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Jealousy And Conscious Ignorance In 'A Separate Peace'

836 Words4 Pages

Emma Beesley
Mrs. Mancuso
Honors English II
3 February 2023

Jealousy, Conscious Ignorance, and Abusive Relationships
Exemplified in A Separate Peace
In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the author discusses the themes of jealousy and conscious ignorance that are commonly found within toxic relationships. These themes are exemplified through the friendship between Gene and Finny and how their strong feelings as well as their complex contrasting characteristics affect their relationship. Both characters in this relationship are well-developed, unique, and have many layers to their personalities, and unfortunately, their qualities bring out the worst in each other and cause a complex and damaging relationship. The author's intent is not just to tell the story of Gene and Finny, but also to show the inside and the downfall of a relationship built upon these negative characteristics. Finny …show more content…

Finny blindly trusts people, and he often trusts his feelings over facts. For example, when discussing the validity of the news about the war, Finny recounts, “‘That’s what this whole war story is. Medical drug,’” (Page 115). Finny knows the truth but chooses to believe what he wants to be true instead. This is why even when Gene admits to purposefully making him fall from the tree, Finny refuses to believe him. Gene tells Finny, “I deliberately jounced the limb so you could fall’” (page 70). Even with the truth staring FInny in the face, he responds, “‘Of course you didn’t’” (page 70). Finny’s choice to be ignorant and deny the truth allows him to continue being abused by Gene. He enables Gene and allows himself to be the victim in the relationship because of his feelings. This unhealthy trait adds to the complexity and toxicity of the

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In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man. Fifteen years after attending Devon, an elite military preparatory school located in New Hampshire, the narrator, Gene Forrester, returned to reflect upon how fearful he was during the time he spent training and studying for World War II. He then decides to visit the places or symbols on the campus that were closely associated with his fear; a marble staircase and a tree placed near the bank of the river. As Gene visits these key symbols of fear, he flashes back upon his time at Devon. He remembers his best friend, Phineas or Finny, as a very superior athlete and charming young man.

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In A Separate Peace Finny Character Analysis

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One way that Gene is affected is that he starts getting jealous of Finny, which causes Finny to get hurt. In the story, the author says, “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone…,” (Knowles, 60). This evidence proves that Gene has gotten Finny hurt, but did not mean to. Before they had gone to the tree, Gene was still jealous of Finny, so who knows if it were intentional or not.

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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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Gene's Jealousy In John Knowles A Separate Peace

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Gene begins to see Finny as a threat to his own identity and begins to resent him. For example, I had never been jealous of him for a second. Now I was experiencing a new feeling, something like envy. When Finny falls from the tree Gene realizes the extent of his jealousy. Gene’s ignorance of his true feeling towards Finny and him not confronting those feelings led to the downfall of their friendship

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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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When he tries to explain this to his permanently injured companion, Finny brushes it off and denies it (57). Later, Brinker hosts a trial to deem whether or not Gene’s evil instincts could have hurt Finny (157). Finny once again denies that Gene caused the fall, except Brinker pushes the limits. He continues to argue that Gene was in the tree and has Leper testify against Gene until Finny can’t take it anymore- he marches out of the room and fatally falls down a set of marble stairs (168).

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At the end of the novel, Gene finally confesses what he did to Finny which took a lot of courage even though he did the wrong thing to begin with. As exemplified on page 115, Finny matures so much throughout the novel and apologizes for his actions towards Finny, he says, “… it was just some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside me, something blind, that’s all it was.” When apologizing to Finny and acknowledging that he did make a mistake and caused harm to Finny because of it. This is an example of Gene’s progression from a childlike mentality of not owning his mistakes, to claiming them and accepting his consequences.

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Gene’s survival was dependent on Finny’s death. When Gene jounces the limb he shatters Finny’s leg, as well as his heart. Finny knows that Gene purposely caused his fall, but can’t let his “best pal” be exposed. Finny will do anything to save Gene from Leprosy. Finny realizes that Gene “just didn’t know” what he had done, and forgives his sin, which saves Gene.

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Finny doesn't have the same anxiety and nervousness as Gene, as he is a rare breed of a person and unique, according to Gene. Finny isnt filled in stress and breaks rules, along with the way of talking out of situations. He never sees Gene as jealous to him, only a friend he will always trust. Finny has the culture of a young teen, the ideals of not being yet ready to identify the world as cruel, which makes him vulnerable to Gene always hurting him. His social personality of viewing the world as friend instead of an enemy differs from Gene who recognizes the world in war, in a way, he isn't near adulthood, as it requires responsibility, knowing what is going on around them and how to respond to it.

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A Separate Peace Friendship Quotes

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This all just goes to show that Gene looks at Finny like an enemy, but the feelings are not quite reciprocated, even after Gene purposely hurts Finny. Gene not only hurts Finny with his emotions and his words, but also with his actions, which is why Gene believes that he killed his enemy, which is Finny,

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After Gene admits that he is at fault for Finny falling off the branch, Finny refuses to believe that Gene would do that. This becomes obvious to the reader as seen

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Instead of allowing Gene to fall into this world Finny saves him. At Devon Finny has everyone follow him and play childish games to keep them young and pure. Unfamiliar with what exactly he fears Gene goes along with it. Gene wants to continue on his path but knows change will occur. He knows aging will come, has experience, and knowledge.

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Gene finally fully confessed when Finny was in the hospital after falling down the steps. Gene told Finny he tried to tell him a couple times before when the story states “ Finny, I tried to tell you before, I tried to tell you when I came to Boston -” (145). Finny already knew Gene did it but he was not ready to hear it completely yet. Finny forgave Gene after he said he believed that it was a blind impulse.

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