Shanna Fardoost
Ms.Francis
English AS
3-3-14
The Power of Envy
“Never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy. Never underestimate that” ~ Oliver Stone. Jealousy and envy are dark feelings that plague the mind of the wicked; and if left to grow, it will consume the mind in a dark veil of hatred that will spark violence and maliciousness. In the book “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles two boys named Finny and Gene create a friendship built on the back of envy and jealousy. Even though the two boys look at each other with different views they both saw one thing, and that is skills they will never be able to obtain, or so they think. Just like what Oliver Stone once said “never underestimate the power of jealousy and power of envy to destroy”, ultimately Finny and Genes relationship was destroyed by their constant envy of one another. Finny and Gene’s relationship cannot be a friendship, simply because Gene is unable to like Finny.
Gene’s relationship to Finny is mostly driven by envy, and how he yearns to be as perfect as Finny. Gene is constantly questioning Finny’s “plans”, and “motives” when he is studying and usually asks himself questions like, “But what did go on in his mind? If I was the head of the class and won that prize, then we would be even” (52). When Gene says he “would be even” he is presupposing that Finny is starting some kind of rivalry, and is creating bad blood between the two. Gene uses the word “even” to signify that he feels there is something about Finny that makes him superior to him. Being head of the class isn’t about furthering Genes pursuit of education, but instead is used as an opportunity to get back a...
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...e up to. Gene feels he has an advantage over Finny, the enemy, because he feels like he knows how Finny’s mind works. To Gene Finny is a spy trying to infiltrate his schedule and destroy his goals of being the best student at Devon.
In conclusion Gene and Finny aren’t friends. True friends do not envy each other, or wage war with each other. True friends would stick with each other to the end, they do not envy, and most importantly they do not intentionally harm each other. Gene and Finny’s relationship is a perfect example of how envy and jealousy can corrupt the minds of everyday people. Just like what Oliver Stone said “ you should never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy” because in the end it is Genes envy that took Finny’s life, and it is Genes consequence to bear that burden of death he brought upon himself
Have you ever read a book where one of the main characters was so envious of another? Well, here you have it. In John Knowles “A Separate Peace”, Gene is all for the jealous rage and resentful ways. Throughout the book, Mr. Knowles places the boys in a boarding school and sets the tale so that the reader knows all the focus is set upon Finny and Gene’s relationship. Speaking of relationships and Gene’s way, the storyline takes a turn and Finny actually ends up being almost physically pushed out of a tree. I say that shows a large characteristic of Gene. He is without a doubt, resentful towards Finny.
Insidiously and pervasively, Gene's original doubt creeps into his mind while at the beach, when Finny confesses that Gene is his best pal, yet Gene's hesitation holds him back, stating that “perhaps [he] was stopped by the level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth” (50). By pondering his motivations, Gene reveals that he truly does not believe that Finny considers him his best friend; Gene doubts Finny because he believes that hate forms the cornerstone of the relationship, which in turn leaves no room for love. Instead, Gene believes the confession of friendship serves the purpose of disillusioning him, that, as a conniver, Finny wants Gene to falsely trust him. Through a lack of communication, neither boy truly knows where they stand as a friendship based on trust and mutual affection fosters no home for envy, and yet Gene believes that Finny is his adversary. Finally, Gene ponders how he “might have asked, 'Who are you then?'” while realizing that Finny cares more about him than the fake rivalry; as Finny's personality seems to suddenly veer away from competitive, Gene feels he “was facing a total stranger” (50). Because Finny fears destroying the friendship by addressing its problems, he never empathizes with Gene and therefore does not see Gene's deluded misinterpretation of the association or the hatred that he fosters towards Phineas. Finny throws Gene off guard as he expressed his true feelings because, fed by doubt, Gene does not believe that Finny truly cares for him. Again, Gene's fears escape his mind as he exclaims “to drag me down too!” (57) when Finny talks of how he could have reached out to Gene in the moments before his fall. In his mind, Gene molds Phineas into a resentful person, so he automatically assumes the worst with Finny's intentions. Like an animal of prey, Gene retreats suddenly when
After the highly athletic person Finny “Falls” from the tree, Gene begins to wonder who his friends are, and why his friends are his friends. At this time Gene starts to create a part of his enemy, “Jealousy”. Gene didn’t know if it was an accident when Finny fell from the tree, or if it was the jealousy that hurt his pal. Gene reflects “Could it be that, he might even be right? Had I really and defiantly and knowingly done it to him after all?” (70, Knowles). Gene is unsure and begins to question himself and weather his best friend is truly, his best friend. Gene is jealous of Finnys natural athleticism, Gene isn’t very athletic but does well in school, Finny is the opposite. Gene wonders to himself if he had been so jealous to just hurt, or possibly even kill his roommate and best friend. This was an internal battle, between his jealous side VS. his moral side. The jealous side wanted Finny out of the way, so he could become good at everything, and the moral side wanted to stay morally straight. Unfortunately his jealous side won this battle.
