A Separate Peace: Gene vs Phineas
In John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is portrayed as an average boy in high school. The novel takes place during World War II, when Gene is in summer school and the following school year. The story has very few characters, most of them being Gene's peers. Some of these characters include Leper, Brinker, Chet, Quackenbush, and Phineas. Phineas, or Finny for short, is Gene's best friend. He is the other main character of the story. The main focus of the story is the relationship between Gene and Finny. Gene's relationship with Finny slowly deteriorates because of his resentment and dependency on Finny, and his simultaneous love and hate of Finny. First, Gene's resentment of Finny is one of the main reasons why their relationship in the story does not last. At the beginning of the story, the reader already gets the sense that Gene is jealous of Finny's athletic ability. One example of this is when Finny invents blitzball. "He had unconsciously invented a game which brought his own athletic gifts to their highest pitch...I never saw him tired, never really winded, never overcharged and never restless" (Knowles 31). This quote demonstrates how Gene is aware of Finny's athletic dominance over everyone
Secondly, Gene depends on Finny because he is uncomfortable with his own personality. He often shows how he wants to live as a part of Finny, and abandon his own self. One example of this is after Finny breaks his leg, Gene begins to put on some of Finny's clothes. " I decided to put on his clothes...when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat. I had become, no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas , Phineas to the life... 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" (Knowles 54). This quote shows how Gene feels better about himself when he is in Finny's clothes, because dressing like Finny makes Gene feel more a part of Finny. Another example of Gene becoming a part of Finny is when Finny tells him to play sports for him. "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're going to play them for me," and I lost a part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose form the first: to become a part of Phineas" (Knowles 77). This quote shows how Gene even begins to admit to himself that he is becoming a part of Finny. Gene's jealousy and dependency of Finny are what cause the main conflict in their
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Approximate Word count = 879
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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