A Separate Peace Jealousy Quotes

Education is not really one of Finny’s favorite things, he is more like the outgoing friend of the group. In the novel, “A Separate Peace”, Gene has a thought about Finny and his education. The quote says “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, the we would have came out on top…”(Knowles, 52). If you think about it, Finny could be head of the class and graduate and win the prizes if he would put a little

Separate Peace What really happened in the tree? Gene and Finny were very good friends; however, whatever happened in the tree the day the Finny "fell" out, is the actual cause of Gene "…My knees bent and I jounced the limb…" page 52. In fact, Finny did not fall out of the tree, but Gene had actually pushed him out. Gene had very good reasons to push him out "Finny had put him up to it, to finish me fro good on the exam." Page 49. He pushed him out of jealousy for two things. For athleticism, and for his popularity, and also for his ability to talk his way out of anything.. First, Finny was a very athletic person; however, Gene is just a normal average day person. Gene couldn't stand attempting to

During this jump, Gene jounced the limb and Finny fell to the ground breaking his leg. Gene felt so guilty after the tree incident that he tries to tell Finny he did it to get rid of his guilt. Finny would not hear of it. Finny would never believe that Gene would do such a thing, but admitted to having a feeling Gene did it. Gene carried around the guilt of Finny everyday. Finny would no longer be able to play sports if his leg healed properly. Gene snatched away the one thing Finny cared about the most. That is why Gene agreed to train for the Olympics of 1944 even though he knew there would never be an Olympics of 1944 because of the war. Gene guilt keep growing and growing. He created a stupid fake rivalry which resulting in destroying his best

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,

Once Gene told Finny that he purposefully jumped in the tree to make Finny fall, Finny had to realize that the perennial friendship he believed he had with Gene, may have been built on lies. In the book, Finny’s first expression after being told that Gene caused his fall was actually a facial expression; “he looked older than I had ever seen him” (Knowles 99). This shows that as Finny heard his best friend admit to wanting to hurt him, the only person he had put his full trust in. Even though we don’t get to see what Finny is actually thinking, it is safe to infer Finny felt naive, and was completely shattered. Finny’s trust in Gene and throughout the rest of the novel, their friendship is never restores until the last few pages. Towards the end of the book, Finny completely loses his innocence when he finally admits that the war was actually occurring. In the book, once he sees Leper hiding and decides that he is crazy due to the war. Finny then says, “‘then I knew there was a real war on’” (Knowles 241). Throughout the novel, Finny stood very firmly on his belief that the war was fake -- that no one could hate each other that much -- but once he decided to admit that it was real, it was like his hope had gone

Gene’s act of purposely causing Finny to fall out of the tree forces him to feel guilty and move on from his tendencies of jealousy and anger. After Finny’s fall, Gene discovers that Finny is so faithful as to not even accuse Gene of his actions. This causes Gene to begin to feel extreme guilt, thence

Finny did a lot of risky things, that most people would not be able to pull off, but somehow he always manages to slip away with no punishment. Unknowingly, Finny went to a party, the headmaster was also attending it. As usual, Finny was out of dress code, wearing a neon shirt and their school tie as a belt. Somehow he talked himself out of trouble. Gene says “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little (Knowles 9).” Finny continued testing his luck, with skipping chapel and classes, and test, and meetings. In the article "A Separate Peace: The Fall from Innocence" James Ellis writes “Incapable of the spiritual purity of Phineas, Gene finds himself jealous of Finny's ability to flout Devon rules.” All of this grew on Gene and started to make him very jealous of something he did not have. Trying the ultimate dare, Finny decided to go to the beach, Gene says “The beach was hours away by bicycle, forbidden, completely out of all bounds. Going there risked expulsion (Knowles 20).” Finny went through with his plan and spent a night at the beach, and received no punishments or disciplinary actions. As Gene was struggling with his identity, he saw that Finny could do things he could not. All those things made Gene jealous and gave him something to focus on, other than solving his identity

In life, there are two opposing forces that wage a constant war in men’s hearts, truth and ignorance. While some walk along the enlightened path of truth, others are blinded by the veil of ignorance, unable to see anything beyond their distorted view of the world. In John Knowles A Separate Peace, two maturing teens named Gene and Finny feel the effects of this inner strife, which shapes their actions and causes the fall, and eventual death, of Finny. While Gene comes to terms with the glaring light of truth, Finny continues to hide behind a veil of ignorance and innocence, unable to handle the truth’s piercing rays.Through his writing, Knowles conveys that truth’s omnipresent light shines through the murky depths of ignorance, illuminating

Gene and Finny are faced with many situations where either good or evil will take over their decision. When Finny falls of the tree Gene “took a step toward him, and then [his] knees bent and [he] jounced the limb” (Knowles 60). Gene purposefully makes Finny fall even if neither of them realizes or accepts it at first. When Gene makes the decision to cause Finny to fall, he lets evil win. He lets it take him over to benefit himself in the long run. On the other side of it, when Gene tries to tell Finny that he did intentionally hurt him he said “of course you didn’t do it. You damn fool. Sit down, you damn fool” (Knowles 70). Finny does not want to accept the fact that his friend would do such a thing to him. He pushes out the evil that could have let him lash out at his friend and let the good in him refuse to believe it. Lastly, when Gene was fighting with Quackenbush all of a sudden Gene “hit him hard across the face” (Knowles 790). Gene lets the evil take over him and hit Quackenbush in the

Finny's strong and solid character is again evident the night of the tree jumping in which he fell and broke his leg. Prior to the occurrence, Gene explodes when Finny automatically assumes Gene will be present at the Suicide Society tree "leap"(46). Finny's thinking that studies can just be abandoned at anytime infuriates Gene. Once Gene

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.

This tree ends up being the worst for Finny. Finny and Gene leave school without permission and go to the beach. Gene ends up being late for a test and which he fails. Gene blames Finny for this incident because Gene realizes that Finny was doing this so Finny could be at the top of the class instead of Gene. Finny wants to be the best at everything. Finny and Gene one night decide to take a jump off of the tree and tragedy occurs. John Knowles writes, "Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb." With the limb being jounced Finny falls down and hits the ground causing him to shatter his leg. His shattered leg prevents him from playing sports for the rest of his life.

Gene asks Finny what he think caused him to fall out of the tree to find out if Finny knows it was Gene. When Gene visits Finny and tells him he was at fault, he regrets telling him, “It struck me then that I was injuring him again. It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before. I would have to back out of it, I would have to disown it.” (62) Gene cannot handle the stress of telling Finny the truth that he is afraid he might black out.

I strongly believe that Gene intentionally "jounced" the tree limb, and ultimately caused Finny to fall. There are a couple ways in the above passage that authenticates that Gene intentionally jounced the tree limb. First of all, Gene explains,”Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb.” If Gene had accidentally jounced the limb, he would not be “holding firmly” to the trunk. Gene was firmly holding on to the trunk because if he was not and he jounced the limb, there was also a chance for him to fall. Right after finny falls, Gene claims that it was the first clumsy physical action the Finny has ever made. Readers can infer that Gene said that with pride because later, “I moved

This is the tree scene where Gene thoughtlessly makes Finny fall. It’s done after a build-up of anger. Finally, it was a way for Gene to blow off steam for the moment before thinking of consequences afterward, such as Finny shattering his leg.