jealousy in a separate peace

In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace there is an odd story of a boys boarding school, and how they deal with WWII. In this story there is portrayed an unusual friendship, between Gene, an intellectual, and Phineas, a handsome popular athlete. Although they seem to be best friends, it always seems as if Gene was jealous of Phineas.

To start with the positive side, Gene and Phineas, or Finny, as everyone called him, seemed to not care about their differences. This is because they always show good faith to each other because they are always together. Throughout the book they are doing things together, and growing this sort of opposite friendship that continues to build through time. This friendship is also the kind that one is able to admit, like Finny does in the book.

Despite the fact that Finny and Gene are such good friends, Gene is always jealous of Finny, and

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“"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. The thought was you and Phineas are even already. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. ”(Chapter four) This quote takes place right before the fall, when Gene jiggles the limb. I found a single sustaining thought. We were even after all, even in enmity. ” (Chapter 6) This is When Gene believes he had finally fulfills his dream of becoming Finny, or at least what he was. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the 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. ” It is in this statement that Gene admits that he was jealous of Finny and somehow hated him, and I know he talks about jealousy because he says Finny was the only one who was never afraid of the “enemy”, which I believe is jealousy because everyone was jealous of Finny, only he never was jealous because he was on top.

After Gene accomplishes his goal of stopping Finny, he then gets into an argument with Finny about sports.

Approximate Word count = 597
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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