Character Analysis Of Gene In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Gene from John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, a dynamic character changes in accordance to the events of the story.

Gene is a very intelligent student. Throughout the novel we see Gene almost become persuaded by the actions of his friend Phineas. Phineas is a bouncy character who loves sports and doesn’t see the value of studying like Gene. Gene frequently tries to balance his academic and social life, but he gets sick of this balancing act when he backlashes at Phineas for interrupting him from his schoolwork, “Okay, we go. We watch little lily-liver Lepellier not jump from a tree, and I ruin my grade”(57). This event shows how Gene takes his academic work seriously and can get annoyed by the constant nagging and distractions by his friends.

But Gene is also quite a passive character who tries to mold to his friends ideas and feeling, which can lead Gene to contradict something he has said before. Gene can’t handle the idea of completely blowing off Phineas so he just gives in

Before the injury, Gene would scream at Finny,but now he feels like he owes Finny his kindness. This passive and emotional Gene is probably the greatest evidence to show that Gene is a dynamic character. Before the injury when Finny would try to explain anything Gene would reply in annoyed tone, “‘Oh, for God sake.’ I slammed close the french book”(57). After the injury however Gene felt like he constantly had a space to fill to make Phineas feel better. Which makes Gene quite an annoyance. When the doctor tells Gene and FInny that Phineas would never play sports again Gene bursts into tears, whereas Phineas tells Gene “What are you looking so sick about?”(65). Phineas understood what happened to him is horrible but frankly Gene feels worse than he does about the situation. This is because Gene is depressed, and feels completely responsible for the situation that ruined his friend’s goals for the