Phineas vs. Gene
An analysis of the rivalry of Phineas and Gene. From the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles.Phineas' world was a very beautiful thing to him. A world where war was a work of art, painted so perfectly in his mind. He was full of views and ideas that were perfect in subject, but realistically unachievable. Gene was a Smart, intelligent boy. Every thing was completely real to him. School was very important. When he played sports, someone always lost, nobody always won in his mind. Gene, in his realism was somewhat drawn to Finny though, almost like he envied his idealistic theories. In the early pages of A Separate Peace, Finny confesses that Gene is his best friend. It is considered a courageous act for the students at Devon to expose emotion. And rather than Gene venturing back with similar affection, he holds back and says nothing. Gene can't handle the fact that Finny is so compassionate, so perfect. In order to protect himself from accepting Finny's compassion and risking emotional pain, Gene creates a silent rivalry with Finny, convincing himself
I don't believe that two clashing personalities can exist in one place with out conflict, internal or external. Now Finny could never do any of the active things he loved: sports, swimming, and his other trickery. There whole existence together seemed like idealism in its self. There relationship was realistically unachievable. This may be the way that one's subconscious seizes the individual in order for them to learn what they need to learn to satisfy their mind, emotional state, or encourage spiritual growth. This creates a huge conflict for Gene; not being able to deal with Finny's purity and his own darkness. He finally discovers the truth, that Finny only wants the best for Gene, and had no unfavorable intentions. Expose him to his idealistic thoughts. " In this quote Finny expresses understanding for the idea of man's natural inhumanity to man. Coincidently these were things Gene despised Finny for. At this point Gene feels extreme freedom from the web of rivalry that he has been living in. Gene had an uncontainable hatred for Finny because of it.
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