How Does Gene's Envy Affect The Imitation Of Finny

First of all, Gene Forrester is the narrator and one of the main characters in the novel. One of Gene’s best friends is Phineas, another main character in the novel, and an important one as well. Gene and Phineas’s relationship has its ups and downs. One of the downs being, Gene's feeling of jealousy towards Phineas. Phineas is an athletic champion and a charmer, someone everyone adores. These same qualities of Phineas make academic and studious Gene envious. The envy drives Gene to try to be a better student than Phineas, thinking that would make them equal. He thought that if he could be the smartest person in the class, then it would be equal to Phineas’s athletic stardom. What he did not know was it would change him as a person and his

While envy is evident throughout the book, Gene struggles to accept it. Gene tells himself that he and Finny "are already together" (Knowles 51). Gene tries to convince himself that he does not envy Finny. Gene's failure to admit his envy means that, even until Finny's fall, Gene would not allow himself to validate his jealousy by purposefully hurting Finny. Finny's injuries and absence also affected Gene.

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him. He follows Finny’s every move. As said in the passage, “The beach was hours away by bicycle, forbidden, completely out of all bounds. Going there risked expulsion, destroyed the studying I was going to do for an important test the next morning,” (Knowles 23). He starts to break the rules with Finny. The beach is forbidden; however, they go and spend the night. Staying at the beach meant that they could get kicked from the school, and missing study time for his test. Gene also loses a grip on himself. Alton adds, “Later, he wants to become Phineas…” (Alton). Gene wasn’t acting as himself anymore. He started to do things Finny does, and even tries to look like Finny. Gene’s envy and imitation didn’t only affect him.

In his highschool years at The Devon School, Gene became close with a complicated group of teenage boys, like himself. His closest friend and roommate is a boy named Finny who is obviously the most outgoing and rebellious in the group. He is the initiator of most of their activities. Throughout the story it is obvious that Gene is jealous of his friend and therefore gets pressured into the things Finny puts on him. Because he is constantly following the crowd, Gene begins to lose his individuality and finds himself completely overcome with jealousy. Subconsciously, Gene even puts his best friends life at risk by shaking the branch of a tree while Finny was ontop of it at the time. As a result of this Finny falls off which disables him and ultimately leads to his

Genes envy and imitation of Finny affect him. Finnys ability to talk his way out of trouble affected Gene’s feelings. According to Knowles,” he had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment “(28). This explains how Gene is discussing his disappointed feelings toward Finny.

The novel “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles is a story of friendship and conflict. John Knowles uses Gene’s envy to demonstrate that jealousy ruins friendships. This is shown multiple times, including fake friendships, internal conflict becoming physical, and all conflict resulting in the loss of trust of one another.

At the beginning of the story, Gene is unconcerned about his actions, but after he has suffered and understands how selfish he was. He was blinded by his jealousy of Finny and eventually his insecurities overwhelmed him. “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it. I could feel myself become unexpectedly excited at that” (30). In this

Crafted by author John Knowles in the late 1950’s, A Separate Peace is a heart-wrenching Bildungsroman narrated by a pensive Gene Forrester as he reflects upon trials and tribulations at his alma-mater, the Devon Boarding School. In an attempt to process the tragic loss of his best friend and coping with his own responsibility in his friend’s death, Gene returns to the campus to confront his progressive loss of Finny in both his plummet from the tree by the river to his tumble down the marble staircase. At a glance, Finny and Gene’s relationship appears to be a story of tragedy as Gene must forever carry the loss of his very best friend, but as the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Gene and Finny’s relationship before Finny’s accident was far from being black-and-white. Diving deeper into the text, Gene reveals his true feelings about Finny that fluctuate from Finny being an object of obsession to being a source of resentment. As the story is told from Gene’s point of view, the reader is submerged into the realm of Gene’s odd fascinations with Finny and the manifestations of his feelings of hatred and idolization as he acts out in odd ways, such as mimicking Finny’s facial expressions and clothing and developing conspiracy theories in which Finny is planning Gene’s academic downfall. Gradually, the picture painted of the teenage Gene Forrester of A Separate Peace becomes more and more distorted as Gene’s sanity is called into question. His

(23). He does not want to be controlled by Finny, yet Gene models him. Gene  lacks a sense of self identity because he is taking up all of his time  trying to hold Finny back instead of building himself up and having his own thoughts. He sees Finny as a puppet master who controls him rather than a friend. Because he is prideful, he sees a big problem when someone is above him: even if it is his best friend.

A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is a seemingly simple yet heartbreaking story that gives the reader an inside look and analysis of the reality of human nature. Set permanently in the main character Gene’s point of view, the audience is first taken to the present of a reflective and now wise man (Gene) and then plunged into his past back in 1942 to relive the harsh lessons that youth brought him. Along with vivid imagery of tranquil days past, a view into the social construct of a boy’s private school, Devon, and the looming presence of World War 2 on the horizon, there is also a significant power struggle that the reader can observe almost instantly. Conquering the need to be supreme in the situations of the war, high school, social interactions, and even simple moments that

Often times, Gene would find himself under pressure placed by Finny. For example, Gene questions himself when told to jump off a tree, “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?”.(17) Gene’s actions and insecurities are pushed upon Finny, who is seen as the cause, and takes the brunt of the consequences. On the other hand, the author of Time magazine doesn’t place all the blame upon Finny, but rather refers to him as a catalyst who helps speed up the process in the destruction of Genes innocence. Throughout “A Separate Peace”, Phineas is seen to have a negative impact upon Gene; for example, Forrester’s thoughts are expressed on the meetings he had to attend in the super suicide society, “I hated it. But I always jumped. Otherwise I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable.” (34) The constant pressure in Finny and Gene’s competitive relationship is what leads to the unfortunate incident on the tree, in the summer of

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.

Some friendships last forever and others do not but in the novel, A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles, displays a different kind of friendship. The reader throughout this novel was very entertained. This novel takes place at the Devon Preparatory School in the years of 1942-1943.

“But I no longer needed this vivid false identity . . . I felt, a sense of my own real authority and worth, I had many new experiences and I was growing up “(156). Gene’s self-identity battle ends and he finds his real self. Gene’s developing maturity is also shown when he tells the truth about Leper. His growing resentment against having to mislead people helps Gene become a better person. When Brinker asks about Leper, Gene wants to lie and tell him he is fine but his resentment is stronger than him. Instead Gene comes out and tells the truth that Leper has gone crazy. By pushing Finny out of the tree, crippling him for life and watching him die; Gene kills a part of his own character, his essential purity. Throughout the whole novel Gene strives to be Finny, but by the end he forms a character of his own. Gene looks into his own heart and realizes the evil. “. . . it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart” (201). He grasps that the creation of personal problems creates wars. Gene comes to acknowledge Finny’s uniqueness and his idealism and greatly admires his view of the world. He allows Finny’s influence to change him and eliminates the self-ignorance. At Finny’s funeral Gene feels that he buries a part of himself, his innocence. “I could not escape a feeling

In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and