A Separate Piece By John Knowles: Character Analysis

He wants people to see him as the nice, academic scholar he strives to become. Soon after Gene shoves Phineas off of the tree, guilt overpowers Gene. “I spent as much time as I could in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, or who I was. (62)”

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affected him. Gene became paranoid and assumed Finny was out to get him. The author states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 53). Gene took Finny’s act of kindness and made it seem like something negative. Gene thinks Phineas is purposely trying to mess his grades up by distracting him. Gene’s personality changed, making him harm others. The book reads, “Then my knees bent and I jounced the limb.”

Despite being best friends, they each have very different views of each other, and of the world. Both characters are insecure in their own ways, but Gene’s insecurity is much more clear. Throughout the novel he refuses to stand up for himself, he goes along with any of Finny’s ideas, whether he agrees with them or not. This includes the time Gene went with Finny to the beach instead of studying for his test, or all the times they skipped class when Gene knew it was a bad idea. Phineas, several times during the story, refuses to accept reality. For example, he refused to accept that Gene pushed him out of the tree on purpose, intending to hurt him. He also refuses to believe the war is real because he knows that because of his leg he is unable to serve in it, while Gene believes the war and even wants to enlist in the army. Gene, for the majority of the novel, sees their friendship as a competition, and feels that Phineas is betraying him; he feels that they are each trying just to be better than the other. He sees himself as better than Finny, because while Finny is an exceptional athlete and a poor student, he is an outstanding student, and a rather good athlete. Gene becomes so obsessed with this competition, that he purposely pushed Phineas, his best friend, out of the tree, indirectly killing him. Phineas, however, did not see their friendship in this way. All Genes thoughts of Finny trying to compete with him are false. Phineas

“It struck me then that I was injuring him again” (75). This quote showcases that over time, Gene treats Phineas differently after he has seen how his jealousy has affected him. Gene always acts like there is a competition between him and his best friend, Phineas. After he and the other characters have suffered throughout the book, he learns to confront his jealousy and to move forward after. Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester matures and learns how to understand his actions and how they impact other characters, and teaches readers that they can move forward if they learn to face their problems.

The mention of Phineas hints at a personal loss or hardship, while the inclusion of "for myself" suggests a deeper layer of introspection. However, what truly resonates is Gene's unexpected response to kindness. His tears are not only a reaction to his own pain, but also a reflection of their astonishment at encountering genuine compassion. This commentary highlights the transformative impact of empathy and the profound significance of unexpected acts of kindness in moments of vulnerability. A significant moment of self-realization for Gene occurs towards the end when he visits Finny in the infirmary following his second incident when he falls down the stairs.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

However , Gene emulates Phineas by joining him for tree climbing and jumping into the river. Forester notes, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”(Knowles 5). Knowles emphasizes the crisis on Genes mind which leads to him becoming more envious and

After the realization of the person he truly is Gene confronts with his problems, faces reality, and deals with the future. He learns a lot about life and relationships when he finds about his true self. He learns that he must truly express his feelings and communicate instead of keeping all the feelings inside as he had always done with Phineas. Also he learns to listen to himself not others around him if he wants a true advice. After a while, he faced reality and acknowledged the fact that he was not as great was Phineas but they were two different individuals and they were unique in different ways. Gene accepted the guilt for Phineas’ difficulties after his accident and decided he must he must help him as a punishment and act of repentance for what his deed. He does this by giving part of himself to Phineas as we see with the case of the sports

As Gene and Phineas begin to establish a close friendship, Gene secretly develops a strong sense of jealousy towards Phineas, which leads to a life-changing incident. Fear of the unknown and those who are different is part of human nature. Gene and Phineas are complete opposites; one is a serious scholar, while the other is an athletically talented individual with a free, unbalanced spirit. When Gene notices that he is beginning to lose his identity to Phineas, he decides that he must get rid of that part of him by pushing Phineas out of a tree, leaving Phineas with a broken leg. Right before the incident, Gene and Phineas get into a small altercation, which causes Gene to realize Phineas’ innocence. Gene states that “[Phineas] had never been jealous of me for a second [...] there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the

In a way it appears as though while the characters throughout the novel refuse to accept the reality of the approaching war, Gene’s mind, growing more consumed by the day with a hostile need to be on top is turning something very small into a war in itself. Gene, once a gentle boy who followed all rules was becoming a type of warrior, fighting not only his jealousy, but his believed to be best friend. Gene is prepared to take any action to come out on top, and this is brought out by his jealousy of Finny’s success, and his belief that this jealousy is mutual. This war and foreshadowing of a ‘deadly rivalry’ is later revealed when Gene overcome by this jealousy takes action against Phineas. “I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and the he tumbled side-ways... and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud” (Knowles 60). Jealousy has taken over Gene, leading him to jounce the tree limb him and Finny were meant to jump off of, causing Finny to fall. Gene expressed multiple times throughout the novel that he wished for Phineas to fail just once, or to get in trouble.

With each scenario, it is shown that most of the time Gene’s enemies are only in his head- not many are in a battle to reign supreme as he is. The war put together with these power struggles allows for such a well done piece, for the reader learns that even in times where others are in battle one does not have to be anchored against someone. Phineas and Gene’s relationship is also instrumental in delivering this message because the reader can witness Phineas, with his free and peaceful ways and realize that Gene does not have to be on the defense and seek power all of the time. Phineas is a unique contrast to Gene that helps Knowles prove his point. Just as in the book, life shows us that this urge to beat an “enemy” is unnecessary and can often have consequences like the ones Gene experienced. It is crucial to recognize the reigning powers in life and not let them take over and cause one to find evil in everyone- Knowles displays this perfectly with Gene and his

The author of times essay indicates that Gene would often fear and doubt his own abilities in comparison to Phineas. For example, Gene worries, “Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball, that explained the nightly meetings of the super suicide society, that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions”. (53)One statement jokingly said by Finny is what led Gene to jump to conclusions in his own mind, with no confirmation as to what Finny’s intent really was. Therefore, when Phineas was on the tree, Gene, “-took a step towards him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb… he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud.” (60) Finny’s shattered leg places excessive guilt upon Gene, who impulsively made the mistake of shaking the tree; and because of this, Genes innocence starts to crumble from the realization of what he had

Finally, though, Gene does confess, saying that shaking the limb that caused Finny to fall wasn’t a premeditated act. Of course, Gene, himself, doesn’t quite believe that his own confession is completely truthful; nevertheless, Finny does accept Gene’s words as honest, further proving that Phineas is the better person. Finny later dies of complications during an operation to repair his leg, and Gene is left knowing that Finny was truly good and that he, himself, is a bad person. Therefore, for Gene, Phineas’ death symbolizes the loss of innocence by completing his recognition of the presence of evil in the world because he resolves that, indeed, he himself is capable of perpetrating that

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

Competition and rivalry have the ability to make people shine and accomplish things they never thought possible, and the ability to bring a person’s dark side and get them to do terrible things. Phineas and Gene’s friendship is viewed very differently by each of them. Where Phineas sees Gene as his best friend Gene sees Phineas as a competitor. Gene sees him as someone trying to keep him from being successful in school. This warped view of their relationship is the cause of many of the eventual problems of the novel and arguably the death of Phineas.