Preview

Gene's Loss Of Innocence In A Separate Peace

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
538 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gene's Loss Of Innocence In A Separate Peace
During the novel, Finny calls Gene his best pal after they had spent the day at the beach with each other. Gene doesn’t feel the same about Finny though. Gene accuses Finny of joking around and distracting Gene all the time because he believes Finny is trying to keep him away from studying and school. Gene chooses to respond poorly, and convinces himself to think that Finny was a bad guy, and that he was trying to distract Gene from what really mattered to himself. Gene started to think that Finny was out to destroy him, so he became full of envy, and jealousy, and worked hard to be better than Phineas. Finny doesn’t realize that Gene is out to get him, and that Gene envy’s him. Finny is filled with innocence and doesn’t realize what is really happening around him. He …show more content…
Gene is also paranoid of Finny. This causes him to act without thinking and cause big problems. Gene causes conflict between his relationship with Finny, and has uncalled for actions with Finny anytime. Finny does not realize the truth about Gene until the end of the book, when Gene starts to act weird to him, and admit to all the things he had done on purpose, that Finny had suspected were by accident.
Between the two friends, and their relationship, Finny resembles kindness, and innocence, and Gene represents envy, and jealousy. Throughout the course of the book, Gene causes distance between Finny, and himself, because he is not willing to accept that Finny is a better friend and athlete than him. He started

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rivalries and competition are the heart of jealousy. In A Separate Peace jealousy was at the basis of the competition between Gene and Finny, one who was superior in the classroom and one who was superior on the field. Gene let this competition go to the extent of jealousy. Jealousy was what controlled Gene to jounce Finny off the tree. “Finny never permitted himself to realize that when you won they lost. That would have destroyed the perfect beauty which was sport,”(Chapter 3) this quote shows that Finny continually conquered his peers in athletic events. Finny failed to see the unsuccessful side losing on a consistent basis. The invigorated Gene to show Finny that he wasn't the incomparable to his peers. This struck jealousy between…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Finny’s unsuspecting quality becomes very disastrous, as it makes him blind to his best friend’s treachery until it is too…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another one of Gene's enemies is his anger. Alone, his anger is mild, but when mixed with his jealousy, prove to be a deadly combination. Gene was angry at such things as Finny's ability go get out of trouble, and his own unwillingness to say "no" to Finny. The real war, however, started when he got the idea that because Finny had low grades, he wanted to lower Gene's grades as well, so he could remain "better than" Gene. Gene believed that Finny was trying to wreck his studies with games and going to the beach, and their Secret Suicide Society. Another time…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the novel, Gene and Finny had a genuine friendship. Gene refers to Finny as his best friend (18). Overtime Gene begins to feel as if he and Finny have a secret rivalry. Gene becomes resentful of Finny’s athletic abilities; this jealousy made him feel inferior to his former best friend, Finny. All people have different strong points and having someone close to you, who is better than you at something, can cause one to feel insignificant or worthless in comparison.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His constant beliefs that Finny is trying to ruin his grades, is dragging him down and trying to outdo him cause him to twist their friendship into a competition that is deadly for both of them. Finny’s good hearted intentions cause Gene to resent him even more. When Finny broke the school record in swimming, he decided to keep between himself and Gene. According to Gene, Finny is “too good to be true” and “[p]erhaps for that reason his accomplishment took root in [Gene’s] mind and grew rapidly in the darkness [he] was forced to hide in” (44). His vengeful side grew deeper as he saw how pure Finny was and after her realizes “Now [Gene] knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between [them]. [Gene] was not the same quality as [Finny],” (59) which push him over the edge and his vindictiveness and cause the destruction of…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester and Phineas, also known as Finny, are best friends who have a very deep friendship. However, as the story progresses, Gene began to develop feelings of jealousy for Finny when he saw how perfect Finny’s character is. Finny has always been able to talk his way out of trouble and is naturally a good athlete who is earnest, confident, & pure. On the other hand, Gene cannot be pure like Finny and feels insecure. Seeing how good Finny is, caused Gene to become jealous, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything, I couldn’t help envying him…” (ch2.20) Soon, Gene thinks that a rivalry is happening between them. Because Gene envies Finny’s character, he thinks that Finny is also jealous of him for his good academic performance, “I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief …We were even after all… The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.”(ch4.34). By thinking there is a competition between them, Gene feels at ease, because none of them is better than the other. One night, Finny announced that Leper will jump off the tree, in order to become a full member of their secret society. Gene didn’t want to go because he feared his grade would slip if he didn’t study and also thinks that Leper wouldn’t dare to jump off the tree. After hearing from Gene that he wanted to study, Finny was surprise because he thought that Gene was naturally intelligent, who doesn’t need to review for a test. With sincerity, Finny lets Gene study, but Gene changed his mind and would come along with Finny. On the way to the tree,Gene realizes that a competition never happened and it was just Gene that was envious of Finny. Because Gene saw Finny's goodness and innocence, Gene realizes a rivalry with Finny will never occur. Gene began…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During this time when Gene wants to be Valedictorian, the only reason is because he wants to be even with Finny’s…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel, Gene is constantly comparing himself to Finny, over exaggerating the competition between them, which has detrimental effects on their relationship. Gene creates the goal of being valedictorian to provide an accomplishment to compete with Phineas’ athletic achievements. He believes that…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gene And Finny

