A Separate Peace Analysis

In “a Separate Peace”, Gene made one selfish decision that ruined Phineas's (or Finny) life as he knew it. The day Finny fell off the limb of the tree was Gene's fault. Finny had been great at sports, so Gene was motivated to be good at his academics and out do Finny at their school. When Finny had Gene come with him that day to jump out of the tree, Gene thought Finny was trying to take away time from his studies. He jostled the limb which made Finny fall and just happened to break his leg on the fall down; not allowing him to play sports ever again. This decision Gene made costed finny his life. Near the end of the book one of their classmates, Brinker, called a meeting to find the truth about what happened on the tree. Finny ran out because

According to the novel, “Gene emulates Phineas: he joins him in climbing the tree and jumping into the river, being—for dime, and taking a forbidden trip to the beach” (Alton). Gene just does everything Finny tells him. Such as when Finny told Gene to jump from the tree, and Gene went ahead and jumped. Gene changes more and more like Finny. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect his relationship with Finny. One way his relationship is affected is when his feelings led to him pushing Finny of out of the tree. In the novel Gene states “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, then my knees bent, I bounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swig his head around…” (Knowles 60). Gene had so much jealous built up that he ended up pushing Finny out of the tree. This causing Finny to break his leg for the first time. Another way the relationship is affected is when Gene thought Finny was trying to mess up is studies. Gene states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles

Gene thought that Finny was his enemy, but he realized that it wasn’t Finny that he hated, it was himself. Another way Gene is affected was his loss of identity. Gene states, “He got away with everything because of the extraordinary kind of person he was” (Knowles 28-29). Gene was amazed how Finny got away with everything and the type of person he was. Therefore, he wanted to become Finny. In addition, Gene’s envy and imitation of finny not only affected him, but it affected his relationship with Finny. One way their relationship is affected is when Finny finds out Gene caused the accident, causing Finny to hate him. Gene states, “I would have liked very much to do that myself; it would have meant a lot to me. But Phineas might begin to curse me out with every word he knew, he might lose his head completely, he would certainly be worse off for it” (Knowles 107). Gene wanted to help Finny but he knew Finny was mad at him. He did not want to make him more angry by helping because Gene caused the

He no longer cared about his grades, and his personality went from introvert to very outspoken. His negative trait carries on throughout the whole book, but the underlying competition between him and Phineas lived on. When Phineas died, Gene’s negativity and hostile actions almost dissipated on the spot. “I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.” If Gene did in some way become a part of Phineas, then part of Finny lives on in Gene. The narrator alludes to this when he says that he still lives his life in Finny’s created “atmosphere.”

As you can see, Gene had much reason to push Finny out of the tree. It was from jealousy from Finny's athleticism, his popularity, and his ability to talk his way out of almost anything. Only Gene knew that Finny was the only person at the school that could accomplish so many things, and Gene did not want to deal with Phineas

At the start, Gene is instantly jealousy of Finny, creating a fake friendship that is fueled by competition. This is shown when he wants to do something so he is good at, so he “was becoming the best student in the school: Phineas was without question the best athlete, so in that way we were even” (Knowles 55). This proves that their friendship is fueled by competition because it shows that Gene always wants to be even. This

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

I wouldn't have been on that damn limb except for him. I wouldn't have turned, and so lost my balance, if he hadn't been there. I didn't need to feel and tremendous rush of gratitude towards Phineas.” Gene's mind is only able to think bad things of Finny.

As Gene feels the obligation to lose himself to become Finny, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. When Finny tells Gene that he has to play sports in the place of Finny himself, Gene says, “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas” (77). Gene loses who he is to become the powerful Finny because told him to do so. He feels the need to give up his identity seeing that he has the order to do. This results in an unequal friendship because a true friend would never force someone to do something that would make them lose who they actually are. Gene and Finny’s unbalanced friendship eventually causes paranoia and insecurity on the less powerful side known as Gene because he is giving himself up.

Gene knows he caused the fall and he tries to embrace this in his own way by admitting what he has done to Phineas. Gene says to him, “ ‘I was thinking about it… about you because- I was thinking about you and the accident because I caused it’ ”(Knowles 55). Gene admits to Finny he jounced the limb. This shows he can accept what he has done, but Finny rejects his confession, and puts the weight back on Gene. Finny fails to adapt while Gene continues to develop, causing Phineas to perish, while Gene thrives. In the article, “A Separate Peace”, it reads, “Despite an attempted confession by Gene, Finny seems obliviously unaware of Gene’s responsibility for his condition”(“A Separate Peace” 1). Finny refuses to understand what Gene has done. Gene knows and tries to confess but is denied an acceptance of apology from Finny, who does not believe Gene is to blame for his accident at all. Gene is entirely able to adapt but Phineas holds him back, because unlike Gene, Finny is unable to

As mentioned previously, Fear was a prime factor to the events that occurred. Gene always was afraid to say no to Finny and Finny never expected him to say no. Also ignorance was very prominent in the misdoings of Finny. Phineas tends to do this thing where he doesn’t care what other people want, he cannot accept that other people are not the same as him. One of these things that he does is jumping from a tree into the pool with Gene every day, despite Gene being scared because Phineas overlooks the idea of other people’s emotions. One of these

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

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

Gene has been harboring guilt over what he had done for longer than anyone deserves to, and only Finny can alleviate this suffocating burden. Not long before Phineas goes to get his leg reset, and dies from a fragment of bone marrow, he allows Gene his peace. Without knowing that Phineas held nothing against him, Gene would've been ripped apart by his death. At least, with his forgiveness, Gene can hold it together enough to make it through

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