Character Analysis: A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Finny and Gene also seem to be rivals when it comes to academics and athletics. Finny is constantly telling Gene to stop trying so hard when it comes to his grades. This is because Finny doesn’t want Gene to match all his athletic awards by becoming valedictorian. He even jokingly

According to the author, “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” John Knowles wrote a book titled, “A Separate Peace” that is placed in New England during World War Two. Gene is one of the two main characters in the novel who others would describe as jealous. In “A Separate Peace” Knowles describes how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him (Gene), how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect his relationship with Finny, and Gene gained his Peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affected Gene.

There's no harm in envying your best friend a little” (Knowles 25). This shows that Gene was somewhat jealous of Finny. Due to Finny being the best athlete in school and a very charming young man, with this in mind it shows that Gene feels he is the sidekick of the friendship. Gene could now feel nothing but jealousy toward his silent rival. In comparison to Genes envy he states, “Finny in those days almost always moved in groups of a hockey team” (Knowles 15).

Would you wear your friend’s clothes to be more like them? John Knowles, the author of A Separate Peace, writes about the war and how it changes teen going into adulthood. Gene is a character in the novel that is smart, non- athletic, and envious. A Separate Peace details how Gene affects himself, his friendship, and his peace.

Throughout the book both characters realize they need each other more than they think. The more Gene justifies his feelings toward Phineas, the more he is ashamed of his actions. Gene is jealous that Finny is able to get away with anything and everything: “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” (Knowles, 25). Gene’s envies Finny’s accepted rebellious character but is unable to tell him. Afterwards, Gene, towards the middle of the book, feels his need for Finny to get caught, almost as if he is against him: “This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that.” (27). Slowly Gene turns his jealousy for Finny to hatred creating the downfall of their relationship. At Devon Finny is known for his great athleticism and his ability to win at everything, ending up as first every time: "You always win at sports.” (35).Gene feels more jealousy towards finny especially when Finny breaks the swimming record without training, not only showing he can win but he can do it without breaking a sweat. Finny’s athletic ability reaches Gene’s mind and his anger builds up adding more weight to the bridge: “Was he trying to impress me or something? Not tell anybody? When he had broken a school record

One way their relationship is concerned is because Gene was assuming that Finny was trying to sabotage him and that he was out to get him. Gene had said," Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball, that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society…That way he, the great athlete, would be ahead of me. It was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all enmity" (Knowles 53). Gene was ruining their friendship because of stupid assumptions that he made up in his head.

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny did nothing but hurt him and also helped him. Gene being envy of Finny affected their friendship. “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal” (Knowles 11). Gene does not like the simple fact that Phineas can get away with almost anything and gets all the attention. He is jealous of that and starts to envy his own best friend. Finny dies and it is Gene’s fault. “I couldn’t escape a confusing sense of having lived through all of this before; Phineas in the infirmary, and myself responsible” (Knowles 112). Gene realized

This irritated Gene and he told Finny that he needed to study to get a good grade on the test. Finny then got frustrated that Gene wouldn’t play and made fun of him for trying hard at being the smartest kid in their school. Gene looked over at Finny and could tell by the resentful look in his eyes that he has been jealous of him and wanted to try to be the best out of the two of them. Gene felt betrayed and deluded that his friend was only trying to make him work less just so he could be the better one. The change in feelings towards Finny would end up leading Gene down a dangerous path of anger, jealousy, and eventually

The rivalry between Gene and Finny starts because Gene grows extremely jealous of Finny athletic abilities. This happens because of the expectations the war has put on the young adolescents at Devon. Since Gene and his friends are expected to enlist for the army anyway, Gene’s intellectuality gets overlooked, and Finny’s athletic abilities gets praised. Gene’s growing

The relationship that he had with his so called friend Finny was based off of jealousy. Gene was insecure of who he really was and that translated into their friendship (McGavran). Gene and Finny are total opposites. Finny is a friendly guy who is good at athletic events and does not even have to try. He never gets in trouble and that bothers Gene. In chapter 2, Gene hopes that Finny will get in trouble because he is not wearing his tie the way it should be. However, he becomes disappointed because it gets out of it (Knowles 20). Gene on the other hand is very smart and not outgoing. Nothing really comes easily for him (McGavran).

Gene envies Finny. Gene shows this because when Finny broke the swimming school record without any practice, Finny didn’t want anyone to know. Gene took that as a sign that Finny wanted to show off all the things he could do cause how good he was. In chapter 3 page 44 it states “Was he trying to impress me or something? Not tell anybody? When he had broken a school record without a day of practice? I knew he was serious about it, so I didn't tell anybody. Perhaps for that reason his accomplishment took root in my mind and grew rapidly in the darkness where I was forced to hide it.” This shows that Gene had envy towards Finny because instead of thinking good things about Finny he thinks the worst in

Even though Gene’s statement is not true, it shows that trying to better yourself at the expense of your friendship will cause distrust and tension, and is not worth the loss of a friend. Close-Ended Question: When Finny tells Gene that he is his best friend, why does Gene not respond? When Finny tells Gene that he is his best friend, Gene does not respond because he thinks his relationship with Finny is more of a rivalry than a friendship, stating that, “there were few relationships… at Devon not based

At the start Gene only envys Finny. In page 25 he saying “ I couldn’t help envying him that, which was perfectly normal.”. And Gene is correct, it is perfectly normal to envy people, even your best friend. But even something as innocent as envy can turn into something more sinister, hate. There are sing of Gene hating Finny, as seen in page 53 “You did hate him for that swimming record, but so what?”. Another sign of Gene hating Finny is when he becomes paranoid and angry when he believes Finny was trying to sabotage his grades. But none of that compares to when he purposely jounces the limb causing Finny to fall off. However, this theory is not set in stone. Later on in the story Gene begins to feel guilty for what he did and sincerely apologizes. But this is only my view on it.

The boys relationship with each other was different then some others. They somehow had a rivalry, neither of them would admit it but they both knew it was there. Their friendship was anything but invalid. Anyone could infer that Gene and Finny were best friends. The rivalry started to show more at the start of the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session with both of them wanting to one up the other. Neither of them had a friendship with the other boys like theirs was. Such as Gene and

Initially, Gene and Finny begin as best friends. Although, Gene’s insecurities manifest into jealously and envy toward Finny as he begins to view Finny as more of a rival than a friend. In the novel, Gene says, “Finny has deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 53). Gene misinterprets Finny’s motivations and feelings towards him. Gene develops envy over a big misunderstanding. This leads to later events in the book. Eventually, Gene decides to purposely make Finny fall from the tree. Also, his imitation helped their friendship, because it gave the allusion that he and his friend have common interests. For example it states in an article, “Initially Gene emulates Phineas: he joins him in climbing the tree and jumping into the river, being late for dinner, and taking a forbidden trip to the beach” (Alton). Gene follows a lot of what Finny does, which strengthens their friendship. Although he knows of the consequences, Gene still follows Finny. They seem to be the perfect best friends. Gene’s envy and imitation ultimately takes a turn for the