All the major conflicts between Gene and Finny usually involved life or death just like war. For example, when Gene was about to jump from the tree but was distracted by Finny and almost fell; Finny grabbed his hand and helped him regain his balance. Gene's anger could be sensed when he made this comment, "Yes, he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me. I wouldn't have been on that damn limb if it wasn't for him. I wouldn't have truned around and so lost my balance, if he hadn't been there. I didn't need to feel any tremendous rush of gratitude towards Finny." (Knowles 25) If Gene had fallen out of that tree he could have died.

             The next incident that occurred in the tree between Finny and Gene was when Gene shook the branch to make Finny fall. This was an act of war on Gene's part. Gene saw Finny as his enemy. His jealousy, competition, and anger combined and Gene bounced on the tree branch subconsciously while Finny was about to jump. Finny fell to the ground breaking his leg in several places. Therefore, making Finny fall from the limb eliminated Gene's competition or disabled his enemy.

             Finny ran out of the room when an argument about the incident at the tree came up because he did not want to hear the truth about what really happened. He fell down a flight of stairs and later died. Gene never wanted Finny to die but always felt conflicted over what happened. War betwen friends and war between enemies is never safe and someone always ends up getting hurt, and in this case it was Finny.

             Gene's war with Quakenbush did not even start until the day he became assistant crew manager for the crew team. Gene said,".it wasn't the words he said which angered me. It was only he was so ignorant." (Knowles 71) Gene goes on to reminisce on all the good things that happened between him and Finny. Quakenbush's ignorant remarks lead up to Gene punching him in the face.