A Seperate Peace: Phineas

put himself in Phineas's shoes (and his clothes). Now it was Gene who would be changed

forever from Phineas's hurt and jealousy towards him. Gene almost had to make up for the fact

he had hurt Finny by becoming the athlete Finny could never be, because of his act of envy.

Then, in another act of desperation, Phineas decided that everything he could not do did

not exist. Fooling others into thinking that he was strong, as he once was, became his source

of comfort. In doing this he also tried to convince himself that he could be strong

. . .
and happy

once again, but inside he knew the awful and tragic truth. In this one

he tried to live through Gene. This fact may have hurt him more than his injury. No matter how long he imagined a different world. No matter how hard he tried to build up another part of him

from Gene. Not only

to hurt him, but to protect himself from Phineas. But he could not accept the

realities. Phineas never had learned to deal with inability, and

hopelessness, therefore when they both were thrusted at him at a point in his life when he was

just beginning to become a man he had no other solution but to go into denial. Something irreplaceable, and of the utmost importance to

Finny's being. To Phineas it was better to live his lies than to live a terrible truth. Finny had never experienced this kind of envy. Not only did

Finny deny his own problems, but he also refused to let himself or anyone else believe that

his best friend for so long had actually tried to inflict this horriffic accident upon him. Gene had become so incredibly wrapped up in

convincing himself Finny was not his best friend, but the enemy, that he had involuntarily

caused much more tragedy than anyone could have ever guessed.

Common topics in this essay:
, Phineas Finny, Gene Phineas, Finny's Finny,

Approximate Word count = 444
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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