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A Separate Peace: Character Analysis

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Emerson states “envy is ignorance; limitation is suicide”(370). John Knowles writes A Separate Peace about a boy named Gene returning to an old school. Gene is a teenage boy, smart, but jealous of his best friend Finny who is popular and liked by everyone. A Separate Peace demonstrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, affect his relationship with Finny, and his achievement of peace. Gene’s envy and imitation affects him in a few ways. One way he is affected is it causes him to conform to Finny. Since he can’t be Finny he does what Finny does. The text states, “...you can’t stand around admiring the view. Jump!” (Knowles 17). Finny is telling Gene to jump from the tree, which Gene really didn’t want to do. Since Finny was popular he did it anyway to stay relevant and look cool. Another way it affected him is it caused him to dress like Finny. While Finny was away Gene went through Finny’s clothes. Gene tries on some …show more content…

One way their relationship is affected is Finny becoming an enemy to Gene. In the novel Gene states, “The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all’’ (Knowles 54). Finny had made plans with Gene the night Gene needed to study for a big test, and since he couldn’t he blamed Finny. His delusion made him think that Finny saw him as a component. From then on Gene started to look at Finny as his enemy and not his best friend. Another way their relationship is affected is when Gene attempts to get rid of Finny to replace him. Gene and Finny were out hanging in the tree when Gene got the urge to shake the branch Finny was standing on causing Finny to fall. Finny ended up breaking his legs all because of Gene. Gene’s jealousy made him do it, he wanted Finny gone, and since he couldn’t be Finny he decided replacing him would be the best option. Gene’s envy and imitation caused conflict and questions as to whether his relationship with Finny was actually a real

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One way that Gene is affected is that he starts getting jealous of Finny, which causes Finny to get hurt. In the story, the author says, “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…,” (Knowles, 60). This evidence proves that Gene has gotten Finny hurt, but did not mean to. Before they had gone to the tree, Gene was still jealous of Finny, so who knows if it were intentional or not.

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Gene is obsessed with Finny to the point that when he dresses and looks like Finny, he is at peace. Gene doesn't want to accept himself so he tries to become

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Gene is the first person to visit Finny while he’s in the hospital since the tree accident, and seeing Finny in that messed-up state makes him emotional. (#64) "At his touch, I lost all hope of controlling myself. I burst out crying into my hands. I cried for Phineas, myself, and for the doctor, who

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He is basically, through rhetorical questions, saying that he does not want to do what Finny does, but it’s like he cannot help it. This is affecting who Gene is as a person because he is not thinking for himself. Is Gene really even himself if Finny is doing the thinking for him? If he is not thinking for himself, he is not being true to himself. Another way that Gene is affected is that he allows his imitation of Finny get in the way of his schooling.

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Gene was struggling with the concept of jealousy all throughout the novel. At first Gene thought that Finny was jealous of Gene, only to come and find out that Finny was never jealous. This realization made Gene even angrier than before. This anger was the cause of Finny’s fall. Gene was so angry with Finny, that when they were up in the tree

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Gene’s survival was dependent on Finny’s death. When Gene jounces the limb he shatters Finny’s leg, as well as his heart. Finny knows that Gene purposely caused his fall, but can’t let his “best pal” be exposed. Finny will do anything to save Gene from Leprosy. Finny realizes that Gene “just didn’t know” what he had done, and forgives his sin, which saves Gene.

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Gene wanted Finny to get in trouble for what Finny had did, which had worn his tie as a belt. He hated that Finny got away with almost anything that he did wrong and wanted to go down someday. Another way their relationship is affected is through Gene’s lack of self-finding and liking. 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.

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