In the book A Separate Peace, Phineas is a character who exudes idealism, as is shown in the rules of his game Blitzball. The rules of Blitzball can essentially be summed up in the third and most important of Finny’s commandments: “You always win at sports” (35). This is an undisputed rule of Blitzball; there is no winner, and the only purpose the game serves is for the players to have fun. This is shown when the ball is thrown at Leper Lepellier and Leper is scared and refuses the ball. Instead of ignoring this and possibly making Leper upset, Finny says “The reciever can refuse a pass if he happens to chose to …….We call that that the Lepellier Refusal” (39). In this passage, Finny is obviously creating rules just for the happiness of one…
Throughout the novel Gene is seen being jealous of Finny. “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little,…
His constant beliefs that Finny is trying to ruin his grades, is dragging him down and trying to outdo him cause him to twist their friendship into a competition that is deadly for both of them. Finny’s good hearted intentions cause Gene to resent him even more. When Finny broke the school record in swimming, he decided to keep between himself and Gene. According to Gene, Finny is “too good to be true” and “[p]erhaps for that reason his accomplishment took root in [Gene’s] mind and grew rapidly in the darkness [he] was forced to hide in” (44). His vengeful side grew deeper as he saw how pure Finny was and after her realizes “Now [Gene] knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between [them]. [Gene] was not the same quality as [Finny],” (59) which push him over the edge and his vindictiveness and cause the destruction of…
Gene jealously ruin the bond he had with Finny just because Gene mislead Finny's joke. Gene let his emotion took over the reality that Finny was never competing for a rivalry. Gene is now in dilemma because he cannot tell if Finny was actually jealous. The fact Gene first time failed a test have a great impact to him because he did not know how to cope, so he used Finny as a scapegoat. Even though Gene decided to jump the tree, got to the beach, and play blitzball. Gene struggle between the reality and his emotion had destroyed his bond with…
The two main characters in A Separate Peace have one-of-a-kind personalities. Phineas is athletically talented; Gene has a chance of becoming valedictorian. Although Gene is a mediocre athlete, he could never meet Finny’s talents. Moreover, Phineas is extremely persuasive; for example, he impressingly compelled Mr. Patch-Withers’…
We see Gene go through a major change throughout the novel. Phineas is the key influential element of this change. Finny got into trouble easy, and he got out of trouble as fast as he got into it. “a model boy who was most comfortable in the truant’s corner” (Knowles 23). Finny was the type of kid teachers got a kick out of. He was the essence of the feeling of peace even with the world war. The pink shirt. Boys wearing pink in the 1940s was unheard of, unmanly. Though he didn't take any mind to it. He wore it as an “emblem” to celebrate the war. Gene felt envy towards this. Finny was the only person who could wear something like that with full confidence. “There was no harm in envying your best friend a little” (Knowles 25).…
In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester and Phineas, also known as Finny, are best friends who have a very deep friendship. However, as the story progresses, Gene began to develop feelings of jealousy for Finny when he saw how perfect Finny’s character is. Finny has always been able to talk his way out of trouble and is naturally a good athlete who is earnest, confident, & pure. On the other hand, Gene cannot be pure like Finny and feels insecure. Seeing how good Finny is, caused Gene to become jealous, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything, I couldn’t help envying him…” (ch2.20) Soon, Gene thinks that a rivalry is happening between them. Because Gene envies Finny’s character, he thinks that Finny is also jealous of him for his good academic performance, “I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief …We were even after all… The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.”(ch4.34). By thinking there is a competition between them, Gene feels at ease, because none of them is better than the other. One night, Finny announced that Leper will jump off the tree, in order to become a full member of their secret society. Gene didn’t want to go because he feared his grade would slip if he didn’t study and also thinks that Leper wouldn’t dare to jump off the tree. After hearing from Gene that he wanted to study, Finny was surprise because he thought that Gene was naturally intelligent, who doesn’t need to review for a test. With sincerity, Finny lets Gene study, but Gene changed his mind and would come along with Finny. On the way to the tree,Gene realizes that a competition never happened and it was just Gene that was envious of Finny. Because Gene saw Finny's goodness and innocence, Gene realizes a rivalry with Finny will never occur. Gene began…
Throughout the novel, Gene is constantly comparing himself to Finny, over exaggerating the competition between them, which has detrimental effects on their relationship. Gene creates the goal of being valedictorian to provide an accomplishment to compete with Phineas’ athletic achievements. He believes that…
