Gene's 'Friendship In A Separate Peace'

In order to find the answer to that question, we must look at the bad things and the good things about their relationship. Let’s start with the good things. Gene and Finny complemented each other. Where Gene lacked in athletics, Phineas exceeded, and where Finny lacked in grades, Gene exceeded. After Finny’s tragic accident, which meant he could no longer play sports, he helped Gene become athletic to take his place. Since Finny was crippled, Gene helped him get better

At the start, Gene is instantly jealousy of Finny, creating a fake friendship that is fueled by competition. This is shown when he wants to do something so he is good at, so he “was becoming the best student in the school: Phineas was without question the best athlete, so in that way we were even” (Knowles 55). This proves that their friendship is fueled by competition because it shows that Gene always wants to be even. This

“I wanted to see Phineas, and only Phineas. With him there was no conflict except between athletes… This was the only conflict he had ever believed in.” (page 152) When Gene returns from Leper’s house, all he wants to do is see Finny. Gene says that Finny never believed in any conflict, which alludes to when Gene admitted to making him fall out of the tree, and Finny refusing to believe him. Gene wants to forget about what happened, as the event is fresh in his mind after coming back from Leper’s. He still subconsciously trusts Finny to not bring up the subject of what happened at the tree.

As Gene feels the obligation to lose himself to become Finny, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. When Finny tells Gene that he has to play sports in the place of Finny himself, Gene says, “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas” (77). Gene loses who he is to become the powerful Finny because told him to do so. He feels the need to give up his identity seeing that he has the order to do. This results in an unequal friendship because a true friend would never force someone to do something that would make them lose who they actually are. Gene and Finny’s unbalanced friendship eventually causes paranoia and insecurity on the less powerful side known as Gene because he is giving himself up.

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

Although Phineas clearly had a negative relationship with Gene, some people argue that he was an acceptable friend because he was able to forgive Gene for making Phineas fall off the limb. When Gene visited Finny in the hospital after he learned that Gene jounced the limb, at first, Finny felt betrayed, however, after he saw the guilt on Gene’s face, he realized that, “it was just some kind of impulse decision… [Gene] didn’t know what [he] was doing” (Knowles 191). Then Finny knew that he didn’t do it because Gene despised him, he jolted the branch because he had no time to think about what he was

During A Separate Peace Gene goes on two visits. One to Boston to visit Finny, and the other to Lepers home in Vermont. The reason for these visits may be the fact that Gene feels guilty. During this part of the book we get to see the dark side of Gene. John Knowles is a great writer because he can make you think for hours on a motive and every word has a major purpose. This book is about friendships, and the love/hate in all of them. Gene may just be going on these visits just for his own satisfaction. He may feel guilty. That is why this book is great, everything has several possible motives.

Gene knows he caused the fall and he tries to embrace this in his own way by admitting what he has done to Phineas. Gene says to him, “ ‘I was thinking about it… about you because- I was thinking about you and the accident because I caused it’ ”(Knowles 55). Gene admits to Finny he jounced the limb. This shows he can accept what he has done, but Finny rejects his confession, and puts the weight back on Gene. Finny fails to adapt while Gene continues to develop, causing Phineas to perish, while Gene thrives. In the article, “A Separate Peace”, it reads, “Despite an attempted confession by Gene, Finny seems obliviously unaware of Gene’s responsibility for his condition”(“A Separate Peace” 1). Finny refuses to understand what Gene has done. Gene knows and tries to confess but is denied an acceptance of apology from Finny, who does not believe Gene is to blame for his accident at all. Gene is entirely able to adapt but Phineas holds him back, because unlike Gene, Finny is unable to

The further you read into the book A Separate peace the hostility and jealousy increases and grows stronger between Finny and Gene. Gene and Finny have an inner hate and feeling to be better than the other. In one instant the hostility and jealous feeling inside of Gene takes over. Gene shakes the tree limb that Finny was on to make Finny fall off a tree and break his leg. In my opinion,

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.

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.

In John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene and Finny are still the protagonists in chapter eleven. Gene and Finny still have a very strong and healthy friendship, especially with cvbgsgsyasyasyaleverything that has happened in the past. When Gene comes back from his emotional time with Leper at his home in Vermont, the only person he wants to see if Phineas, “I wanted to see Phineas, and Phineas only. With him there was no conflict except between athletes” (Knowles 152). Gene had a difficult time at Leper’s home

Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene’s desire to assimilate into his friend, Phineas, is expressed many times. It is hard to tell whether it is out of jealousy, hatred, or envy, but this desire to become Phineas seems to become Gene’s top priority. At Devon, Gene is constantly comparing himself to Phineas and finds himself feeling envious of Phineas due to his athleticism, friendliness, and ability to always get his way. Gene feels as though Finny is superior and becomes jealous of Finny. For these reasons, Gene tries to be more like Phineas by completely absorbing himself into Phineas’ personality. John Knowles portrays Finny as Christ-like, and displays many parallels between the Garden of Eden and other important stories and events that shape

After the incident that occurred to Finny, Gene goes to Finny’s house to see him. At Finny’s house, he tells Finny the truth and confesses that he is the one that made Finny fall off the tree, causing him to be the way he is. Once Finny hears this, he tries not to believe what Finny said denies it. But yet after Gene tells his story, he feels even more guilty for feeling like he’s now hurt Finny emotionally by confessing the truth, “It struck me then that I was injuring him again. It occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I had done before… I couldn’t think. However it was, it was worse for him to know it. I had to take it back” ( 70). Gene felt guilty and didn’t want to hide the truth from Finny but once he did he felt like he hurt him even more. Later on, when Gene and Finny are together, Gene tries to tell Finny what really happened, that he caused the incident; but Finny does not give him a chance to let Gene tell him the truth, “Naturally I don't believe books and I don't believe teachers, but I do believe-it's important for me to believe you. Christ, I've got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody" (154). This makes Gene feel more guilty for having Finny trust him all along and then breaking his trust by telling him the truth. Gene regrets telling Finny because he doesn’t want to hurt Finny even more. Furthermore in the book, when Gene comes to see Finny with the note from Dr. Stanpole asking him to bring stuff for Finny. When the Gene and Finny meet thy first talk about the war and Finny brings up his incident about what happened few months ago. He tells Finny that he’s sure Gene didn’t do it from anger or hatred for him and asks Gene to confirm it. In reply to Finny, Gene states, “No, I don’t know how to show you, how can I show you, Finny? Tell me how to show you. It was just some ignorance

Throughout the book, Gene feels the need to compete with Phineas. This causes him to act differently than he normally would. For example, when he starts to compare himself to Finny, he makes the assumption that “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. ”(Knowles, 53).