Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Have you ever had a friend with whom you were competitive? Someone who you knew and liked as a friend but deep down you wanted to be better in everything than them? In the novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles paints a clear picture of this struggle through his main character, Gene Forrester. Gene goes to Devon School during World War 2 and has a dear friend there named Phineas who is also known as Finny. Gene believes that they are good friends but deep down he has certain things that he resents about Finny. He becomes jealous because Finny is a leader and a very likable person. He is articulate in his conversations with others and he is also very skilled in sports. In fact, Gene becomes so jealous of Finny’s abilities that that he wishes

The friendship doesn't seem normal because it seems like Gene is always jealous of Finny. Gene is jealous because he feels that Finny is everything that he can't be. Finny's athleticism allows him dominate in most sports and Gene struggles in sports because he isn't a natural athlete like Finny is. This leads to conflict because they are roommates as well as classmates and are always together either doing schoolwork or something related to sports. Not being better than Finny shakes Gene to his core because there isn't anything that Gene can do about it except to just try harder. Their friendship revolves around both of them competing in everything that they do whether academically, athletically or socially. Finny was also naturally outgoing and friendly around other students thus he was better at talking to people, which led to Gene being jealous of that aspect of Finny as well. Finny is so charming that even a teacher who was about to punish he and Gene until Finny talked to him, “he could be seen rapidly losing his grip on sternness”(Knowles 7). Finny convinced the teacher that they shouldn't be punished and Gene saw this and envied Finny even more. Eventually, Gene became so jealous of Finny that he almost kills Finny by knocking him out of a tree. Finny is now paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

He doesn't want to accept that he is not as outgoing or athletic as Finny. Gene can't accept that he is not a gifted athlete like Finny. Instead, he tries hard and without success to become everything that Finny is. A great example of this is when Finny jumps out of the tree into the river and Gene, who is scared to jump, jumps anyways because he wants to be like Finny. Gene takes chances and risks that he would otherwise not have just to be like Finny. Gene even thinks to himself, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into this stupid thing? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”(Knowles 5). Gene subconsciously decides that he is going to do whatever Finny did to be equal to, if not better than, him. Gene even goes to the extreme of trying to look like Finny. Gene can't match his physique but after Finny's accident Gene goes through Finny's clothes and looks at himself in a mirror. He looks like Finny and “was Phineas, Phineas to the life. I even had his humorous expression in my face, his sharp, optimistic awareness. I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again.”(Knowles 29). Gene is obsessed with Finny to the point that when he dresses and looks like Finny, he is at peace. Gene doesn't want to accept himself so he tries to become