character, revisits his high school and his traumatic teen years. When Gene was a

teen-ager his best friend and roommate Phineas (Finny) was the star athlete of the school.

Gene was only a mediocre athlete and is always jealous of Finny. They form a Super

Suicide Society of the Summer Session which includes jumping from a tree into a river as

its initiation. Eventually, Finny falls from the tree fracturing his leg. This leads to

Finny's death and Gene struggle to find himself. The relationship between these two

boys proves my thesis statement; a friend and an enemy can be one in the same.

The characters of Gene and Finny are as opposite as apples and oranges. Finny is

a free spirit and Gene enjoys structure. The main problem though, is that Finny has

"some kind of hold"(9) over Gene. The fact that Gene lets Finny talk him into

studies."(45). Since academics are so important to Gene he begins to resent Finny and he

getting ready for the war"(15)when asked why he was late for dinner. The war

jumping off of it Finny might not be dead.

our brains and also a was between right and wrong. The war is also a symbol of their

friendship; this creates a negative tone. Finny on the other hand seems to make the mood

he will never be able to do sports again. Consequently Finny pretends that there is no war

becomes destructive for Gene because he is cutting himself off from the structure that

The fact that friends and enemies can be one in the same is very evident in this novel.

because he knows that he will never be able to participate. After trying every branch of

symbol is the tree. "It loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the river

symbolizes several different things. Finny explains to the head master that "We

Some common words found in the essay are:
Finny Gene, Gene I'll, Suicide Society, Gene Finny, Eventually Finny, John Knowles, Consequently Finny, Phineas Finny, Summer Session, war symbolizes, war symbol, friends enemies, suicide society, gene finny, finny explains, finny gene, example war,
Approximate Word count = 622
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)