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Difficulties In Friendships In A Separate Peace, By John Knowles

788 Words4 Pages

Difficulties in Friendships Gene and Phineas from A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, are best friends until they slowly realize they are not. Gene and Finny discover they secretly are not fond of each other because of Gene’s envy towards Phineas. The author uses the characters' differences and similarities throughout the novel to portray their broken relationship. Gene and Finny, being opposites, find who is the true friend from the beginning and who is only in the friendship to become the other. Gene is an intelligent, kind character at the beginning of the novel. However, as the novel progresses, he becomes bitter toward Finny. Gene begins by seeming like a good friend, but then he activates his envious side and begins to realize …show more content…

Finny and Gene are opposites in the way their brain works and the way they look but are also opposites in their respect towards authority figures. During the novel, Gene attempts to pay attention to his activities and not make any scenes, whereas, Finny is the polar opposite. Phineas pulls the attention to himself every chance he can find. He assumes he can avoid the consequences by using his own play on words to connect with the acts he does when describing them to the Headmasters. “‘Well, in case suitors begin clamoring at the door, you can tell them I’m wearing this as an emblem.’ He turned around to let me admire it. ‘I was reading in the paper that we bombed Central Europe for the first time the other day.’ Only someone who knew Phineas as well as I did could realize that he was not changing the subject.” (Knowles 25) Finny has a sly way with words, but Gene feels the need to constantly tell the truth. Slightly after Gene begins to feel guilty about shaking the tree limb, he attempts to explain his thoughts to Finny while he is in the infirmary. “‘Finny, I-; there was no controlling what I said, the words were instinctive, like the reactions of someone cornered. ‘What happened there at the tree? That goddam tree, I'm going to cut down that tree. Who cares who can jump out of it. What happened, what happened? How did you fall, how

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The friendship Gene and Finny have throughout the story slowly changes to envy that Gene portrays towards Finny as a result of his jealousy. Finny is only one of those sort of gentlemen that is extremely understood and individuals truly like. However, Finny is the kind of individual who is great at everything including sports and talking himself out of trouble. For example, Finny breaking the school swimming recorded lead to Gene being desirous. Gene predicts that Finny is attempting to show off his athletic ability.

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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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John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace, uses both character development and setting to support his decision in selecting the title. He uses the main characters of Gene and Phineas (Finny) and their troubled yet deeply bonded friendship as a way to illustrate the separate peace that takes place both within the boys themselves and in the friendship that is built between the two. Knowles also uses the setting of the novel to demonstrate the vast difference between the peaceful Devon School grounds and the war raging outside of the school’s walls. The title, A Separate Peace, as chosen by the author is symbolic of the main characters, Finny and Gene’s, struggle to find peace within themselves and with each other while set in a place that significantly contrasts the events of the real world.

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Once Finny is thoroughly introduced, you begin to gain a better understanding of Gene’s feelings. Finny is perfect on paper he is athletic, naïve, charming, outgoing, the list goes on and on. He is an example of all the things Gene isn’t which makes him “competition”. In chapter 4 Gene says, “We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (54).

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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.

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(Knowles 70).Gene’s jealousy got the best of him and he made Finny fall out of a tree and injure himself and it made them get into an argument. Gene being so jealous messed up a great relationship. Finny was never in competition but Gene was. “Phineas’ imaginary worlds create peace separate from the world at war, and he invites others, especially Gene into this peaceful sphere” (Alton). This piece of evidence explains how Gene’s envy got in control of him and that Finny never thought of their friendship as a competition.

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Their relationship was affected due to FInny viewing Gene as a part of him. Knowles tells us, “ aid alone had never seemed to him in the category of help…Phineas had thought of me as an extension of himself” (Knowles 17). This shows that Phineas was close enough to Gene that any time Gene helped it was like his conscious. Gene envied Finny but later on in the novel we see the advancement of maturity in Gene. The relationship of Gene and Finny was affected by Gene conforming to Finny and Gene maturing.

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At the beginning of the story Gene is very envious of Finny. Gene quickly began to realize Finny’s ability to get good at everything. For example, “ I was beginning to see that phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him.

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Gene imitates Finny’s actions to keep a strong bond with him. “Otherwise I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would be terrible” (Knowles 34). Throughout the book, Gene constantly conform to Finny. This all roots from Gene’s characteristic of being easily influenced. He feels that if he does not do what his friend wants, that it could hurt their relationship.

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He needed me” (Knowles 108). The evidence from this source proves that by Finny reacting the way he did once he found out about Gene’s idea, it caused a change within their relationship. Although it may seem as though it is Finny’s fault that their relationship is changing, Gene also encourages this change by acting out on his impulsive thoughts. This is due to his envy towards Finny. Another example from an online source states, “He recognizes his attraction to deadly things and, more significantly, he writes a narrative about his relationship with Phineas revealing the flaws in his own character which led to Phineas’s death” (Alton).

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