Rivalry Between Gene And Finny's Separate Peace

Thesis Statement – Finny in this novel is a magnetic, charismatic character whom people cannot help liking, but he is also manipulative, immature, and self centered. He is not nearly as innocent as he seems.

He tries to get Gene to join him in activities such as the Suicide Society. He even doubts their friendship and wonders if that is a way for him to become better. Gene begins to think that Finny doesn’t want him to succeed because Finny isn’t doing well in his studies. Finny is better than Gene at sports, so he thinks he’s trying to become better than him academically

Finny was the “ alpha male”. Everyone wanted to be like Finny. He was athletic, kind, caring and very loyal. Finny’s great character is illustrated in the novel when “He got away with

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,

Despite some critics consideration of Finny as naive because he fails to realize the reality in the war, he truly desires a life without confrontation. During the boys’ conversation of the infamous war, Finny relays his emotions towards the topic when he describes the war as fake and a conflict created by “ ‘fat old men’ ” (107/115). Although the war prowls around at Devon and damages souls like a savage beast, Finny’s reluctance to accept such a violent act reveals his humanitarian effort to truly keep peace within his community, school, and country. Finny’s innocence also manifests when he remains friendly to his peers within the Devon School. Gene recounts how Finny’s kindness blooms as he believes that “only [Finny] was never afraid, only [Finny] never hated anyone” (204). Gene’s statement proves true since Finny never hurts anyone in his lifetime. Gene ironically does the opposite when he causes the death of

Finny's death causes the greatest maturity growth in Gene's character. After Finny dies, he realized how his own hatred caused the death of his best friend. "He came to understand Finny's innocence and purity which causes Gene to see flaws within himself and forces him to grow up" (Alton 1). Being able to admit your own flaws is critical in maturing. When Gene finally sees his impact of immature behavior, he realizes how much he needs to mature. Even though Finny is physically gone, his spirit remains with Gene and essentially makes him the adult that he grows up to be. Finny's death is a crucial part of Gene's coming of age. When Finny dies, Gene's immature behaviors also die. Because Gene's hatred was gone, he entered war as a man.

Conflicts start with jealousy; Gene begins to develop a sense of envy for Finny’s outgoing personality and his ability to talk out of troubles which later progresses into a one-sided rivalry. After Gene’s first flunked test, he tries to find an excuse to justify his failure, which he later conclude that Finny purposely interrupt his studies. Gene accuses Finny of distracting him and setting an image of a nice friend, he reasons, “Sure, he wanted to share everything with me, especially his procession of D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be ahead of me. It was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all empty” (Knowles 53). The jealousy comes from doubts and predictions, Gene made excuses to make himself feel better. This mindset help justify Gene’s resentment regarding Finny’s accomplishment. Although Gene knows that Finny is an outstanding athlete, he tries to match up to Finny’s by reasoning out possible doubts. When Gene unconsciously jounce on the branch, this life-changing decision affects both Finny and himself. Though he is guilty at the idea of Finny can no longer play sports, he is also glad that his “enemy” no longer exists.

When Gene is quick to realize that him and Finny will never be of the same power, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. Gene realizes that Finny is someone who can do anything and he states that “He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could be any rivalry between us. I was not the same quality as he” (59). Gene’s low self-esteem starts to build up as he explains that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be as good and powerful as Phineas. Finny has everything in his power and is capable of so many things also remaining his own person. However, Gene feels the complete opposite as he understands that to become someone as mighty as Finny, he has to change who he is to even get Finny to notice him as a threat. As a result of this unequal

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

This change is shown in “A Separate Peace” when the residing feelings of happiness fade to confusion and tragedy. As the summer session comes to an end, Finny falls from a tree and shatters his leg. Gene witnesses this and affirms “Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank…” (Knowles 52). This abnormal mistake in Finny’s behavior was caused by Gene’s recently developed feelings of resentment towards his friend. Gene thinks “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 45). Gene purposely jounced the limb Finny was standing on due to his rash feelings of animosity. These feelings are conveniently aligned with the season shift by the author to add character development and change, as well as symbolism and depth in his writing. Gene’s shift from a trusting, willing friend to a skeptical, apprehensive enemy shows how the season of fall changes the characters in this novel. In final analysis, autumn brings about a negative change in the boy's psyche and forces them to face unpleasant realities and come to terms with their friendship.

The methods Finny use in order to cope with his fear distorts the way Gene perceives the conflicts surrounding him. A prime example of this is during a time where Finny is in denial of the war as well as Gene being guilty of hurting him. Gene recounts the impact Finny had on him and notices that:

Little sorrow and sadness is expressed around school, even in Gene; no one talks about what happened but everyone remembers, especially Gene. Throughout the novel, John Knowles' strong characterization of Finny results in a more developed and wiser Gene; in the end, Finny actually makes Gene a better person.

Second, the injury puts Finny in the hospital, separating the two, which cause Gene to suffer depression. As Finny is badly wounded, he has to leave his boarding school, Devon, for a long period of time. He spends his time in the hospital, away from Gene. FurthermoreThis makes Gene regret his decision even more. Not only are Gene and Finny physically separated, but also emotionally separated. Essentially, Gene loses his

To keep silent about this amazing happening deepened the shock for me. It made Finny seem too unusual for—not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were few relationships among us at Devon not based on rivalry. - Chapter 3

Finny is out of school for a while and Gene admits that he caused this on purpose and Finny is distraught about