Literary Analysis for A Separate Peace Having a best friend means not to have jealousy of them, and to not wish to hurt them in any way. From reading this literature book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, it proves that statement. The story is about two close friends whose bond becomes ruined by jealousy. Gene felt extremely jealous of Finny. In the beginning of the story, the author tried to describe the inferior feelings of Gene. In the dorm rooms, Gene tried on Finny’s clothes as a symbol of wanting to live Finny’s life.
While picking up the shirt, Gene said, “This is going to be my emblem” (18). That shows that he wants some artifact of Finny’s as his label to describe his personality. Basically, he wants to live Finny’s life. Finny was a down-to-earth, normal, peace making guy. While Gene played the role of a follower, Finny played the leader.
When Finny tried to beat a swimming record and accomplished it, he wanted it to be kept on the low. Gene, on the other hand, wanted everyone to know therefore he would become popular. After beating the record, Finny said, “By the way, we aren’t going to talk about this. It’s just between you and me. Don’t say anything about it, to… anyone” (36).
By showing that Finny has to say something in the first place, he obviously knows Gene’s blabbering side of him. When Gene pushed Finny off the tree, it clearly showed how jealous he was of him. The boys have such an incredible bond that when Gene came to tell Finny that it was him who pushed him out of the tree, he did not even believe him. He said, “Of course you didn’t do it.
You damn fool. Sit down, you damn fool. I’m going to hit you if you don’t sit down” (62). He became so angry and up-tight that Gene would say that, and he truly believed that he would never do anything like that. After falling out of a tree, Finny was taken to the hospital.
When he felt lonely, he called Gene to talk, and to see if Gene had replaced Finny with another roommate. Once Gene answered “no”, Gerber 3 Finny became mad at himself for even thinking that in the first place. This is another example of how much trust the two boys have for each other. Finny’s response was, “I could shoot myself for thinking that you might. I really knew you wouldn’t” (75).
Later on in the story, Finny comes to conclusion that Gene really did push him out of the tree and tried to kill him. All of his trust they once had for each other disappears and the friendship that they had is over. These boys’ relationship proves that jealousy can tear apart anything.