Analysis Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

The novel, “A Separate Peace, by John Knowles shows readers the rocky friendship between two young boys, Gene and Finny. The novel guides readers through the complicated friendship between the duo during their senior year of high school, and the lifelong friendship they have created. The audience takes away from the story a different outlook on what it means to be a true friend. Firstly, Gene had a distorted outlook on friendship. Jealousy is a common trait among any relationship, but Gene’s insecurities created by Finny caused the destruction of hisr friendship with Finny. Throughout the story, Gene was proven to be envious of Finny and his accomplishments compared to his own. This can be proven when Gene states, “Now I knew that there

I couldn’t stand this.” (Knowles 51). In this citation, Gene realizes that he has falsely accused Finny of distracting him to weaken his academic advantages over Finny. Gene has become somewhat obsessed and paranoid over the idea that Finny is better than him. By accusing Finny of sabotaging his academics, Gene has validity that Finny wants to become better than him. By accusing Finny of taking away the one advantage he has, Gene has a valid reason to resent Finny besides his looks and brawn. To Gene, Finny represented a greater version of himself that he aspired to become. Despite knowing that Finny is loyal to Gene, Gene continues to dislike Finny as he is fighting an internal battle with himself. Genes hatred towards himself reflects onto the friendship bettweeen Finny. In another example, Gene proves yet again the amount of jealousy he holds against Finny. The text cites, “ 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

Finny demonstrates the loyalty behind friendship, because he is forgiving to Gene despite knowing the terrible acts Gene was responsible for. The text cites, “I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up” (Knowles 62). In this quote, Finny is pushing Gene away after he admits to deliberately causing Finny to fall off of the tree limb. Finny refuses to believe that Gene is capable of hurting him to preserve the friendship that they share. Finny knows that a true friend would never deliberately hurt someone, so he desperately attempts to deny that Gene has any role in his accident. By standing by Gene despite what he has done, Finny proves how loyal he is to Gene and how important their friendship is to him. Another example states, “He was nodding his head, his jaw tightening and his eyes closed on the tears. “ I believe you. It’s okay because i understand and I believe you.” (Knowles 183). In this citation, Gene apologizes to Finny for hurting him and now Finny is forced to face the situation. Despite knowing what Gene has done to him, he forgives Gene. This proves, yet again, that Finny is a true friend to Gene. To forgive someone for essentially trying to kill you shows how much finny valued their friendship, and how hard he tried to preserve