In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main character, Gene Forrester, struggles with copious moral dilemmas while living at Devon, a boarding school. The author portrays Gene as a structured intellectual, who is shielded from the reality of World War II. As a result of this “separate peace”, he predominantly struggles with his self-integrity and, consequently, feels much jealousy towards his classmates at Devon. By examining Gene’s antagonistic behavior towards his peers, it is evident that personal insecurities can interfere with the integrity of every relationship.
Throughout the novel, it is clear that the main relationship is between Gene and his friend, Finny, and the impact of envy is proven through this correspondence. The book’s central activity first begins when Gene begins to feel jealous of his friend. It is later established that one of Gene’s main priorities is to become Finny, a charismatic athlete. Accordingly, Gene frequently attempts to discover aspects in which he is superior to his friend. In due course, Gene forms the presumption that Finny is his most sizeable competition and prioritizes the need to surpass him.
When Gene begins to believe that he is the inferior person, he thereafter creates a fantasy about Finny attempting to sabotage his grades, which, in his opinion, is the only attribute that partially equalizes the two: “Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball, that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, and that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions” (Knowles 53). In this quote, it is proven that Gene’s insecurities have completely controlled him and he looks for any way to top his friend.
It seems that Gene will go to extremes to win the counterfeit battle between him and Finny, but to also relieve all of his moral tension. Jealousy can determine how one lives and acts towards others, which is shown by the peculiar way Gene acts towards his friend thereon. For instance, he decides to betray his friend’s loyalty and trust by completing an act that bids against all of Finny’s strongest moral values. In the beginning of the novel, the author writes about Finny discovering a tree and deciding to jump off it, as a way to defy authority.
Later, Finny decides that he wants to leap with his best friend, Gene, as a way to solidify the strength of their friendship. Overrun with envy, while standing on the branch, Gene holds onto the tree trunk and jolts the limb. Hence, Finny falls with “a sickening, unnatural thud” (Knowles 60), and, as a result, shatters his leg. After this event, Gene feels extremely guilty whenever he sees Finny and determines that he needs to become coinciding with him, in an attempt to counteract it. Overall, the jealousy and envy that Gene experienced perpetrated him to thrust the tree limb and, in sequence, feel much guilt about it.
When Gene jounces the tree limb, a large quantity of his relationships suffer, not only the one of him and Finny. Elwin Lepellier is a timid boy that Gene befriends at Devon. After watching a video about the mountain division, Leper decides that he wants to enlist and, in turn, heads off to war. During his time serving, he starts having hallucinations and, as a consequence, is going to be discharged. However, before Leper was released from the armed forces, he runs away and immediately contacts Gene to come to the “Christmas location” (Knowles 137).
Knowing that this is Leper’s house, Gene travels to Vermont and the two friends talk for awhile. After some time, Leper becomes hysterical and due to his new found bluntness, he accuses Gene of being a savage. He then says that Gene “knocked Finny out of the tree” (Knowles 145), because he wanted to be the lord of the manor. Gene, being enthralled with his guilt, has an extreme reaction and begins kicking the chair Leper is sitting in. This event helps the reader understand the full extent of Gene’s guilt, which is all rooted in the jealousy and envy he once felt.
Gene struggles with the self-doubt that he is experiencing, while also dealing with the guilt he feels towards the occurrences on the tree. It is shown that this has a huge impact on the way he treats others and his relationships. Accordingly, his relationship with Leper provides details on how his personal insecurities have progressed into scores of other problems. At the end of the novel, Gene’s instability culminates into a maior conflict, which includes an additional character, Brinker Hadley. Brinker is the opposite of Finny, in all manner of ways, by reason that he rules his peers, at Devon, with an impassive and conservative demeanor.
When he hears the confusion of what happened on the tree, he has this need to fathom the true details of the event. As Gene dodges the questions concerning the incident, due to his guiltiness, Brinker becomes additionally curious and resolves that it would be best if the students conducted a trial: “”And I said,’ Brinker’s voice was full of authority and perfectly under control, ‘that for Finny’s good,’ and with an additional timbre of sincerity, ‘and for your own good too, by the way, Gene, that we should get all this out into the open.
We don’t want any mysteries or any stray rumors and suspicions left, in the air at the end of the year, do we? “(Knowles 168). During the trial, Gene and Finny have conflicting accounts, upon what ensued on the tree, and Finny later mentions that Leper is back. Brinker then decides that Leper should share his account of what occurred because he witnessed what happened and has an exceptional memory. Due to his testimony, Brinker and the assembled jury realize that Gene jounced the limb and it also allows some doubt to occur in Finny’s mind.
It so strongly unsettles Finny by reason that it goes against his resolute ideals, including loyalty and trust. In turn, Finny rushes out of the room and then suddenly the boys hear “his body falling clumsily down the white marble stairs” (Knowles 177), which is most likely due to his flustered nature. He is, thus, rushed to the infirmary and after some time, Gene visits his friend to help them both come to some peace of mind. Finny finally accepts his apology before going into surgery, to reset his leg again, where some bone marrow clogs his heart and he dies.
At Finny’s funeral, Gene reveals that he feels like it is his own, which shows that his guilt and anger went along with Finny as he died. Hence, the author shows that jealousy and envy caused some of the problems between Gene and Brinker and these issues, consequently, generated the death of Finny. Because of this, it is proven that the Gene’s insecurities impacted most of his relationships, which perpetrated a drastic outcome. During the book, Knowles exemplifies how poignant insecurities can be on relationships, which is shown through a multitude of interactions between characters.
The relationship between Finny and Gene is the most prominent and exemplifies the influence of jealousy and envy. By reason of this jealousy, a dramatic event occurs and causes Gene to experience a great deal of guilt. It is then, accordingly, shown the colossal impact this had on numerous of Gene’s other relationships. Due to this, the novel highlights that one’s sources of stress can bring about complications with the wholeness of relationships.
