Emerson states that “ envy is ignorance: imitation is suicide ” (370). John Knowles, “ A Separate Peace” Devon school, 1964. In the novel ,Gene character is very jealous and a follower. He wants to be like his best friend finny. “ A Separate Peace “ illustrates how gene’s envy and imitation of finny affect him ( gene ) , affect his relationship with finny, and his achievement of peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of finny affect him. One way Gene is affected is that his jealousy grew to the best of him. He wanted to be just like finny because of his abilities , appearance , and actions . For example, It states, “ standing there in finny’s triumphant shirt , that i would never stumble through the confusions of my own …show more content…
This shows that gene believes he must become an athlete in finny’s steady state . That he wants to feel like him . Another way is affected is that Gene is starting to hate finny even more. He goes up to mr.pub and talks about the beach. Even though finny told him to not talk about it . For instance it states , “ One day I found myself describing to Mr.prud’ hommd how Phineas and I had slept on the beach “ ( knowles 55). This demonstrates that even though finny told Gene to not tell anyone about the Beach. Gene still stitches to get in trouble because they broke a simple rule. In the Novel , “ A Separate Peace ” shows how Gene’s envy and imitation of finny affect him. Gene’s envy and imitation of finny affect his relationship with finny. One way relationship is affected is how finny felt betray that how is own best friend push him off the tree because he was overwhelmed with jealousy. For example it states , “ It was Kind of blood impluse you had in your tree there. It wasn’t anything you felt there “ ( Knowles 64 ) . This quote shows that even finny knew that gene felt some kind of