A Separate Piece By John Knowles: Character Analysis

Throughout the story Finny thinks him and Gene are friends; when they are really enemies. In the novel Gene says, “what was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?” (Knowles 5). The narrator’s jealousy, starts to grow more towards the other character. The hate Gene has for Finny builds up and eventually leads to his death. Their relationship got more affected when Gene admitted to causing the accident, and caused Finny to never play sports again. When Gene admits to hurting Finny, it changes both of the characters, and their friendship was hanging by a

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affected him. One way Gene is affected is by how he wouldn’t think a situation all the way through. For example, Finny stated “You can’t stand around admiring the view. Jump!”(Knowles 5). This was the beginning of his unusual behavior because Gene would even question himself on how Finny talked him into stupid things, such as jumping from tree. Another way Gene is affected is by his identity. In the story, Gene said “I decided to put on his clothes” (Knowles 33). Gene would get so used to wearing Finny’s clothes, that he would forget what belongs

Gene is blaming everything on himself, making him feel like a bad person bringing him down. Gene said “ It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before”. Gene accidently injured Finny and he is constantly taking the blame for Finny’s injury even though these things happen. Gene even said “I killed my enemy there” but Gene had no involvement in FInny’s injury. Finny fell down the marble stairs and died. Gene managed to connect this event to the injury that he believes he caused, saying that he killed Finny. A person must be both confident and humble. Gene is humble but not confident in what he does and his martyrdom is causing him to quickly lose

“If I was ahead of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all. We would be even” (52) This is the start of the metaphoric war Knowles portrays in the novel. Gene begins to believe that Finny is making the Suicide Society meet every night in attempt to make him fall behind on his studies. After this Gene begins to work hard to ensure grades that are at the top of his clase. “New attacks of studying were his emergency measures to save himself. I redoubled my effort.”(55) Gene thinks that he is ahead of Finny’s mind games until he discovers that Finny isn’t after his valedictorian spot. “Now I knew there never was and never could have been a rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he.” (59) As any reader would be able to tell, Gene is going insane trying to understand Finny and what he is after. The snowball fight can help symbloize the war going on in Gene’s head. In the snowball fight scene the only way to win is if you beat Finny. Meaning that Gene will stop being paranoid if it is made clear that Finny is jeoulouse of Gene. Finny doesnt mean to make Gene paranoid but Gene thinks Finny is doing it on purpose. However, if Gene just takes a step back, he would see that Finny is a good friend, who has Gene’s best interest at heart. He is

Gene combats his jealousy of Finny in a large inner war. He is jealous of Finny’s loving nature and athleticism. Gene jealousy leads him to conclude that Finny is trying to sabotage him so Finny could be better than Gene. As Gene develops more jealousy, it leads him to think that Finny secretly hates him. ”Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies.....We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (45). He can’t stand this thought and he makes a plan to get even with him by being the top student in class. His jealousy leads him to have a drive to get even and then eventually beat Finny. Gene was jealous of Finny, but he realized it was only on his side. He learns that Finny was never trying to sabotage him

Furthermore, this immensely supports my clause in how Gene was jealous of Finny and was fighting an inner struggle. Gene made this comment because he was trying to hide his jealousy under a mask due to his non athleticism unlike Finny. Gene foresees that Finny is very popular and has many friends from the Devon school around him because he's so endearing to be around. In other words, This is also a silent blow to Finny because with the comparison of being surrounded by a hockey team, it shows that Gene was getting at that Finny is surrounded by chaos and loudness like Gene endured when around Finny just like a real hockey team. Jealousy goes hand in hand with creating our darkest

Gene is a real trip in the story and to his friends; especially Finny. Gene has a tendency to hide behind people so he will not have to take up for his actions and take a responsibility. Gene would much rather go with what everyone else thinks rather than tell the truth and risk him look like the bad one as he did to save himself from Finny ‘“Oh no, I wouldn’t do that,”’ (71). Gene was the reason Finny shattered his leg because Gene was the one that jounced the limb making Finny fall from it and straight to the bed of the river (60). When Finny was laying in the infirmary after this Gene went to tell he did it, but Finny would not have it and this foible of Finny’s made Genes getaway. By Finny being forgiving and innocent Gene had the upmost perfect opportunity to lie and get the heat off of him even if Finny knew it. Gene was the best liar at Devon, but he was drowned with insecurities. Gene did all of these horrible things to himself because he was insecure about who is was and who he was not as stated in chapter 11 “a barefaced lie about my background” (156). Gene comes from an average family from the south and is only at Devon due to his academics and on a scholarship while everyone else comes from money. Seeing and living with Finny and seeing him being the center of attention, getting away with everything, being ignorant, and not having a care in the world; it made Gene envious. This sinful envy leads Gene right into a war he thinks is with finny “The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (54), but this war was just between Gene and himself. Gene goes through his life at Devon very selfish and envious, and he never stopped to think about Finny or anyone else other than himself. A Separate Peace never shows Gene growing up or maturing until fifteen years later and he comes back to Devon to take a short trip down memory lane (9). As he is back to Devon

