Jealousy In John Knowles A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace Relation The enemy shall be thy one who is full of envy and imitation. John Knowles progressed a novel, A Separate Peace, with the focus around two young boys enrolled in a boarding school in the 1940’s. Gene is to be described as non-athletic, often wreck less, academically successful, and self-centered. A Separate Peace provides the integrity of how Gene’s envy and imitation of Phineas affects the relationship between himself, Phineas, how Gene found peace upon returning to Devon 15 years later. Gene’s envy and imitation of Phineas affects him. His jealousy affected him by changing his actions and tone. The author remarks, “Initially, Gene imitates Phineas; he joins him climbing the tree and jumps into the river, being late for dinner, and taking forbidden trips to the beach” (Alton). Gene was convinced by Finny to climb the tree to jump; he started to follow Phineas to give himself confidence, changing his innocence then. Gene tries on Phineas’ clothes to become more like Phineas momentarily. In the novel, Gene states that “I would never stumble through the confusion of my own character again” (Knowles 54). Gene is wanting to become someone else in order to achieve like Finny. He becomes confident in the way of dressing like

At the end, Gene soon realizes that he was the enemy all along. A Separate Peace states that “To keep silent about this amazing happening deepened this shock for me. It made Finny seem too unusual for—not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were few relationships among us at Devon not based on rivalry” (Knowles 63). Gene then knows that he is the enemy and impulse toward destruction – and believes he overcame the enemy after causing Phineas’ death. He separates from Phineas and develops his own identity and adulthood. Knowles states “I could not escape that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case”