Gene's Grievances In John Knowles 'A Separate Peace'

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The feeling of neglect, presses like a dagger to Leper. He wishes for people to notice him and appreciate him. Moreover he wants to be closer to Gene and be his best friend. However, Finny is Gene’s best friend, and so he harbors an ounce of envy towards Finny. All the while, he joins the army, yet it cuts a deep wound into him, and he loses his mind, and so he escapes.
Thereafter, he lives true to the quote, “Your identity defines who you are but it doesn 't have to define you for life” (Whitbourne), in the way that he begins to voice his grievances. To Brinker and all of his other peers he pronounces , “ ‘I’m important. You’ve never realized it, but I’m important too’ “(Knowles 176).