Gene Chapter Summary

Spoiler reports say that Billy will meet his old employee Bethany when he goes to the bar. She used to work at the bar when he owned it and upon seeing him, recognizes him immediately. She chats with him and tries to charm him but soon realizes that he is lost.

I personelly believe that Gene just went to remain leader. He definitely needs friends, but he seems to put his personal gain over the feelings of others. This book just seems to get better and better. Gene seems to get meaner and meaner. At the end of the book I wouldn’t be surprised if Gene is pure evil, or maybe even a

Gene wants to forget everything. He feels as though he acted as an abomination. He does not want

that just because he was jealous of Phineas, it killed him. It made him realize a lot of things though. It affected Gene in both a good and bad way because of him being jealous of

As he was processing everything he begins to realize that Finny was not the enemy, but he himself was his own enemy. As stated in the article, “Gene realizes that his real enemy is himself and his impulse towards mindless destruction-and he believes he overcame this enemy only after causing Phineas’ death” (Alton). This was one part of him achieving peace. He had to realize his own faults to come to terms with what had happened. Another way that shows Gene has found peace is that he understands that all people have others that they see as enemies, but may after all not be. To show this Gene states, “All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy” (Knowles 204). This shows his maturity, and that he understands it was a childish mistake. He knows that everyone goes through having their own enemy, and he has come to peace with having his. It took Gene a very long time, but he did find his closure and

The friendship between Gene and Finny grows stronger when they go through conflict, resolving differences, forgiveness, and accepting each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Gene goes to Finny’ s house when he is recovering from his shattered leg, Gene tries telling Finny that he had jounced the tree when Finny was about to jump off the tree. Finny tells Gene to leave and he says he doesn’t believe what Gene was telling him. At the end of the novel A Separate Peace, Finny forgives Gene for making Finny fall out of the tree and hurts him.

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him. Gene hopes that Finny gets caught and punished for his disgraceful lies. Gene comments, “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that” (Knowles 12). Gene’s envy and imitation makes him talk his way out of anything. He sees through Finny mischievous ways. Another way Gene is affected is that, Gene sees that he is the only one jealous, but have been denying his feelings of hatred and jealousy towards Finny. Gene remarks, “You always win at sports. This “you”

Gene and Phineas, two contrasting sixteen year olds, are roommates at a boarding school, the Devon School. After meeting for the first time, Gene and Phineas, whose nickname is Finny, engage in several adventures together. These adventures include a treacherous jump from a tree, which only the seventeen year olds do as a requirement for graduation. Gene and Finny also travel to the beach, wrestle with each other, and play a made - up game, blitzball. From the outside in, these activities might paint a picture of a growing friendship, but time will tell otherwise.

Gene constantly struggles with his friendships. His paranoid personality highly affects his friendship. Gene convinced himself that Finny is out to get him. Gene thinks, “I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (54). Gene convinces himself that his whole friendship with Finny is just a “deadly rivalry” between the two of them. He places blame on both parties, although the blame lies with him. Gene’s insecurity also challenges his friendship with Finny. Finny wears a pink polo to class one day. Gene thinks, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything....because of the extraordinary kind of person he was. It was quite a compliment to me, as a matter of fact, to have such a person choose me for his best friend” (29). Gene’s insecurities about himself are shown because he believes that he could never be able to do something like wearing a pink polo to school, but Finny could. One can’t have a healthy relationship with someone if they constantly feel less than. Gene’s friendships are also affected by jealousy. When Finny gets away with wearing the school tie as a belt to

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).

Gene and Phineas were opposites from each other. Phineas is more athletic and outgoing while Gene was academically smart and stayed within himself. Gene admires Phineas’s ability to stay out of trouble and his athletic ability in sports. Through his telling, he believes Phineas is trying to keep him away from his academics by forming a club called Super Suicide Society. In the club Phineas and Gene jump off from a tree every meeting. When decided to jump off together Gene made an intentional accident and caused Phineas

Billy was currently enrolled at Lincoln Elementary, the only school in the small town of Richfield, Maine. At this school, there were only 200 children enrolled. It had a large front lawn with many trees and multiple paths leading to the desolate woods. The school was old and run-down, made of wood originally, but it was eventually expanded upon with brick.

When Gene goes back to Devon school he starts to remember events of his time at the school. Gene was best friends with Phineas during his time at Devon. While, they were the best of friends, Gene has always been under Phineas shadow, as he is deemed less athletic and attractive. This all culminates to Gene pushing Phineas from a tree, shattering his leg, and ending his athletic career. Things spiral down for Gene as he deals with newfound guilt and a inner struggle within himself. He eventually confesses, but Phineas denies this heavily. When Gene eventually comes backs, but is then scared of the truth when another student named Brinker accuses him of

Gene and his friend Phineas form the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session and have a tradition to jump off a tree branch at every meeting. While at the swimming pool, Gene and Finny notice a swimming record and Finny says “I have a feeling I can swim faster than A. Hopkins Parker” (Knowles 43). When Finny sees the record, his confidence boosts because he is positive that he can beat the time. Gene starts to get nervous because he does not want his friend to be better than him. As the stopwatch ticks, Finny gets closer to the end of his lap, he finishes and Gene reads his time. Finny exclaims “My God! So I really did it. You know what? I thought I was going to do it” (Knowles 43). In this moment, Gene is filled with jealousy but tries to hide it for the sake of his friend. Finny has a secret athletic gene in him that he is not interested in using and now that it is discovered Gene is beyond jealous. High up in a tree, on a branch, hanging over a river Gene takes a step “Holding firmly to the trunk I took a step

Billy finished the toast and the tea, even though it tasted weird, and went to find the landlady. He called for her and before he finished saying her name she appeared in the doorway. “ Thank you for feeding me, giving me a bed, and being nice to me. I will pay you