A Separate Peace Jealousy Quotes

Gene Forrester, the main character of A Separate Peace, tells a story of when he was in school. This story takes place during the time pf World War II. Gene is a well-minded boy who, at times, lets jealousy take over. If this book was narrated by Phineas, or Finny, it would have a happier nature to it. Gene is a smart, kind boy who thinks deeply into the problems of the world at the time. Finny, who is almost the complete opposite, sees conflict as he wants to view it. They are very similar in some ways as they share the same interests as the other.

Gene thought that Finny was his enemy, but he realized that it wasn’t Finny that he hated, it was himself. Another way Gene is affected was his loss of identity. Gene states, “He got away with everything because of the extraordinary kind of person he was” (Knowles 28-29). Gene was amazed how Finny got away with everything and the type of person he was. Therefore, he wanted to become Finny. In addition, Gene’s envy and imitation of finny not only affected him, but it affected his relationship with Finny. One way their relationship is affected is when Finny finds out Gene caused the accident, causing Finny to hate him. Gene states, “I would have liked very much to do that myself; it would have meant a lot to me. But Phineas might begin to curse me out with every word he knew, he might lose his head completely, he would certainly be worse off for it” (Knowles 107). Gene wanted to help Finny but he knew Finny was mad at him. He did not want to make him more angry by helping because Gene caused the

When he realizes that Finny legitimately cares about him, he feels guilty and strives to develop a more positive outlook on life. At the end of the book, Gene realizes that Finny never thought of anyone as evil and had a true desire to see people succeed.

In the fictional book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the setting plays a huge role on Gene’s character. The main places that have an impact on Gene’s character are the tree, the field, and the hospital. These places develop Gene’s character throughout the story.

Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene’s relationship with Phineas is constantly being questioned. One second they’re the best of friends, whereas the next moment they’re enemies. “It made Finny seem too unusual for not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. Gene’s confused with Phineas

At the start, Gene is instantly jealousy of Finny, creating a fake friendship that is fueled by competition. This is shown when he wants to do something so he is good at, so he “was becoming the best student in the school: Phineas was without question the best athlete, so in that way we were even” (Knowles 55). This proves that their friendship is fueled by competition because it shows that Gene always wants to be even. This

What kind of inner wars do you fight? Jealousy? Isolation? Everyone battles their own inner wars, including Gene from the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. This book is mainly about jealousy between two boys, Gene and Phineas (Finny), and poor decisions made by Gene which they regret. In this novel, Gene faces many inner wars, and one of them is jealousy. As you grow up, sometimes you make bad decisions, and learn new things from those experiences.

Gene contemplates his and Finny’s friendship many times in the book, but despite what Gene may have thought, Finny was a good friend to him. He always took Gene’s feelings into account, and through all that happened he had faith in Gene. But Gene never knew this,

I wouldn't have been on that damn limb except for him. I wouldn't have turned, and so lost my balance, if he hadn't been there. I didn't need to feel and tremendous rush of gratitude towards Phineas.” Gene's mind is only able to think bad things of Finny.

In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the protagonist Gene Forrester constantly battles within himself to find the true emotion towards his friend Phineas and to find out who he really is. Gene and Phineas formed an illusion of companionship, but there was always a silent rivalry between them in Gene’s mind. In the beginning, Gene thought his feeling towards Phineas was completely normal and it will go away in time. However, as the time went on and Gene matured he found out that his feeling was much more than little jealousy but it has turned into hate. Gene Forrester develops into a mature adult when he finally accepts his feeling and faces reality.

Although Phineas clearly had a negative relationship with Gene, some people argue that he was an acceptable friend because he was able to forgive Gene for making Phineas fall off the limb. When Gene visited Finny in the hospital after he learned that Gene jounced the limb, at first, Finny felt betrayed, however, after he saw the guilt on Gene’s face, he realized that, “it was just some kind of impulse decision… [Gene] didn’t know what [he] was doing” (Knowles 191). Then Finny knew that he didn’t do it because Gene despised him, he jolted the branch because he had no time to think about what he was

First, Gene admits to being guilty of shaking a tree in order to injure Finny when he visits him at his home, making Finny livid, and temporarily tearing them apart. Gene is envious of Finny’s athletic ability and bravery. One way Finny shows his bravery is by jumping off a tree for fun. Gene is greatly threatened by the bravery, so he decides to strip it from Finny by shaking the tree one day, making him fall and suffer an injury. Consequently, he instantly regrets his decision, but he realizes that the damage is done. Remorsefully, he wants to apologize for his terrible choice, but when he tries to talk about the situation and confess, Finny is in denial and starts to get angry. Finny’s denial is evident when he says “‘I don’t know anything. Go away. I’m tired and you make me sick. Go away’” (Knowles 70). This dialogue shows how Finny did not believe that Gene caused the incident even after the confession. This is because he believes that Gene would not do such an action. The confession tears Finny apart to the point that he lashes out at Gene and wants him to leave his house. If Gene did not commit the notorious action, Finny would not have to feel the pain physically from the injury, and mentally from the idea that Gene would hurt him, and the boys could have a stronger friendship.

Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny caused great internal turmoil with himself throughout the story. He went through and identity crisis because he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be. In the story, Gene said, “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (Knowles 117). He always went along with everything Finny proposed or did; this gave him little to no time to discover who he really was. This lack of personal discovery lead him to doubt who he was. This internal conflict within Gene also affected his personal actions. Before Finny’s fall, Gene said, “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles

Which is almost worded perfectly here “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river. I was damned if I’d climb it.” (Knowles 14). This shows to us that obviously he remembers what he has done to his friend along with even foreshadowing the event when read from the beginning. This even helps to say that Gene wishes not to even reenact the horrible event that happened so long ago. The second reason is his general thoughts and impulses that make him lose even more of a sense of peace when reviewing previous things that he has done. As stated “we’re all liable to corruption form within by our own envy, anger, and fear. In the end, inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war of growing up.” (Alton paragraph 6). From what is said, this helps to express how gene fights his impulses that made him go against finny. Which lead to his lack of peace for doing such a horrendous thing. In the end, Gene didn’t find any “Separate

Gene is blaming everything on himself, making him feel like a bad person bringing him down. Gene said “ It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before”. Gene accidently injured Finny and he is constantly taking the blame for Finny’s injury even though these things happen. Gene even said “I killed my enemy there” but Gene had no involvement in FInny’s injury. Finny fell down the marble stairs and died. Gene managed to connect this event to the injury that he believes he caused, saying that he killed Finny. A person must be both confident and humble. Gene is humble but not confident in what he does and his martyrdom is causing him to quickly lose