A Separate Peace By John Knowlse: Character Analysis

Gene could have been thinking that taking part in having Finny break his leg for the first time would stop Finny competing against Gene in sports and academics, but possibly realized later that Phineas was never competing against Gene, because Finny could never see the “evil” in

Self-regarding and immaturely, this leads Gene to resent Finny for “…the deadly rivalry…” between them (46). Rashly, Gene assumes Finny keeps trying to cause him to fail his studies by encouraging him to jump off the tree limb or cut school to go to the beach. This seems to be true to Gene because anyone encouraging him to disobey the rules must wish him

(Knowles 70).Gene’s jealousy got the best of him and he made Finny fall out of a tree and injure himself and it made them get into an argument. Gene being so jealous messed up a great relationship. Finny was never in competition but Gene was. “Phineas’ imaginary worlds create peace separate from the world at war, and he invites others, especially Gene into this peaceful sphere” (Alton). This piece of evidence explains how Gene’s envy got in control of him and that Finny never thought of their friendship as a competition.

He envy’s Finny’s success, get angry because he feels Finny is trying to kill his studies, and fears that Finny will outshine him. Gene becomes his own enemy. “Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles 196). Gene was taken over by a mindless impulse. He believes that after Phineas’ death, he was able to overcome that very

Their relationship was affected due to FInny viewing Gene as a part of him. Knowles tells us, “ aid alone had never seemed to him in the category of help…Phineas had thought of me as an extension of himself” (Knowles 17). This shows that Phineas was close enough to Gene that any time Gene helped it was like his conscious. Gene envied Finny but later on in the novel we see the advancement of maturity in Gene. The relationship of Gene and Finny was affected by Gene conforming to Finny and Gene maturing.

Although gene envy and imitation affects him and his relationship with finny,Gene still achieves his peace. The first reason is when gene reaches his peace only after being away from phineas. For example,”an atmosphere in which I continued now to live,a way of sizing up the world with erratic and entity personal reservation(194)”(Alton).This example shows how gene reaches his peace when being separated away from finny. It describes him as being in a new atomsphere. It also shows how finny life and death taught him a way of living.

Gene was so in awe of Finny that he ended up wanting to become a part of him. “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” (54). Gene was so unhappy with his complex personality that he tried to adopt Finny’s character, going as far as putting on his clothes and envisioning himself as Finny. Another example of this is illustrated when Gene interpreted Finny’s words as an invitation to turn into him. “‘...Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas” (77).

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.

Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

After Finny’s accident they became a lot closer. Alton states,” Phineas, too, feels their connection: after the accident, he informs Gene he must become an athlete in Finny’s stead. ``(Alton) Finny’s accident caused him to open up to Gene and reveal what his dream was. When Finny asked him to help achieve his goal Gene thought of himself as an extension of Finny. When Finny learned the truth their friendship was broken.

On the other hand, Finny is a tremendous athlete, outgoing, and an average scholar. It seems as though their life is peaceful at the Devon School despite the war going on. However, Gene struggled internally to find peace with himself. In the novel, he says” my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles 204) The reason Gene said that he killed his enemy at the Devon School because he was his enemy.

“Gene’s symbolic fall comes when he gives in to ‘some ignorance inside’ and shakes the limb on which he and Finny stand” (Hamm). Gene’s shaking of the limb resulted “out of a sudden awareness that Finny was not jealous of him, was not competing” and “[his understanding of] his inferiority to Phineas and his own moral ugliness” (Holborn, Ellis). Gene’s fall from innocence is exhibited by the shaking of the limb on which Finny and him stood because it is not only the moment that Gene gives into his jealousy and envy towards Finny, but also his reaction to the manner in which Finny’s goodness sheds light on Gene’s distrustfulness and Gene’s realization that he “is not capable of maintaining the spiritual purity that distinguishes Phineas and so must as he discovers his own savagery betray Phineas” (Holborn, Ellis). This new knowledge that Gene now holds is detrimental to his innocence, as it sparks a malicious intent within Gene to become better than Finny and creates a one sided competition within Gene that can never be won until he accepts the unfairness of the world outside the idyllic summer of 1942. It

Since Finny cannot play sports anymore because of his broken leg, he tells Gene that he has to do it for him. Gene realizes that this is his destiny; to become an extension of Phineas. Another way he is affected is that he starts to lose his own ways by copying Finny. When Finny was in the hospital wing of the school, Gene put his clothes on and said “that I would never stumble through the confessions

Gene becomes absorbed in his anger and jealousy of Finny that he begins to put blame on him. He concludes that Finny wants him to fail school, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies….We were even after all, even in enmity.   The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (45). Gene realizes fast enough that Finny can get away with anything he wants, Finny only follows his own rules.

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.