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work/ journals to print


 * ASP essay**

//**A Separate Peace**//

No matter how hard a person tries to mask his true feeling of self doubt and inadequacy, inevitably their true emotions always reveal themselves. In John Knowles’ novel, //A Separate Peace,// Phineas, an easy going and courageous fifteen year old, thinks that he has found the brother he never had in his best friend, Gene Forrester. Gene is Phineas’ roommate at the prestigious Devon School in New Hampshire. Finny, Phineas’ widely used nickname, truly feels happiness in Gene’s presence. They would have the perfect friendship if only Gene did not secretly possess the exact opposite feelings towards Finny. Gene feels that Finny is his number one rival in life, and everything he does revolves on overshadowing Finny’s accomplishments. On top of these feelings of competitiveness, Gene is extremely jealous of Finny and his abilities. However, Gene does not feel guilty for experiencing these feelings because he thinks that Finny possesses the same hateful feelings towards Gene; they are “even in enmity.”(54). As Gene realizes that in fact Finny does not feel anger towards Gene, but love, Gene feels isolated and deserted. Ultimately ,his feelings of insecurity unmask his passive aggressive tendencies as unadulterated rage. In Gene’s life, his biggest competition is his pseudo best friend Finny because Finny managed to obtain everything in life that Gene wanted. Finny is the greatest athlete at Devon. He Jacobson-2 can play almost every sport with ease and always ends up being exceptional at it even though “for such an extraordinary athlete-even as a Lower Middle Phineas had been the best athlete in the school- he was not spectacularly built.”(16) Although Gene was not as gifted in athletics as Finny was, Gene was around ten pounds lighter which in Gene’s eyes made him the superior person in the relationship. This fact gave Gene some sense of reassurance that even though Finny managed to get all the attention through his athletic achievement, he still was inferior to Gene, or as Gene seemed to think. Although Finny may be a natural athlete, he is definitely no scholar. He is fully aware of his strengths and weaknesses as a person and is not afraid to expose them. On the other hand, Gene is naturally smart. He has the natural ability to do well at school, and he also has a very strong work ethic. He wanted to be appreciated for something so badly that he wanted to graduate as the valedictorian. Gene felt he would become equal to Finny’s multiple awards, and his swimming record, if he “… was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all.”(52) Gene thought that this high position was the only way to equal anything that Finny has accomplished throughout his stay at Devon. Finny’s accomplishes were so great to Gene that this was the only possible way to even measure up to Finny. However, competition was not the only factor that added fuel to the fire of Gene’s aggression, he was also jealous and wished he could be more like Finny. As Gene realized that he could not possess Finny’s pure and kind emotions, he became extremely jealous of all qualities the Finny possessed because he had no way of becoming like Jacobson-3 Finny. Finny was a very charismatic person. He had the ability to lead a whole group of people and influence them. According to Gene “Finny was the essence of this careless peace.”(24) Gene wished he could become a leader and a free person like Finny, however, Gene was more of a follower. It was never his ideas people were talking about or his games they were playing. If Gene had some of the careless essence of peace that Finny possessed he would have more appreciation for life. In addition to being a very charismatic person, Finny was also loyal and modest. When Gene almost fell off the tree limb the first time Gene realized that “he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me. I wouldn’t have turned 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.” ( 33) Even though the fact that Gene is still alive was due to Finny’s loyalty, Gene still finds some fault in Finny’s kind ways and tries to twist them into evil because of his extreme jealousy. It kills Gene inside to know that deep down he is not a good person like Finny. Once he puts aside all the physical differences about them, Finny’s soul and integrity surpass Gene’s by miles. He knows that this is the main reason why so many people like him, not his athleticism or his way of talking himself out of any situation. There were many opportunities where Gene could have displayed some courage ,like Finny does, but instead he decided to purposely hurt his one best friend, which is a thing that Finny would never even dream about. Eventually, Gene‘s disloyalty to Finny adds to his self-conscious feelings and pent up aggression exploding. As Gene finds that Finny not only sees him as a friend, but as a brother, Gene starts to feel Jacobson-4 alone and isolated in life because he realizes that he is extremely disloyal to Finny. Gene believed that Finny is doing everything and anything to get Gene away from his schoolwork, the one thing he is actually good at. Gene would have had straight A’s in all subjects if he had not been distracted by Finny all summer. During the summer, they had been planning Secret Suicide Society meeting, taking trips to the beach, and skipping dinner and go off and have fun instead. In Gene’s malicious and wicked mind all of Finny’s actions were “…all cold trickery, it was calculated, it was all enmity.”(54) Gene sees Finny as being so spiteful and jealous towards him that he will do anything to remain the dominant person in their friendship. Since Finny is so perfect in Gene’s eyes, it must be perfectly alright if they are feeling the same hate and despise for each other. However, soon Gene realizes that Finny in fact does not feel these feelings. He actually feels proud of Gene and his strengths. Finny even admits to Gene that “he could study forever and he’d never break a C. But its different for Gene. He’s good. He is really good. If Finny had a brain like that, he’d-he’d have his head cut open so people could look at it.”(58) This one statement disproves Gene’s theories of Finny’s hatred. In fact, Finny recognizes their differences and accepts them, unlike Gene towards Finny. Knowing this makes Gene feel extremely disloyalty towards Finny. As Gene gently shook the branch and saw Finny falls down to a world of the unknown, he felt a tiny bit of relief. Finally, he was able to take have control over Finny. Finally, his jealousy, insecurity and anger came to the surface. He was a monster with only one motive, getting back at Finny for being everything he wanted to be. Ultimately, Gene’s insecurity lead to his anger exploding and volatile behaviors immerging. Jacobson-5 Gene was secretly in rivalry with Finny to be the dominant person in the relationship. All of his feelings were fueled by his extreme jealousy which lead to disillusioned image of Finny’s intentions in his mind that turned out to be untrue and lead to feelings of isolation. All of these factors lead Gene to become passive aggressive and have secret feelings of hatred towards Finny that even he was not able to admit existed. Finny was a very pure and innocent soul just looking to have fun and unfortunately Gene misinterpreted all of Finny’s good and playful intentions.