A Separate Peace: Jealousy

In this quote, Gene is explaining the rivalry that he has sensed with Phineas. At this point, Finny has made a major athletic accomplishment, but refrained from making it a big deal. Phineas has kept silent about what he did and not used it to his advantage in the rivalry

| Gene strives to be either better or equal to Finny. He has the smarts, and Phineas has the athletics. Again, he is not being a good friend by comparing themselves with each other.

A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is a seemingly simple yet heartbreaking story that gives the reader an inside look and analysis of the reality of human nature. Set permanently in the main character Gene’s point of view, the audience is first taken to the present of a reflective and now wise man (Gene) and then plunged into his past back in 1942 to relive the harsh lessons that youth brought him. Along with vivid imagery of tranquil days past, a view into the social construct of a boy’s private school, Devon, and the looming presence of World War 2 on the horizon, there is also a significant power struggle that the reader can observe almost instantly. Conquering the need to be supreme in the situations of the war, high school, social interactions, and even simple moments that

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

“I don’t give any reason for anyone to hate me. They create their own little drama out of jealousy.”-David James. Gene is jealous of Phineas, because he is better at everything. In the book A Separate Peace there is a lot of evidence proving this quote.

He’s always trying to find a way to impress them to make him feel better about himself. For example, he tries to romanticize his background by hanging up pictures of plantations in his room. “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (60). In this quote, Gene let his jealousy control him and he jounced the limb Finny was on. It seems like it was more of an impulse and that he never actually meant to hurt Phineas. By the end of the book, Gene has become very loyal to Phineas because he learned that he shouldn’t take things for granted. “I would have talked about that, but they would not, and I would not talk about Phineas in any other way” (197). He feels differently about Phineas after he died and he has dealt with his jealousy. Gene used to view anything as a competition with his friends, but he realizes that it was never a

In A Separate Peace Gene and Finny’s friendship has to tackle a lot of obstacles. Gene and Finny were never exactly on the same page when it came to their friendship. Each of them was always assuming about the other. One of the book’s messages is that friendships take work, and if the friendship is worth it, then you should put in the work. In A Separate Peace, there are prevalent themes of friendship, how friends can help or hurt one another, and the sacrifices made for loved ones.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

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

Gene was attempting to be top of his class academically, but he was continuously being distracted by Finny. Oneday Gene decided to ask Finny if he would be upset if Gene was top of their class. Finny responded by saying, “‘I’d kill myself out of jealous envy’” (Knowles 52). Although Phineas said that in a joking manner, it is clearly that he really would be jealous if Gene was top of their class. Finny loved to be first, and he didn’t like when people threatened his position. After pondering on Finny’s comment, Gene realized, that he may have, “deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies” (Knowles 53). Finny clearly had extreme envy of Gene for better academically. It is unhealthy for friends to be jealous of each other, especially when taken to that extreme. Finny was being unsupportive and selfish, just so that he could be better than Gene.

Normally when you think of friends, you do not associate them with fear. It seems like Knowles associated fear with Gene's friends. After purposely jostling the tree branch to injure Phineas, Gene did not want to immediately tell Phineas what had actually happened. Gene said that his fear of jumping off the tree branch was forgotten after this event. Phineas did not know if he had fallen on his own or if he had been pushed by Gene. Gene was understandably worried about Finny's reaction to this conversation, so he put the conversation off for as long as he could. He also did not completely trust Phineas. Even though they were supposedly friends, Gene thought that Finny was secretly one of his rivals. Gene said, "The way I believed that you're-my-best-friend blabber" (Knowles 53). Finally, Gene showed that he was fearful of his friends toward the ending of A Separate Peace. When Brinker decided that there must be a trial to determine what had happened to Phineas, Gene fretted about what his fellow students might discover about him. Brinker said, "What I mean is it wouldn't do you any harm, you know, if everything about Finny's accident was cleared up and forgotten" (Knowles 160). He did not want them to find out about his role in Finny's injury. After Phineas injured his leg rushing down the steps of the Assembly Hall, Gene seemed to have a sense of fear until Finny died. Phineas never seemed to fear Gene, even after he had found out about Gene's role in his injury.

Human nature is notorious for its trait of jealousy. One may grow hostile when he desperately seeks another’s possession or talent. This statement is evident in the character of Gene from John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Throughout the story, he is jealous because his friend, Finny, has exceptional athletic ability. After one regretful action from Gene, Finny starts facing tough circumstances, eventually separating them. A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene demonstrates how envy can tear friendships apart.

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

Despite being best friends, they each have very different views of each other, and of the world. Both characters are insecure in their own ways, but Gene’s insecurity is much more clear. Throughout the novel he refuses to stand up for himself, he goes along with any of Finny’s ideas, whether he agrees with them or not. This includes the time Gene went with Finny to the beach instead of studying for his test, or all the times they skipped class when Gene knew it was a bad idea. Phineas, several times during the story, refuses to accept reality. For example, he refused to accept that Gene pushed him out of the tree on purpose, intending to hurt him. He also refuses to believe the war is real because he knows that because of his leg he is unable to serve in it, while Gene believes the war and even wants to enlist in the army. Gene, for the majority of the novel, sees their friendship as a competition, and feels that Phineas is betraying him; he feels that they are each trying just to be better than the other. He sees himself as better than Finny, because while Finny is an exceptional athlete and a poor student, he is an outstanding student, and a rather good athlete. Gene becomes so obsessed with this competition, that he purposely pushed Phineas, his best friend, out of the tree, indirectly killing him. Phineas, however, did not see their friendship in this way. All Genes thoughts of Finny trying to compete with him are false. Phineas

Another example of finny being better and saying, "I can do it and you can't". Gene knew as a fact that he could not invent a new sport and get enough attention for it. Gene could not do many things that Finny was able to do, such as talk his way out of anything. During summer school, Finny was able to talk his way out of getting in trouble a couple times. When he and Gene had skipped dinner to go to the tree, they were caught when they were walking back. All he did was talk to the teacher right there, and nothing ever came up about again. Another time was when Finny was at the headmaster's house for tea, he was wearing a tie as a belt, but the odd part was that it was the school tie. Again, Phineas explained to the headmaster, that wearing the school tie as a belt, contributed to the war effort. All he had to do was explain it, and he never got in trouble again. Gene probably wished he had the ability to do that; however, he knew that only Finny could do it, and with such ease.