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Teenagers social problems and their solution
Teenagers society
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Teenagers social problems and their solution
Teenagers society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Gene is a bit more reserved and shy than Finny. Early on in the story, Gene becomes obsessed with being equals with Finny and envy of him. He starts to believe that Finny makes up games and clubs to sabotage his studying and grades. After he makes Finny fall, he realizes he was wrong and Finny wasn't trying to hold him back at all.
Throughout the book we are made aware of the obstacle that Gene Forrester faced and the the directions he took on his path to his coming of age and inner peace. Finny, Gene’s friend has the largest impact and connection
Throughout “A Separate Peace” we learn that Gene is envious of Finny and essentially wants to be him. Gene is jealous that Finny is so popular, talented, and can get away with anything. Gene wants to see Finny get in trouble at least once for his actions. We see a prime example of Gene’s jealousy at the Headmasters’ Tea. Finny is talking to Mr. and Mrs. Patch-Withers about World War Two.
Before the injury, Gene would scream at Finny,but now he feels like he owes Finny his kindness. This passive and emotional Gene is probably the greatest evidence to show that Gene is a dynamic character. Before the injury when Finny would try to explain anything Gene would reply in annoyed tone, “‘Oh, for God sake.’ I slammed close the french book”(57). After the injury however Gene felt like he constantly had a space to fill to make Phineas feel better.
Gene is jealous of Finny; which shows his immaturity and leads up to the pinnacle of the novel. Due to Gene’s ego he gives into doing something that he will later regret, he jounces the limb the Finny was standing on. Growth can come only through conflict and struggle and therefore, Gene's sense of guilt, however much he hides it, represents his attempt to make things right. He gains the knowledge of evil in himself
Gene and Finny’s relationship is affected by Gene’s envy and imitation of
One way that it affects him that it causes him to do things that he does not even want to. Gene questions himself about why he continues to listen to Finny “What was I doing here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some sort of hold over me?” (Knowles 17).
Even when the relationship became toxic and Gene had an underlying jealousy for Finn, he lacked the confidence to break out of his comfort zone and be an independent person. Gene always believed he was in the shadow of his counterpart Finny; there was always an underlying feeling of jealousy which ultimately was the cause behind Gene making Finny fall out of the tree. His actions on the tree was even a shock to him, it made him aware for the first time of his own inner feelings towards Finny. “That level of feelings, deeper than thought which contains the truth,” (140) for actions speak louder than words and on that particular day Gene’s actions portrayed a side of himself that he refused to believe existed prior to the accident. After that incident Gene was constantly haunted by his actions and was unable to grow and develop as an
Gene is disingenuous. He confirms that it was a bout of craziness and that he has recovered from it. Finny has effectively lied to himself and has forced Gene to do the same. Finny seems to be the moral character, however, he possesses insolence that leads to immoral events and
Gene would grieve for a long time without getting Finny’s forgiveness, for he felt very guilty. He got Finny’s remission before he passed away sadly. “Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us” (59). Gene realizes that the accusations in his mind about Finny trying to sabotage him were false. Gene has accepted both his own guilt and the gift of Finny's friendship.
One way Gene’s jealousy and imitation is an effect on his relationship with Finny is that it caused lots of jealousy towards Finny because of his abilities, appearance, and actions. An example of this is when Gene stated “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment. That was because I just wanted to see some more excitement; that must have been it. " (Knowles).
The highlight of Gene’s life in the novel A Separate Peace occurs when he causes Finny to fall off the tree and breaks his leg. The reason why Gene causes Finny to fall off the tree because it all started when he thinks Finny tries to sabotage his effort to become valedictorian. In the beginning, Gene and Finny
He still encourages Gene to do the things that Finny no longer can because he wants to see someone else flourish, and most importantly: his friend. After Finny’s death, Gene even declares that “nothing … had broken [Finny’s] harmonious and natural unity” (Knowles 203). Since Gene exclaims this, the reader understands that Finny
Finny used to ask Gene to go and do other things instead of studying. Gene normally did what Finny asked. Gene decided that Finny was trying to hurt him when they story states, “Suddenly he turned his fire against me, he betrayed several of his other friends,” and he was doing things on his own (102). The second stage of Finny and Gene’s friendship is betrayal and guilt.
Finny not being able to play sports anymore that meant Gene was next in line for the top athlete at Devon. In addition, this incident leads to Finny having several health issues and dying towards the end of the novel. Gene knew that Finny had no admirations towards him and that made him angered. Gene was hurt when Finn died but he still didn’t change once he went to war or when he came back to visit Devon in his elder years. “He had never been jealous of me for a second.