A Separate Peace Character Analysis

Gene was jealous of Finny throughout the whole book because Finny was more athletically inclined then him, and Finny was able to do basically whatever he wanted to.¨ 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¨(8). This lead Gene to want to be better than Finny, by being first in the class. One night while Gene was studying Finny interrupted him, as he wanted to go jump out of the tree. After a little argument Gene eventually went with Finny to the tree, but he was still kind of angry. This lead Finny to jounce the tree limb. ¨Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. 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 with a sickening, unnatural thud¨(28). Because of this fall, Finny completely shattered his leg. He may have been able to walk again, but he would never play sports again. Because of Gene's jealousy toward Finny he decided to make a rash move, which cost his friend their

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

In this passage Finny talked Gene into jumping off of a tall tree into the lake near their school in order to stay in their club. Once Gene is up on the tree he felt doubt that he would land safely. However, in order to stay friends with Finny, he had to do it. This is an Intratextual Connection because earlier in the novel Gene explains that even though he doesn’t like doing everything Finny feels like doing, he feels like

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

I think that when Gene lies about claiming to be taller than Finny (p.16) is when he begins to feel a small amount of envy. In fact, later on page 18, Gene talks about the way Finny walks gracefully with each step. Furthermore, Gene talks about how Devon has never had a student who combined a calm ignorance for the rules with an urge to be good and who seemed to love the school truly and deeply. This, to me, shows how Finny gets out of trouble easily, besides being charismatic, a gifted athlete, etc. For instance on page 25, Gene states,“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.” He says that when Finny decides to wear pink to celebrate the first bombing and then later reveals his tie being worn as a belt to further push the discussion at afternoon tea. Despite Gene stating that there is nothing wrong with a little envy, he then says, “This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that” following the ‘belt-tie’ reveal. Soon after Finny, unsurprisingly, gets away with it again, and Gene says that he felt a stab of disappointment. However, Gene thinks to himself that Finny is a extraordinary person for being able to get away with everything and how he is glad to be his friend. Yet,

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,

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him in many ways. Gene begins to lose his identity and start conforming to Finny. According to Knowles, “If I was head of the class and won that prize then we would be even…” (27). This quote explains how Gene follows finny by trying to be head of the class with him. Gene gets jealous of Finny being head of the class, so he tells him if he was head they would be even. When Finny introduce jumping off the tree to Gene at first he didn’t want to do it, but he wanted to be like Finny so he did it. In Knowles words, “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? (5).

Sometimes people read a text and do not go any further into the message inside. Howeverin the story A Separate Peace by John Knowles, The character of Finny represents innocence-aninnocence that is destroyed when it is forced to confront the hatred and evil in the real world.Finny is preserved by most as a picture of innocence because he acts like he has nothingto hide from anyone. The reader can infer this because, most of the teachers at Devon seem tothink of him this all good boy way. The reason the reader thinks this is because, they let the stuffthat Finny does, that is against the rules, slide and he does not get in any form of trouble.However when anyone else at Devon done these things they do not let them off as easy. Thisbeing because of the fact that Finny had a certain attitude towards life that made people not seethe bad in him.However later in the novel Finny falls from the tree and

During the incident in which Finny wears a tie as a belt and a pink shirt to a Headmasters tea, Gene had thought that Finny would finally be called out. Gene soon finds out he was wrong, “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…This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that” (24). Gene was beginning to become jealous of Finny but saw no harm towards their friendship. He thought it would make the friendship stronger. While in the pool at Devon, Finny had broken the school swimming record and had told Gene to not tell anyone. Gene had been confused and thought it was unusual that Finny wasn’t going to tell anyone, “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” (35). Gene had been oblivious to his jealousy of Finny’s goodness. Gene was then starting to question Finny’s actions about this particular event, “To keep silent about this amazing happening deepened the shock for me. It made Finny seem too unusual for – not friendship, but too unusual

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

Many times in the novel, Gene struggles with his identity, including when Finny was in the hospital and he decided to put on Finny’s clothes. Gene was thinking, “But when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat I had become, no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas, Phineas to the life” (62). Gene also says how it gave him a relief when he was wearing Finny’s clothes, and that he would never stumble through the confusions of his own character again. After viewing this quote, it is shown that Gene didn’t really understand who he was. He wanted to look like Finny and be Finny. Also, another time Gene struggled with his identity was when he and Finny were talking on the phone while Finny was still gone from Devon. Finny says “‘Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and I lost a 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” (85). At this time in the book, Gene was feeling bad about Finny, and when Finny asked him to play sports for him, Gene felt like he was becoming a part of Finny. Because of this event, it’s shown that Gene didn’t exactly know who he was supposed to

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.

Gene does not intentionally mean for Finny to fall out of the tree. Finny is Gene's role model which is illustrated several times throughout the novel. In fact, Gene idolizes Finny to the point that, “...that evening I put on his cordovan shoes, his pants, and I looked for and finally found his pink shirt, neatly laundered in a drawer,” (Knowles 29). Gene has an implicit obsession with Finny which is what is shown when he deliberately tries on his clothes. Trying on Finny’s clothes shows that Gene looks up to him and desires to be just like Phineas. If Gene truly does idolize Finny, it would be irrational that he would put him role models

As a young man, Gene would compare himself to his best friend Phineas all the time. Gene was very insecure about his inability to play sports. This leads Gene to become envious of Finny. His envy made him paranoid about Finny's motives as his friend. When Gene's focal point was his studies in order to become valedictorian, he thought Finny was "[trying to] deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies" (Knowles 71).

The book A Separate Peace is written in the main character’s perspective. His name is Gene and he isn't very good at sports. Meanwhile his best friend Phineas excels at sports. The book begins with Gene as an adult at his old school Devon. He then begins to talk about about how much he has grown since those day by stating, “ I had more money and success and “security” than in the days when specters seemed to go up and down them with me.” At first I was confused why the author put quotation marks around security but it soon made sense. The author used the literary element Foil to highlight Phineas. The character he used to do this was Gene. This helped the reader establish a sense of feeling and connection with Gene. This is an efficient way to hook the reader in and wanna keep reading. So I will be discussing how exactly the author did this.