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

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).

Envy can cause even the best of friends to turn against each other. In the book, “A Separate Peace,” written by John Knowles, an envious spirit got in between a real friendship. The character, Gene, gained a bitterness towards his closest friend after noticing how good his life had been going. A Separate Peace demonstrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him (Gene), how it affects his relationship with Finny and Gene’s lack of peace.

Conversations between Gene and Finny helped to illustrate their divergence in both morality and feeling. When Finny dragged Gene to the beach with him, he made a confession. In his talk about who to bring with you to the beach, Finny told Gene, “the proper person is your best pal, which is what you are.” Finny revealed his raw emotions and displayed a deep feeling of friendship with Gene. Unfortunately Gene did not reciprocate, not having yet recognized the value of Finny’s companionship.

Throughout the novel, you can see that Gene in a constant jealousy between Finny. Gene, he has the strengths of academics but he lacks the personality of goodwill and tries to be someone he is not. While on the other hand Finny is weak in academics but is strong in athletics and is wholehearted. Finny is a stronger character morally he is faced with the idea that his “best friend” Gene could have killed him. Finny is a stronger

When he realizes that Finny legitimately cares about him, he feels guilty and strives to develop a more positive outlook on life. At the end of the book, Gene realizes that Finny never thought of anyone as evil and had a true desire to see people succeed.

The envy Gene felt for Finny drove him to a state of mind where his goal was to beat Finny or at least be tied equal with him. Gene had an academic advantage over Finny and at first thought that they were even, but he ended up thinking that, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies”(Knowles 53). He tries to focus more on his studies in order to beat Finny. Eventually, Gene is consumed by his envious ways and he finally makes a

Genes envy and imitation of Finny affect him. Finnys ability to talk his way out of trouble affected Gene’s feelings. According to Knowles,” he had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment “(28). This explains how Gene is discussing his disappointed feelings toward Finny.

Finny, being a kind-hearted person, wanted Gene to fit in. However, Finny did not realize Gene needed to study to pass the classes. Gene wishes Phineas would be an average person. Seeing Finny as a major athlete made Gene jealous since all he had was smarts. Gene was never meant to physically hurt Phineas.

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.

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’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

Second, the injury puts Finny in the hospital, separating the two, which cause Gene to suffer depression. As Finny is badly wounded, he has to leave his boarding school, Devon, for a long period of time. He spends his time in the hospital, away from Gene. FurthermoreThis makes Gene regret his decision even more. Not only are Gene and Finny physically separated, but also emotionally separated. Essentially, Gene loses his

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

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

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