Finn's Lessons
Around the midpoint of both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, Finn travels through hyperspace with a mentor figure who tries to teach him an important lesson, complete with holographic visual aids.
In the second act of The Force Awakens, Finn and Han Solo are on the Millennium Falcon, on their way to help BB-8 return to the Resistance. While they look at the holographic map that leads to the first Jedi Temple, Han tells Finn about the reality of the Force. "Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo," he says. "A magical power holding together good and evil, the dark side and the light. Crazy thing is, it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true."
In the second act of The Last Jedi, Finn, DJ, and BB-8 are on a ship stolen from a Canto Bight arms dealer, on their way to help the Resistance. While they look at holograms of starfighters, sold by the ship's previous owner to the First Order and the Resistance alike, DJ tells Finn about his philosophy. "Good guys, bad guys... made-up words," he says. "Finn, let me learn you something big. It's all a machine, partner. Live free. Don't join."
DJ's lesson is a sinister inversion of Han's. Han's lesson is constructive: he affirms that the stories about the Force and the Jedi – and, by extension, the categories of good and evil – are "true." DJ's lesson is deconstructive: he argues that the categories of good and bad are "made-up." Han's lesson lays the groundwork for Finn to take a side in the galactic conflict; DJ's lesson encourages him to sit it out.
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