Gene's Development in John Knowles' A Separate Peace Essay

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 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

The methods Finny use in order to cope with his fear distorts the way Gene perceives the conflicts surrounding him. A prime example of this is during a time where Finny is in denial of the war as well as Gene being guilty of hurting him. Gene recounts the impact Finny had on him and notices that:

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.

The novel “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles is a story of friendship and conflict. John Knowles uses Gene’s envy to demonstrate that jealousy ruins friendships. This is shown multiple times, including fake friendships, internal conflict becoming physical, and all conflict resulting in the loss of trust of one another.

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).

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

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.

Gene made Finny his enemy, only because he felt envious of his personality and character. Knowles explains that all people should live life to its fullest, and avoid jealousy, envy, and hatred. A liberal humanistic review, shows that Knowles’ novel, promotes the enhancement of life.

When Gene is quick to realize that him and Finny will never be of the same power, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. Gene realizes that Finny is someone who can do anything and he states that “He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could be any rivalry between us. I was not the same quality as he” (59). Gene’s low self-esteem starts to build up as he explains that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be as good and powerful as Phineas. Finny has everything in his power and is capable of so many things also remaining his own person. However, Gene feels the complete opposite as he understands that to become someone as mighty as Finny, he has to change who he is to even get Finny to notice him as a threat. As a result of this unequal

Friendship is one of the most important relationships that people form in all of their lives. Children build bonds when they are young and use those skills to continue fulfilling friendships for the rest of their lives. Throughout A Separate Peace, John Knowles displays the good things about close friendships but also the hardships that often occur. Gene and Finny are two boys that attend Devon school. Which is a school that closely reflects the one that Knowles attended while he was growing up. Both Gene and Finny emotionally grow despite their opposite personalities, and they go through several situations that force them to consider the value of their friendship. Through their time at the school, Knowles reveals Gene’s and Finny’s

One of the most major conflicts of the book is Gene wishing he could be like his best friend Finny and being dangerously jealous of him. Genes jealousy got the best of him when he decided to step on a branch on purpose, which leads to Finny falling and breaking his leg. Sadly, Finny breaks his leg again and dies from bone marrow passing into the bloodstream during surgery and it was caused by the first break of his leg that Gene caused. Gene learns from this that he should not compare himself to others, because it is simply not fair. There is growth shown in Gene when he learns this and he knows that if he let it happen again it could have tragic consequences. It took losing a best friend for Gene to know that he

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.

Finny is out of school for a while and Gene admits that he caused this on purpose and Finny is distraught about