The problem is not that this
is a final
reference - it's not itself a reference at all. this
is a keyword that "denotes a value that is a reference to the object for which the instance method or default method was invoked" (JLS §15.8.3).
Furthermore, it wouldn't make sense to reassign it in the sense that a variable can be reassigned. Remember that reassigning a reference changes only that reference, and not other references that might point to the same object. So reassigning this
would not only be insane but also useless.