Gene created his own enemy in the person he wanted to be, Finny. Finny was everything Gene had a desire to become, athletic, popular and most importantly he had a true identity . Gene was never wronged by Finny and he didn't envy his person. He envied the fact Finny is the person he desired to become. This feeling caused Gene to enemize Finny and therefore he created a war with his insecurities. Even though it is portrayed that Finny and Gene are best friends the action of each character depicts the fact there is a silent battle. As the plot of the book progresses Gene's war continues to be fought although he is the only one fighting. Throughout the novel you see changes in Gene, these changes are part of his war. As Gene become to transition

In high schools all around the world there are students that might have a lot of friends or just a few, and it is the same with friendships too. Those friends and friendships could turn out to be negative or positive, depending on their impact on a student growing up. Like how a student could get peer pressured by his friends into doing drugs or underage drinking and then grow up being an alcoholic or a drug addict. A good situation could start out with a student that is challenged by his friends to do better in school and grows up to be a successful pro sports player or a successful business man who is very wealthy. Friends do have a great impact on who you turn out to be.

Finny is athletic, popular, outgoing, and now has created this super suicide society as a sport and is good at it. In the story Gene says, “you always win at sports” (Knowles, p.35). Finny has made this a sport basically, and Gene has turned it into some sort of competition. Jealousy fills Genes body, because now finny is good at everything, including the things that Gene is not. Now there are a lot more things that Gene says and thinks to himself that show jealousy, but one thing that really catches everyones attention, are the things he

Furthermore, Gene feels as if Finny wants to contest his every move. In many of the following chapters, the reader can see Gene’s inner feelings toward Finny. As the book progresses, we see the alternatives Gene takes towards improving his friendship with Finny as opposed to trying to be better than Finny. Finny does not wish to injure Gene in any way and Finny is constantly there for Gene through the entirety he endures. However, Gene

One way their relationship was affected was when Finny told Gene to jump out the tree later Gene had a sense that there was going to be a next time, and this time wasn’t going to be good. Gene thinks to himself and said, “I went along, I never missed a meeting…we’re off, pal Finny would call out and acting against every instinct of my nature. I went without a thought of protest” (Knowles 34). Before the accident Gene thought of how he could get payback on Finny but the one thing he didn’t plan out was the outcome. And that caused the mistrust Finny started to have.

Gene’s internal enemy was Finny because he was always jealous that Finny was better than him at sports without trying to. Gene wanted to get even with Finny, so he told himself that he needed to be the best in his class academically, so he spent all of his time studying. Gene felt that when Finny asked him to do something fun, Finny was trying to distract him from studying when in reality he was just trying to have fun in despite of the war. Finny had to deal with internal struggle also. He could not understand how his best friend would have purposely jolted the tree branch, making him fall off causing injury that ruined his sports career. Finny did not want to believe Gene did it because he thought that Gene was a better friend than that and would never do anything to hurt him. Once Finny figured out it actually was Gene, he stormed out of the meeting, falling down the stairs and re-broke his leg. Gene’s betrayal resulted in Finny not speaking to Gene for some time. Throughout the book, there were several internal wars within different

Gene assumes that Finny and he despise each other, until he becomes aware of how flawless Finny really is, which Gene loathes. Initially, Gene concludes that Finny wants to surpass him. He thinks that the both of them are enemies yet Gene truckles under Finny.

This jealousy can potentially cause conflict in the future. Gene and Finny are even polar opposites in their academics. Before it was bedtime the two boys studied, “Under the yellow study lights we read our Hardy assignments; I was halfway through Tess of the D’Urbervilles, he carried on his baffled struggle with Far from the Madding Crowd…” (7). Gene is clearly more successful in his academics where Finny struggles more. Despite this, one would think that Finny would have some yearn for Gene’s book smarts but quite the contrary happens, where Gene has a jealousy for Finny’s athleticism. There potentially could be a conflict that arises from what Gene considers Finny mocking him. Finny helps Gene in the way of pushing him towards “letting loose” or having fun. Finny boasts, “‘Oh yes I did. I’m good for you that way. You have a tendency to back away from things otherwise.’” (5). Finny pushes Gene to have more fun and enjoy himself, something Gene yearns to have, but this recklessness could potentially get the two in trouble, jeopardizing their friendship. Despite the drastic differences between the two, Gene and Finny still managed to meet in