A perceptive question! The phrase that you refer to
occurs twice in Chapter 12:
Everyone behaved with complete presence of
mind.
Several paragraphs
later, we have
Everyone behaved with complete presence of mind
and that included
Phineas.
Phineas has just
suffered a devastating emotional blow when finding out the truth of the "accident,"
regarding his fall from the tree. From Leper's testimony, it becomes obvious to all
that Gene had to have been the one to have caused it. Gene knew that he was responsible
from the start, but Phineas had refused to accept it because Phineas only sees what is
good in others. He reacts by attempting to run away, only to fall down the stairs and
injure himself again.
When faced with Phineas' physical
injury, the boys act with "complete presence of mind." They can quickly spring into
action, getting the doctor, notifying Phil Lantham, keeping Finny still. Everyone is
quite calm, even Finny. In contrast to the chaos caused by Leper's testimony, all is
order and efficiency here.
It's as if all the boys have
moved on in some way, finally accepting the reality of the world in which they live:
the reality of betrayal, war, nervous breakdowns, permanent injuries, and their own
dark sides, which will prepare them to accept the reality of death. Phineas' second
injury, unlike the first, is one that they are ready and able to deal with. We see the
boys and the school officials at their best. This efficiency paves the way for the
final reconciliation between Finny and Gene. Finny forgives Gene and accepts the truth:
"it was just some ignorance . . .some crazy thing . . .something blind, that's all it
was."
The novel is a journey from the innocence of youth to
the darkness of human experience. The boys develop the "presence of mind" to face and
accept this transition.
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