anchor for the group and the audience. But Finn, like every human being, was flawed. He had been thrust into an enviroment that would present him with increasingly complex ethical challenges. How his flaws would interfere with his effort to stand up to those challenges is what made him interesting and sympathic.

As much as Finn wanted to do the right thing, to be a good and decent human being, he inevitably made mistakes. But we had learned enough about Finn's character to know that he didn't act with a premeditated intent to do harm. Like all of us, he simply failed to recognize and overcome his weaknesses. Therefore, I could forgive him for screw ups like the Clarke/Raven situation. Thinking he'd never see Raven again was a reasonable assumption; and his need for comfort was all too human. I'd seen nothing in his personality to indicate that he was deliberately deceitful or indifferent to the feelings of people he cared about. Finn's fault here was allowing his impulsiveness and his inability to control his emotions dictate his behavior. That's what always got him into trouble.

That Finn could so easily move on to Clarke after supposedly losing a girl with whom he had such a deep relationship was one of several instances of inconsistent and sloppy handling of the character by the writers. I have to think that this was Finn's way of coping with what he believed was a hopeless situation. He was obviously destraught, and Clarke, a girl he was falling in love with, was his only refuge. And, as we learned later, his feelings for Raven had evolved into a different kind of love. In any case, it wasn't the unpardonable sin that some like to make it.

Through no fault of his own, Finn also lacked resilience, which is  a process that enables a person to exhibit positive adaptive behavior when exposed to stressful and traumatic situations. Thus, under the on going pressures of war, Finn began to unravel.

Finn was a romantic to whom love was everything. It gave the most meaning to his life, and it motivated how he lived. That's what I found most endearing about him. His devotion to those he loved was selfless and absolute. But this too would get him into trouble. Suffering from PTSD and extreme emotional distress, Finn was pushed to the edge. When things got out of control at the village, he finally broke. His suffering in the aftermath of the massacre, his despair over the loss of his identity and sense of self worth, his desperate need to be forgiven by the girl he lost his mind for was heartbreaking. But it was his courageous surrender of his life for love and the safety of his people, even in the face of excruciating torture, that spoke loudest of the extraordinary character of this 18 year old boy. How some people can't feel compassion for such a character is hard for me to understand.

I sympathized with Finn because more than any other character he represented mankind's difficult struggle to maintain moral integrity amid the conflicts of the human condition. I think that for a time, Finn lost that struggle like we all do at some weak moment in our lives when we  allow our weaknesses to dictate our behavior. We don't know how strong we are until we're tested, and most of us will never face the severe challenges that Finn faced. So, instead of self righteously judging and condemning Finn for his mistakes, we should look within ourselves and recognize our own faults. Recognizing that Finn's struggle is our own struggle and that of mankind in general should help us learn forgiveness and compassion. Then we are able to look beyond this character's mistakes and crimes and see that, in spite of being broken and misshapened by a harsh and hostile environment, the good and decent human being he wanted to be was still there inside him. In the end, I believe Finn was redeemed, and his legacy was not that of a murderous cheating bitch or f--boy, but one of love and courage.  