Friendship~ in A Separate Peace by John knowles One cannot be friends with someone who they see as a competition or a threat to their success. The story A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a coming of age realistic fiction novel. It is set in 1842 during World War II at an all boys academy; Devon School. The boys there are trained to join the army. Once they reach the age of 18, they are recruited into the army and have to fight for the country. The story displays the negative aspects of friendship and what it can do to individuals. Gene and Finny are two “friends” who attend Devon that struggle to have a true friendship. At the beginning, Gene starts to develop jealousy and envy for his new friend Finny. At first he thinks that there is no harm in envying your best friend. That is until he realizes that jealousy is not an easy thing to handle and sometimes, it can be the biggest harm in a friendship. Gene’s jealousy starts off with a tiny bit of envy and gradually moves on to making him want to get rid of his own identity. In the end, Gene has to face the consequences of jealousy between him and Finny. To start off, Gene is not aware of the amount of effort he puts into his relationship in order to be friends with Finny. Gene wants to better than Finny …show more content…
Gene believes Finny is better than him because he is carefree and gets along with almost everyone. Gene starts getting jealous and wants to be better than him. Gene finally realises that jealousy is not a friendship trait after seeing what it caused him to do. Friendship is an important piece of the story A Separate Peace because it can have a huge impact on one’s life whether it is good or bad. Looking at Gene and Finny’s friendship experience, equality should not be overlooked at between two friends. Lastly, one should not be friends with someone whom they see as a competition or threat to their