“He did it. No one else in the school could have done it so without it getting torn from their back.”(Knowles, page 9). Finny’s ego is very apparent, showing that he knows that he can pull off his pink shirt with his charming personality. Although in chapter 3 Finny tells Gene he is his best friend and Gene’s response is silence. “It was a courageous thing to say… But something held me back.”(Knowles, page 21). The miniature monologue Gene says conveys his ego and how it and his reputation were more important than his closest friend. The rivalry between the two is more of a one way street though. In Gene’s eyes Finny is much better than he and although Finny’s ego is large, he is still humble. Gene believes in a way Finny, his best friend, is his rival.…
Finny wanted to be in the Olympics, it was his dream, but due to his broken leg, Finny could not walk and therefore, could not train. Leper knew for a fact that Gene caused Finny’s fall off the tree, which is shown when Leper calls him savage multiple times when Gene visits him, and Brinker (another friend of Gene) tried to frame him for his “crime”. Afterwards, Gene and Finny began to rebuild their relationship overtime, however, due to his broken leg, Finny slipped, down the stairs, causing his other leg to break, this time being fatal, for the marrow of his bones traveled through his blood and into his heart, stopping it. Basically, Gene completely ruined Finny’s life, and then killed him, and all because he say Finny as a threat. This also affected Gene, because he realized that he was actually a part of Finny, as thought of by him, “Phineas had thought of me as an extension of himself.” (Knowles 98). Because of this, Gene never cried about Finny, even at his funeral, because he always felt as if it was his own death and funeral. Gene, decided to be see the world through Finny’s eyes, and he realized that there was no enemy, in fact, he never even killed anyone in the war, as the enemy fled before he even got to the battlefield. His only enemy was…
For example, while Finny was in the hospital Gene decided to put on Finny’s clothes (36). He says “I was Phineas, Phineas to the life. I even had his humorous expression in my face” (37). Gene felt a desire to be someone who was as special as Phineas was. He thought poorly of himself, because of what he had done to Finny, and because he was unable to admit it. This idea that he wasn’t Gene the coward, and was instead Finny the amazing student helped him feel better about himself. When he acted like Phineas he felt confident and that he “would never stumble through the confusions of [his] own character again” (37). At times Gene felt what Finny felt or compared Finny’s situation to his own. Finny tells Gene that “You look like it happened to you or something” when he sees Finny after the accident for the first time (39). Even at Phineas’s funeral towards the end of the story, Gene says “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral”…
Finny is an excellent athlete, charming, and funny. He can get away with just about anything, the rules just don’t seem to apply to him. When looking at the Myers-Briggs test I would classify him as an EFNP. These types of people are said to be warm and enthusiastic people, and good at almost anything they put their mind to. Finny has a certain hold over people, especially Gene. Gene begins to realize this when he thinks "What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me? (9)” Finny doesn’t mean to be manipulative or have a hold over people he is genuine in his desire to make things more fun for others.…
Knowles is trying to comment that it is not possible to stay young and free as it is dangerous. Life is a survival of the fittest, and Phineas’s naivete ultimately leads him to his demise, because he cannot accept the reality of the war and the accident. Phineas undergoes three stages before acceptance: 1. denial, 2. anger, and 3. acceptance. He denies to accept the war’s existence and Gene’s role in his injury. Phineas believes it is better to be ignorant of Gene’s role in the accident because he does not want to doubt his friendship with Gene. He is also angry because he is forced to acknowledge the facts he has been avoiding and ignoring. He acts irrationally due to anger, like breaking his leg again by falling down the stairs. In the end,…
Gene constantly compares his faults and triumphs to those of Finny. “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all. We would be even…” (pg. 52). The previous quote shows how Gene sees Finny more as his competition than his friend. Gene believes that all of Finny’s actions are taken to better himself in their competition. Thus, Gene feels that Finny is taking measures to ensure Gene’s failure academically. “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball,that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions.” (pg. 53). This supports my previous statement that Gene is paranoid of Finny’s motives. Gene could never believe that his friend simply wants to spend time with him, instead he receives it as an act of…
Phineas and Gene are best friends, but also, although Finny never realizes it, worst enemies. Gene’s insecurity is the cause for nearly everything bad that happens throughout the course of the story. Although almost anyone could be jealous of Finny, with his natural athletic ability, popularity, fearlessness, and knack of getting away with anything, Gene’s jealousy was much deeper and much more sinister than a slight twinge of envy. His insecurity made him so jealous of Finny that he desperately wanted to be him, but also hated him at the same time. His jealousy drove him to choose Finny as his enemy and rival and made him dream up bad things about Finny to try and convince himself that he wasn’t as perfect as he seemed to be. Gene believes, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck…