Summary Of 'A Separate Peace'

Sometimes this causes built up resentment and eventually could cause both of the friends to be hurt because of one rash decision like shaking a tree branch. While only Phineas was physically hurt Gene was in an emotional battle with himself about what he has done to Finny and what he thinks of him. Eventually the other boys at Devon find out Gene shook the tree branch, which causes them to lose respect of him. The thought of shaking Phineas out of a tree would have never normally crossed Gene’s mind but him viewing Phineas as a competitor instead of a friend made the idea seem fine for the split second it took for him to shake the branch. The idea hit him just like when he thinks about stealing the doctor’s car. He only even thinks about shaking the limb for an instant, a single life changing moment, and with “some kind of blind impulse”, as Phineas describes it, he shakes the branch. In contrast when he “idly considered stealing” a car even if he thinks about it for a second he can decide not to after the first few steps. Once the tree branch is shaken Phineas’ fate is sealed. Competition and rivalry can cause people to replace trust in each other with protection from each other and cause them to build up walls to separate and protect themselves from their competitors. Not everyone constructs these fortresses of secrets and distrust. Some people are open and trusting of

Gene was jealous of Finny throughout the whole book because Finny was more athletically inclined then him, and Finny was able to do basically whatever he wanted to.¨ I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little¨(8). This lead Gene to want to be better than Finny, by being first in the class. One night while Gene was studying Finny interrupted him, as he wanted to go jump out of the tree. After a little argument Gene eventually went with Finny to the tree, but he was still kind of angry. This lead Finny to jounce the tree limb. ¨Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud¨(28). Because of this fall, Finny completely shattered his leg. He may have been able to walk again, but he would never play sports again. Because of Gene's jealousy toward Finny he decided to make a rash move, which cost his friend their

The summer and winter sessions symbolized Gene’s loss of innocence. During the summer sessions, the boys of Devon were carefree and showed no respect for the rules, while the teachers put no effort into enforcing the rules. “This was the way the masters tended to treat us that summer,” (Knowles 23). Together, Gene and Finny formed the

One way it affected them is because at one point, Gene thought Finny was out to get him. Gene stated “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 28). Gene claimed Finny tried to sabotage his grades so “the great athlete” would be ahead of him. Gene came to the conclusion that this was the reason Finny wanted to do everything with him; to give him less time for studying. After finding out Finny’s true intensions, there relationship became stronger because they had a connection. In the story, “Phineas, too, feels their connection: after the accident, he informs Gene that he must become an athlete in Finny’s stead” (Alton). Gene becoming an athlete made there bond with each other that much better. At this point, the both of them finally started to have something they liked, and to enjoy the moment. Do to Gene’s action, he made it challenging to find

Up in the tree Gene sees that Phineas felt no jealousy or hatred towards him and that he is perfect in every way. So he becomes aware that he is the only jealous one and that he truly is a savage underneath. For a long period of time Gene had been denying his feelings of hatred and jealousy towards Phineas, saying to himself that this was completely normal and it will go away in time. But when all the feelings came back to him and he saw how terrible he is, he did not know what to do but to bring Phineas down to his level by jouncing on the limb.

Gene was attempting to be top of his class academically, but he was continuously being distracted by Finny. Oneday Gene decided to ask Finny if he would be upset if Gene was top of their class. Finny responded by saying, “‘I’d kill myself out of jealous envy’” (Knowles 52). Although Phineas said that in a joking manner, it is clearly that he really would be jealous if Gene was top of their class. Finny loved to be first, and he didn’t like when people threatened his position. After pondering on Finny’s comment, Gene realized, that he may have, “deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies” (Knowles 53). Finny clearly had extreme envy of Gene for better academically. It is unhealthy for friends to be jealous of each other, especially when taken to that extreme. Finny was being unsupportive and selfish, just so that he could be better than Gene.

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

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affected him. Gene became paranoid and assumed Finny was out to get him. The author states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 53). Gene took Finny’s act of kindness and made it seem like something negative. Gene thinks Phineas is purposely trying to mess his grades up by distracting him. Gene’s personality changed, making him harm others. The book reads, “Then my knees bent and I jounced the limb.”

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.

Trapped in his state of jealousy and insecurities, Gene feels a sense of hostility towards Phineas, causing him to be unable to find peace within himself. Comparing

Since that Brinker is this way, maybe Gene thinks of him as Phineas, without having him affect his studies. I think that the author puts hints in the book that compares the war to Gene and Phineas, even though they can be subtle, this one is not. The war is between two different countries, as the internal war is between Gene and Phineas. Phineas is making a move at Gene every chance he takes, just like a war, even though I do not think that he means harm to him. Gene does not deal with this good, because he thinks to himself that Phineas is doing this on purpose, which is an internal war for him.

Gene gradually becomes jealous of Phineas’ athletic abilities. Gene comes to believe that Phineas is jealous of his academic achievements. He thinks that Phineas is trying to keep him from studying, and becoming greater

Gene states that he has intricate feelings deep within himself, which holds the truth. Gene nearly confesses to Phineas about how he feels the same as him, but does not because of his feelings. The feelings that held him back were inferiority and envy. Gene is envious of Phineas’s athleticism, appearance, and charisma. He feels inferior to Phineas because they are opposites, but they are still best friends. He compares himself to Phineas which makes him realize how different in personalities, talents, and skills they possess. He also wants the worst possibility to happen when it involves Phineas and his tendency to break rules because he is tired of Phineas’s ability to get away from everything. Gene hopes that Phineas would get reprimanded for his actions, like at the time when he is caught by their austere teacher for wearing the school tie as a belt, because “he had gotten away with everything. [So, he feels] a “sudden stab of disappointment (21).” He also envies Phineas’s creativity because at that moment, Phineas was able to improvise an alibi, which enables him to make the teacher laugh. Phineas is focusing a lot on Phineas’s good traits, which results in him being blinded by envy and inferiority. He feels unworthy of being Phineas’s best friend because he feels that it is a compliment to him that Phineas, an extraordinary person, choose him to be his

In addition, the liaison that the two friends share is a necessity in their lives. Once Finny returns from his convalescence and not long after Finny discovers Gene’s thoughts about going into war, Gene realizes, “Phineas was shocked at the idea of my leaving. In some way he needed me. He needed me” (98). Feeling abandoned Phineas gazes at his best friend in bewilderment and uncertainty. Finny needs Gene in his life so that he will not feel the changes in his life after his accident. Only Gene chooses to disregard Finny’s misfortune and only he treats Phineas the same. Furthermore, once Gene hears about Finny’s death, he mutters, “I did not cry then or ever about Finny… I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case” (184). Phineas completes Gene’s life. Gene spends his whole school year struggling to impress and satisfy him, and

The scene when Phineas and Gene are talking before he is taken in for surgery and dies is one of the most significant events in the book, because it explains what happened to their friendship. After realizing that Gene jounced the branch on purpose, Finny felt extreme hatred for his best friend and just wanted nothing to do with him. He felt betrayed because he had known. Finny knew exactly what Gene had done; he knew it but simply would not believe someone so close would become detached and disloyal. So once he came to realization that it in fact was true, he wanted to forget it all