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Gene and his roommate Finny (Phineas) become close friends at Devon School in the summer of 1942. Finny is always able to get away with what infractions he makes. He and Gene for a small society over jumping out of a tree into a river. They name it the “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session”. Finny is very athletic and lures in lots of people by his charismatic behavior. He creates a game called blitzball that becomes popular within the attendees of the summer session. Gene envies Finny’s ability for such athleticism. He believes that Finny is trying to distract him so that he will fail classes and not succeed. His suspicions turn into hatred without any evidence that Finny is out to sabotage him. After realizing that Finny is supportive…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Finny wanted to be in the Olympics, it was his dream, but due to his broken leg, Finny could not walk and therefore, could not train. Leper knew for a fact that Gene caused Finny’s fall off the tree, which is shown when Leper calls him savage multiple times when Gene visits him, and Brinker (another friend of Gene) tried to frame him for his “crime”. Afterwards, Gene and Finny began to rebuild their relationship overtime, however, due to his broken leg, Finny slipped, down the stairs, causing his other leg to break, this time being fatal, for the marrow of his bones traveled through his blood and into his heart, stopping it. Basically, Gene completely ruined Finny’s life, and then killed him, and all because he say Finny as a threat. This also affected Gene, because he realized that he was actually a part of Finny, as thought of by him, “Phineas had thought of me as an extension of himself.” (Knowles 98). Because of this, Gene never cried about Finny, even at his funeral, because he always felt as if it was his own death and funeral. Gene, decided to be see the world through Finny’s eyes, and he realized that there was no enemy, in fact, he never even killed anyone in the war, as the enemy fled before he even got to the battlefield. His only enemy was…

    • 1192 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gene is full of the evil that shows up in every story. Gene, the main character in the Separate Peace, thought his best friend to be his enemy. He also broke his so called enemy's legs and tried to convince himself it had been an accident. Finny was then sadly eventually killed by Gene's decisions and actions. Gene is inherently evil because he thought Finny to be his enemy, he broke Finny's leg, and ultimately killed him.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At first, Gene and Finny were best friends. Their friendship seemed perfect, as if nothing could stop it. Finny led and Gene let him lead and did pretty much anything that Finny wanted him to do. Gene even jumps off a limb of a tree because Finny wanted him to.
Later on, when they go to the Headmaster’s tea, Gene realizes that Finny can get away with anything. Because of this, Gene starts to envy him. At first, Gene thinks that just a little envy couldn’t hurt. Immediately after the “tea party” they are about to jump off the limb a second time, and Gene almost falls. Finny saves him, but…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are many symbols in the book that show Gene is dealing with an inner conflict. After Finny’s accident Gene goes to see Finny which shows he is struggling with guilt. Once he returns to Devon for school he does not have Finny or anyone else as a roommate. At this time he wears Finny’s clothes which shows that the inner conflict he deals with is not knowing who he is. He is himself, yet he is also morphing into Finny. Finny comes back to school awhile later to see that his place was “saved” for him. “Saving my place for me! Good old Devon. But anyway, you wouldn’t have let them put anyone else in there, would you?” (Knowles, pg.83). Gene is surprised by Finny’s arrival showing that he may in fact not be guilty at all because he didn’t intend on saving Finny’s room. Later, when they skip class and go to the gym Finny wants Gene to do pullups. Gene wants to prove he is better than him so he does them successfully. This shows that Gene is trying to one up Finny and be better than him. This symbolises his inner conflict by showing he really doesn’t know who he is. He constantly goes back and forth between how he acts and how Finny…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    After Finny loses his ability to play sports, he says to Gene, “‘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” (Knowles 85). Gene’s powerful guilt drives him to do something remorseful for Finny to make up for what he had done to him. He transforms himself once again, but this time to be more like the actual Finny- free, loving, and active. Furthermore, as Finny grasps the truth about Gene and his evil nature, Gene’s guilt is overstepped by another situation. Gene explains to Finny: “‘I want to fix your leg up,’ I said crazily but in a perfectly natural tone of voice… ‘I’m sorry’ I said blindly, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’” (Knowles 185). Gene’s sudden change of character from doing all his actions out of jealousy to thinking about what the other might feel, allows him to apologize for his wrong doings towards his best friend. As Gene finally admits to what he has done, and no longer resents the truth, he no longer resents growing up, and that contributes to his maturation from childhood to adulthood. Gene’s realization of his envious self, grants him to reconcile not only his friendship but the enemy in his own skin. Moreover, after Finny’s sudden death, Gene begins to develop a different perspective on the world, and his surroundings. In the process of thinking about the next leap in his life, Gene realized: “it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made by something ignorant in the human heart” (Knowles 201). After going through his own dark psychology, and his envious way of thinking, Gene finally realizes that Finny is not the enemy, and that all along he has been at war with himself. As Finny dies, so…

    • 1577 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phineas and Gene are best friends, but also, although Finny never realizes it, worst enemies. Gene’s insecurity is the cause for nearly everything bad that happens throughout the course of the story. Although almost anyone could be jealous of Finny, with his natural athletic ability, popularity, fearlessness, and knack of getting away with anything, Gene’s jealousy was much deeper and much more sinister than a slight twinge of envy. His insecurity made him so jealous of Finny that he desperately wanted to be him, but also hated him at the same time. His jealousy drove him to choose Finny as his enemy and rival and made him dream up bad things about Finny to try and convince himself that he wasn’t as perfect as he seemed to be. Gene believes, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays