The Relationship Between Gene And Finny In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Emerson states that “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide” (370). A Separate Peace written by John Knowles takes place during World War II at Devon School. The main character in A Separate Peace is Gene. Gene is a smart boy. He takes pride in his work, especially school work and doesn’t let anything get in the way of it. One day when he was convinced to step away from the work, he developed jealousy for his best friend. A Separate Peace shows how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, affect his relationship with Finny, Gene archives the peace he’s looking for. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him. One way Gene is affected is when he puts Finny’s clothes on and wants to be like him. From the article it states,”Later,

One way Gene and Finny’s relationship is affected is Gene has his belief after going to war that it’s full of lies and that’s what affects the relationship between him and his best friend. The novel states,” wars were not made by generation and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart” (193). This quote shows how Gene feels not only about war, but also about Finny too. That evidence is what happened to Gene and Finny’s relationship. Another way their relationship is affected is when Gene started to fight the enemies he had developed while being in war and it harmed him and Finny’s relationship. The article states,”In the end, Gene realizes that his real enemy is himself and his impulse towards mindless destruction-and he believes he overcame this enemy only after causing Phineas’s death”(Alton). This statement shows that after all that’s happened, Gene realized he was the problem and his own enemy. While being his own enemy, he caused Finny’s death. This completely changed not only Gene, but their relationship. After Gene and Finny;s relationship was affected, Gene achieves the Peace he is looking