A Separate Peace By John Knowles: Character Analysis

Gene gains peace from guilt when he becomes self-aware, mature, and remorseful. The subsequent time that Finny injures his leg, Gene goes to see him and expresses sincere regret, showing his remorse. When visiting Finny, Gene confesses that what happened up on that tree was a rage of jealousy that had controlled him. Confessing to Finny helps Gene overcome the burden of guilt. Finny’s death causes Gene to become sad, however he was relieved that they were able fixed their friendship before it was too late. At Finny’s funeral Gene “did not cry” and “could not escape a feeling that this was [his] funeral”, showing that he lost a piece of him (Knowles 194). Gene feeling that

In life, humans go through a point in their life where they struggle or have to fight for something; Whether it be fighting for money, food, shelter,a special someone or life. In John Knowles's novel, A Separate Peace, he quotes for Gene, “...my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” As you continue to read on, although it was caused by Finny...unintentionally. You’ll realize that Gene’s enemy was his insecurities, his feelings, …. maybe even himself.

Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny caused great internal turmoil with himself throughout the story. He went through and identity crisis because he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be. In the story, Gene said, “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (Knowles 117). He always went along with everything Finny proposed or did; this gave him little to no time to discover who he really was. This lack of personal discovery lead him to doubt who he was. This internal conflict within Gene also affected his personal actions. Before Finny’s fall, Gene said, “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles

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.

While Gene arrives at the infirmary in order to drop some belonging off to Finny, he states “The tone of his voice fell dead center, without a trace of friendliness or unfriendliness, not interested and not bored, not energetic and not languid” (188). This quotes shows how all the traumatic past events have affected Finny, like the tree incident, and falling down the stairs. He is monotone, a robot, uninterested in everything and everything Gene has to offer, as Gene has completely destroyed his life, and his

Throughout the novel, you can see that Gene in a constant jealousy between Finny. Gene, he has the strengths of academics but he lacks the personality of goodwill and tries to be someone he is not. While on the other hand Finny is weak in academics but is strong in athletics and is wholehearted. Finny is a stronger character morally he is faced with the idea that his “best friend” Gene could have killed him. Finny is a stronger

Conversations between Gene and Finny helped to illustrate their divergence in both morality and feeling. When Finny dragged Gene to the beach with him, he made a confession. In his talk about who to bring with you to the beach, Finny told Gene, “the proper person is your best pal, which is what you are.” Finny revealed his raw emotions and displayed a deep feeling of friendship with Gene. Unfortunately Gene did not reciprocate, not having yet recognized the value of Finny’s companionship.

Their trust was tested in chapter five. Knowles writes, “It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before. I would have to back out of it, I would have to disown it” (75). This is one of Gene’s greatest moments of honesty, he would rather love with shame than reveal the truth to Finny. While Gene expressed his anger toward Finny mocking him, it caused him to get hurt.

Gene was not too sure of what to think about Finny. Moreover, it was very evident that Gene was starting to feel jealousy towards Finny. “It was hypnotism. I was beginning to see that Finny could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him a little, which was perfectly normal.

Through such struggle and friendship, they became so close that Gene felt as though he embodied Finny. Finny and Gene went through tough times that were close to ripping their relationship

First, Finny continuously insists that “there isn’t any war” and even asks Gene, “Do you really think the United States of America is in a state of war?”; he furthers his argument by claiming that believers in the war such as Gene “are still under the influence of some medicinal drug” (Knowles 115). Finny displays innocence by denying the existence of one of the most devastating wars in world history. At the beach together, Finny expresses his happiness around Gene by telling Gene, “at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal…which is what you are,” even though “something [holds Gene}back” from saying the same about Finny (Knowles 48). Finny’s optimism forces him to acknowledge his friendship with Gene even when he cannot decide if Gene feels the same way. Finally, as soon as Finny even considers the idea of Gene pushing him off of the tree, he insists that “it was a crazy idea, [he] must have been delirious” and then he immediately apologizes to Finny, “I’m sorry about that feeling I had” (Knowles 66). The mere thought of Gene hurting Finny goes against Finny’s optimistic ideals, thus explaining his rejection of this thought and his immediate apology. Of course, Finny inevitably confronts these ideas that he first considers fallacies, and the result of

The novel begins with old Gene remembering what happened at Devon fifteen years ago. Gene and Finny go to Devon School during WWII. Even though they are friends , they are very different. Finny is the top well-rounded athlete who can get talk his way out of anything, while Gene is the studious, shy kid. Finny comes off as a jerk and thinks he has to be good at everything. I do not quite understand Finny and Gene’s friendship. Finny creates a secret society and in order to be in it you must jump from a tree limb. I also believe that Finny and Gene are both afraid of denial, change in time passing. The way they see things and the way Gene presents himself isn’t reality. Also, Gene has trouble finding his inner peace throughout the novel.

I should have told him then that he was my best friend also and rounded off what he had said. I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth (3.74).” Holds back the truth because of the fear of breaking Finny’s heart.

Fueled by jealousy, he tries to make himself and Phineas “equals”. In the beginning, Gene describes Finny with nothing but adoration. However, he does use foreshadowing to show Gene’s underlying jealousy for his best friend from early on. Phineas tells Gene that he is his best friend, to which, Gene is unable to respond, “stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, that contains the truth.” The point-of-view and foreshadowing that Knowles uses help to develop this theme that is prominent to

In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, The beginning of the story Gene returns to Devon fifteen years later. When Gene went to Devon things different because of World War II going on. Both Gene and Finny were best friends who did everything together. On the other hand, Finny and Gene had their difference from time to time throughout the story. Gene and Finny differ from each other in athletic ability, their goals, and their perspective of friendship.