Gene hated that he never was like Finny, so he started to acting and do things that Finny did. That caused a lot of jealousy, guilt, and self-destruction from throughout the relationship that Gene and Finny had. Even through Gene’s envy and imitation effected his relationship with Finny, he still managed to find peace within everything that happened. Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene found peace within himself and within his relationship with Finny. The first reason this is so is because he (Gene) realizes that Finny isn’t the enemy after all.
Neat, eh?’” (810). Gene is jealous of Finny’s enthusiasm and ability to do things that Gene is scared of. Gene feels as if Finny does these things in spite of him, but in reality Finny is just an outgoing person. This misunderstanding and introjection that Gene creates leads to him breaking Finny’s leg, and their friendship. A Separate Peace by John Knowles displays the harsh reality that envy can create.
There we can finally see that Gene never cared about Finny even though Finny loved him like a brother, and did no wrong to him. Only a heartless, self centered person would laugh at someone in pain especially his fallen friend. As hard as it is sometimes evil things or people can destroy good works. The novel A Separate Peace definitely has the theme of good vs evil. The many struggles between good and evil can be observed in Gene and Finny's relationship.Wether Gene is trying to see 'fault' in Finny, or he is hurting his good friend Finny, or being heartless about Finny's pain and suffering.
In result of Gene’s insecurities, he is unable to express himself fully which leads him to steal someone else's that he is envy of. Gene starts to realize that Finny’s personality
While there are a plethora of themes in John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, one of the most significant themes is friendship. The World English Dictionary defines a friend as "a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty." A Separate Peace explores conflicts between two close friends, Gene Forrester and Phineas. Gene is a studious, hardworking boy, while Phineas, or Finny, is an adept, natural athlete. They are well acquainted at the beginning of the story, but the connection between them becomes questionable as Gene's starts to have mixed feelings about Phineas.
Gene believes that Finny and he hate each other, until he realizes Finny’s pureness, which Gene can not stand. At first, Gene believes that Finny wants to exceed him, and that the two are rivals. Everyone at Devon likes Finny. The teachers adore him, the students look up to him, the athletes aspire
For the first half of book Finny was a timid introvert.“With Leper it was always a fight, a hard fight to win when you were seventeen years old and lived in a keyed-up, competing school, to avoid making fun of him.” - pg 87-88. Here Gene describes how due to Leper’s different personality that it truly was hard to include him as one of their own .Leper
“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?” (Knowles 9). The complicated bond of friendship between Gene and Phineas (Finny) is shown in the book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Although, Gene’s envy toward Finny, rattles them, and the reader of their strong relationship.
Finny does not have the will or work ethic to be an intelligent student like Gene is. His lack of work ethic is part of the reason why Gene becomes jealous of Finny because Finny is happy with not being a good student because he is a good athlete and has a charismatic attitude that makes him very likable. This helps emphasize Gene’s jealousy and insecurities. When Gene and Finny go to the beach, and Finny expresses that Gene is his best friend. This expression of friendship is too much for Gene.
Gene from John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, a dynamic character changes in accordance to the events of the story. Gene is a very intelligent student. Throughout the novel we see Gene almost become persuaded by the actions of his friend Phineas. Phineas is a bouncy character who loves sports and doesn’t see the value of studying like Gene. Gene frequently tries to balance his academic and social life, but he gets sick of this balancing act when he backlashes at Phineas for interrupting him from his schoolwork, “Okay, we go.