An Analysis Of Gean's Lack Of Peace By John Knowles

Gean’s Lack of Peace The famed author Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated that “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide,” (Emerson 370-372). John Knowles explores this idea in his novel, A Separate Peace, set in an all-boys school in New Hampshire. The story focuses on one Gene Forrester, a young boy growing up in the midst of the Second World War. Gene is quite envious of, and easily persuaded by, his best friend Phineas. This leads to a decline in his friendship and is eventually the reason for his lack of peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of his best friend leads him to go along with whatever Phineas wants him to do. He begins conforming to whatever Phineas wants, even if Gene doesn’t really want to. “Why did I let finny talk me into stupid things

His envy of Phineas also leads him to be scared to go against his will. “I always jumped. Otherwise I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable,” (Knowles 34). Gene is scared to lose his best friend. He believes it unimaginable to go against Phineas’ will because he can’t Knobloch 2 bear the thought of making him angry. Gene’s envy and imitation not only affects himself, but also their friendship as a whole. As Gene continues to question Phineas and his true intentions, their friendship begins to decline. Gene begins to believe that Phineas is out to destroy him, and becomes less trusting. “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies,” (Knowles 53). Gene convinces himself that Phineas hates him, and wants to destroy his grades. He concludes that Phineas is jealous of him, just as Gene is envious of Phineas. As he dwells on the idea that Phineas is out to destroy him, he even begins to believe that Phineas wishes to be better than him. “Sure, he wanted to share everything with me, especially his procession of D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be way ahead of me,” (Knowles