A Separate Peace: Character Analysis

Emerson states that “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide”(370). John Knowles is the author of a Separate Peace: a story based in 1942 during WWII at a prep school in Massachusetts. Gene is a little boy from the South. He is very average in sports but is very smart. A Separate Peace illustrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, affect his relationship with Finny, and his lack of peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him. Gene’s envy of Finny drove his thoughts to make him paranoid of Finny. For example the book states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies.”(Knowles53) This shows how Gene’s envy drove him to paranoia. Gene was jealous of Finny because he was a great athlete so he thought

After Finny’s accident they became a lot closer. Alton states,” Phineas, too, feels their connection: after the accident, he informs Gene he must become an athlete in Finny’s stead.``(Alton) Finny’s accident caused him to open up to Gene and reveal what his dream was. When Finny asked him to help achieve his goal Gene thought of himself as an extension of Finny. When Finny learned the truth their friendship was broken. Finny stated, “ You want to break something else in me! Is that why you’re here!”(Knowles 184) Their relationship was broken when Finny realized Gene caused his accident at the tree during the trial. When Gene came to see Finny after he fell down the stairs their relationship was destroyed. Finny even burst out in anger at Gene and tried to attack him. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny destroyed their relationship in the

Gene never cried at Finny’s funeral because he felt himself die as well that day. Gene states, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.”(Knowles 194) Gene never breaks his habits of imitating Finny. Gene still feels attached to Finny even in death. Gene became a follower again after thinking he matured and moved on. For example the book states, “I started back towards the dormitory, and my feet of course could not help but begin to fall involuntarily into step with that course, compelling voice, which carried to me like an air-raid siren across the field and commons.”(Knowles 203-204) After everything Gene went through with Finny he still went back to his old habits of being a follower. Gene thought he finally found his character but nope he found himself a new Finny. Gene never found peace after experiencing everything that happened with Finny; he still let his old habits takeover and make him a