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Trials In Friendship In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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Trials in Friendship According to researchers at Florida Atlantic University, only one percent of teenage friendships last more than five years. That may seem like too small of a number, but there are many reasons why some friendships are doomed from the beginning. This is extensively shown in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Two best friends, Gene and Phineas, or Finny, are taken on the adventure of figuring out how to understand and better their friendships. They go through many unavoidable hardships together, and Gene ends up severely injuring Finny as a result of his obsessive defensiveness. Gene learns that being part of a friendship includes struggling with jealousy, competition, and unsureness of one’s self.
While a little jealousy …show more content…

Gene was so in awe of Finny that he ended up wanting to become a part of him. “I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again” (54). Gene was so unhappy with his complex personality that he tried to adopt Finny’s character, going as far as putting on his clothes and envisioning himself as Finny. Another example of this is illustrated when Gene interpreted Finny’s words as an invitation to turn into him. “‘...Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and 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 was having to deal with the consequences of his vile actions and decided to free himself from them by achieving what Finny was unable to achieve, starting with sports and branching off to school work. Gene began to envision himself as though his only role in life was to be an extension of Finny. In reality, Gene was trying to mask his own convoluted character by latching onto

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