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Character Analysis Of Jealousy In John Knowles A Separate Peace

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In A Separate Peace author John Knowles reveals that even a strong friendship can be damaged by resentment or jealousy. Set in an all boy’s school in New Hampshire, A Separate Peace is the portrayal of a friendship between gene and Finny. Their friendship evolves from competing to completing each other’s identities.
Gene and Finny initially had different strengths: one is highly valued that the other. Gene is less valued than Finny because of his Athletic skill is not as good as Finney because finny broke the school swimming record within one try. This urged Gene to try to prove his academic skills by trying to becoming valedictorian, but he has to face Chet Douglass a very smart person(chapter 4). Because of Gene has to struggle in order …show more content…

When Finny falls down from the tree apparently purges Gene different feelings and steers their friendship in a different direction so that they start connecting to each other rather than hatred characterizing it. From this point on, he and Finny comes together to depend on each other for psychological support. Gene continues to plays sports because Finny cannot, which allows Finny to train him to be the athlete that Finny himself cannot be Finny tells Gene that he once had aspirations to go to the Olympics, and Gene agrees to train for the 1944 Olympics in his place (chapter 6). When Finny became injured, it triggered this new evolution among them to not hate each other but to start caring. This also change the mood of the story from greed to contentment.
As the two boys start depending on each other, their identities becomes more linked to each other. Jealousy created this urge for Gene to be exactly like Finny so he can have some fame. During the story, Gene dresses in Finney’s clothes and sees himself looking exactly like him (91-93). Finney’s death, separated them physically, but truly Gene’s identity from Finney’s. He felt as if Finney’s funeral is his own. Technically, the funeral is Gene’s own because so much of him is merged with Finny that is hard to think about when one person is trying to be that other person without him or her

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Finny is so hurt because he cannot believe that Gene would deliberately hurt him. Finny tells Gene that he understands that Gene acted without really thinking, and Finny forgives Gene. This shows the reader the true personality of Finny. He is kind, carefree, reckless, real, and loves unconditionally. He cannot accept that anyone close to

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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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