A Seperate Peace Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, A Separate Peace

A Seperate Peace Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, A Separate Peace A Seperate Peace In Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is portrayed as an intelligent student who is motivated by academics. He is also a thinker that considers a situation from all sides before making a decision. Gene is also a person who follows all the rules and regulations. He always obeys his teachers, studies hard, never misses a class, and makes excellent grades. He does not really enjoy sports, for he is not a good athlete. While in school he lets many distractions such as his friend Finny take part in his life. This leads to his internal wars. Finny is Genes roommate and best friend, who has a completely opposite personality from Gene. He always acts on blind impulse, never thinking about the rules or the consequences. He is also a poor student, for he does not devote himself to his studies. He would rather be playing sports, since he is the best athlete on campus. He lets sports motivate him and wants to participate in the 1944 Olympics. During their days at Devon, Gene is motivated by Finnys perfect grace and coordination. Gene begins to adore and worship Finny as a super hero. He feels his roommate can handle any situation and charm the teachers and classmates. As a result, Gene tries to imitate him and also lets himself be controlled by him. Gradually, Gene grows jealous of his friend. He begins to hope that Finny will get caught and punished for one of his many wild stunts. For instance, when Pinny wore an outrageous pink shirt, he escaped punishment by giving a satisfying reason saying that it was his emblem. Gene wants Finny to be forced down to his level so that he can compete with him and not just lose to him.Gene tries to please Finny. Although he knows that by doing so, he is acting against every instinct of his behavior. In order to keep up with Finny, he jumps from the tree into the river, a daring feat, even though he is scared to death. He also allows Finny to take him away from his studies, which are v ery important to Gene. When Finny saves Genes life by preventing him from falling from the tree, Gene knows that he should be grateful, instead he accuses him by saying he would not have been up in the tree if werent for Finny. He concludes that he should not feel any gratitude towards his roommate. Since everything seems to come so easily and naturally to Finny, especially his athletic abilities, Gene grows insanely jealous of him. The jealousy is carefully hidden inside until he can stand it no more. He causes Finny to fall out of the tree, crippling him for life. By hurting him, Gene could bring him down to his level. After the accident, Gene even sees himself as Finny. He dresses in his roommate's clothes and says, I was Phineas, Phineas to the life. He also becomes the crippled Finny, refusing to participate in sports, since Finny cannot do it. After the accident, Gene is riddled with guilt and shame. During summer vacation, he decides he must confess that he has caused the accident to Finny. He goes to his home, where he is recovering, and tries to tell Finny that he has bounced him out of the tree. Finny refuses to believe the story, for he trusts Gene as his best friend in life. When Finny returns to Devon, he tells Gene that he is going prepare him for the next Olympics. The agreement is that Finny will coach Gene in sports, and Gene will coach Finny in his studies. During the winter, Gene participates in a winter carnival that Finny has organized. He easily wins all of the sporting events, proving that Finny's efforts have paid off. But Gene is still not at peace with himself. The war that is raging in Europe, and his internal war, driven by guilt and shame. When the friendship between Pinny and Gene strengthens, Gene gets motivated by Lepers telegram to join the Navy. Gene lets go of Pinny and goes off to find Leper. Gene sees that Leper has gone crazy from the internal conflict.