A Separate Peace Finny Analysis

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

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

Finny pushes Gene until he get’s what he wants. As soon as Gene begins to show discomfort, Finny quickly jumps in with teasing and almost forces Gene to jump. “ Come on’, drawled Finny from below ‘Stop standing there showing off.’ I recognized with automatic tenseness that the view was very impressive from here. ‘When they torpedo the troopship’ he shouted, ‘you can’t stand around admiring the view. Jump!’ 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?” (Knowles 10-11). Finny almost does have a sort of hold on Gene. Maybe it’s not a physical hold but emotionally, Finny is seemingly in control of Gene enough to be able to force him to do things that Gene himself things are stupid. Why would anyone go along with anything they think is stupid? Why would anyone put their own life in danger because someone else asked them to? It’s simple, Finny is a very manipulative boy who seemingly achieves what ever he sets his mind

Gene pushes Finny out of the tree due to jealousy. This shows just how much jealousy Gene has. He is willing to hurt someone because of one tiny thing after another. All Finny has done so far is be himself. Gene overreacts and seriously injures his “best

Deceived by the happiness and peace that Finny fabricates through these stories and denial, Gene’s credulous nature renders him unable to relate to the bitter, barbaric ways of the war, and he ceases to comprehend its existence entirely, as well as doubt his own intentions the day him and Finny were on the tree. This emphasizes the amount of influence Finny had on Gene’s perception of the war, and himself. Similarly, after the death of Finny, the narrator reflects on his past and the impact Finny had on his life, realizing

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

Over the summer session, Gene becomes close friends with Finny, an adventurous and amazingly trusting person. Gene, on the other hand, is a person who is more self-centered and doesn’t believe in Finny’s remarkable lack of hatred that makes him so unique. He believes that Finny is jealous of his academic prowess just like he is jealous of Finny’s superior athletic ability. Soon Gene realizes that his jealousy has blinded him to Finny’s authentic benevolence. Together they go on many adventures, and one day Finny and Gene decide to climb up a tree and jump into the river. Finny is balancing on a branch, ready to jump, when Gene accidently bounces the branch, causing Finny to fall. Finny broke his leg and was told that he would never be able to play sports again. Gene feels guilty about his role in the incident and tries to convince Finny that it was his fault. Finny laughs it off and doesn’t blame Gene for his role in the incident, showing more of his amiable personality. The summer session then ends, and both the boys go back to their homes. Gene visits Finny’s home, and he tells Finny that he bounced the branch on purpose. Finny doesn’t believe him and so Gene goes back to school. Brinker Hadley, a serious and responsible class politician, asks Gene if he wants to join the army with him. Gene agrees, but Finny’s return to the school causes his and Brinker’s idea to come to nothing.

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).

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

Gene’s trust towards Finny first subtly comes through after returning from Leper’s house. “I wanted to see Phineas, and only Phineas. With him there was no conflict except between athletes… This was the only conflict he had ever believed in.” (Knowles, 152)When Gene returns from Leper’s house, all he wants to do is see

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.

North, right, black, left, south, white. At first glance, these seem to be a jumble of words. However, if you rearrange the order into ‘north, south, left, right, black, white” the words become opposites. Disparity is much more discernible when contrasting elements are placed right next to each other; in other words, juxtaposition. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters Phineas(Finny) and Gene were developed through juxtaposition, making their differences especially apparent.

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.

Finny's strong and solid character is again evident the night of the tree jumping in which he fell and broke his leg. Prior to the occurrence, Gene explodes when Finny automatically assumes Gene will be present at the Suicide Society tree "leap"(46). Finny's thinking that studies can just be abandoned at anytime infuriates Gene. Once Gene