...em at the end of the novel. Gene’s firm defense systems enable him to cripple and betray his best friend. Additionally, Finny’s denial of the evil in people allows him to get jounced off the limb leaving him injured. I believe that people are able to contain both good and evil within them. Therefore, my opinion is that people should incorporate both perceptions of Gene and Finny. They should be able to contain some sorts of defense mechanisms to protect themselves since some people cannot be trusted. Before deciding to shield someone from entering your life, it is best to get to know them well. The lesson achieved in this novel is that people should seek out positive traits in others, but at the same time be aware of their intentions. Investigating a person’s positive and negative qualities is the ideal defense mechanism I that I have finally learned to accomplish.
He becomes aware of Finny’s endurance, as “nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last [Gene] had” (203). Following Finny’s death, Gene states how absolutely nothing could break Finny, not even a war. But the evilness of his shadow and unconscious self could, and cause Finny’s death. One’s shadow can be toxic when displayed to the outside world, especially when it is not in check by the individual. Gene has accepted his dark side when he admits he had been the cause of his friend’s death. In the very end of the novel, Gene finally takes responsibility for all of his shadow’s actions against his best friend, as he thinks to himself, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Gene’s transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end is clearly seen in this quotation, as he no longer denies his shadow’s existence and now claims responsibility of the darkness inside himself. He illustrates himself as being on active duty at all times at school, staying on guard for any of Finny’s tricks that may potentially cause him to fall behind in his studies. His war with Finny, whom he once
Gene symbolizes inner war, while Finny symbolizes a sense of peace. Gene is the jealous one in the friendship, and he is also the one to immediately jump to conclusions. Finny is a little stubborn and manipulative, but he tries his hardest to be a good person. An example to prove this statement is when Gene suddenly assumed that Finny was trying to sabotage his achievements during school. When Gene reacted to this by being jealous of Finny, it showed that he was the type to make assumptions off of little factual evidence. Gene’s jealousy and hatred towards Finny resulted in him purposefully inflicting harm on Finny. Finny is the type of boy to try and talk himself out of anything, making him very manipulative and liked around Devon. The book causes the reader to believe that Finny was liked by most of his classmates and his teachers, this giving him an advantage when he tried to get out of trouble. The book gives us many examples of this. One being when Finny was late because of jumping off of the limb, and another when he talked himself out of trouble for wearing a pink shirt and a tie as a belt.
Throughout the novel, Gene is constantly envying Finny because he describes him with many god-like traits that he himself does not possess. Gene sees that “Phineas could get away with anything” even when he gets into trouble, and starts to admit he “couldn 't help envying [Finny] [...] which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (Knowles 25 ). However, when Gene becomes paranoid that Finny is also envious of his academic success but then realizes that this is not true, his jealousy develops into enmity as he sees that Finny is naturally pure and good willed at heart- something he is not. Because he “was not of the same quality as [Finny]” (59), Gene unleashes his anger by physically harming Finny. In the end, Finny’s death is the outcome of Gene’s actions which are provoked by his initial feelings of jealousy. Gene loses a good friend, but his remorse has allowed him to take on a new identity has Finny, eventually forcing him to let go of his true self. Overall, one is able to witness from Gene that emotions can do a significant amount of damage to relationships, as well as cause an individual to lose themselves in the
In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and doing well. Finny has a reputation for being the the best athlete in school, and Gene attempts to counterbalance Finny’s power by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny’s activities, Gene thinks that Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny and his activities, and Gene starts interrupt...
At the beginning of this novel Gene is very “Ignorant” of his heart. He constantly lies, not only to others but also to him self. Finny on the other hand is a very honest person, he never lies about anything to make him sound or feel better about himself. An example of this is the incident where the boys are asked their height and Genes says he is 5’9 and Finny corrects him by saying, “no your five foot eight and a half, the same as me.” This quote shows the honesty that Finny possesses and that Gene lacks. Gene refuses to admit that he isn’t tall while Finny openly admits it. Gene refuses to admit that he isn’t brave or that his motives for injuring Finny where entirely false. Gene cannot face what he is and this leads to tragedy.
Gene was only a mediocre athlete and is always jealous of Finny. They form a Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session which includes jumping from a tree into a river as its initiation. Eventually, Finny falls from the tree fracturing his leg. This leads to Finny’s death and Gene struggle to find himself. The relationship between these two boys proves my thesis statement; a friend and an enemy can be one in the same.
One of the enemies that Gene created for himself was jealousy. Gene was jealous of everything about Finny. The openness which Finny possessed was one of these things which Gene envied. One incident of Finny’s openness was when he wore the pink shirt. By wearing this he was “symbolizing the first U.S. bombing in Europe.” Gene simply replied to the shirt by calling Finny “nuts,” but deep down inside Gene was jealous of Finny’s boldness. Another incident of Finny’s openness, or boldness is when he wore the school tie as a belt. Gene was anxiously waiting for Finny to get yelled at, but because of his openness he was able to talk his way out of getting into trouble. Finny claimed that he wore the tie as a belt because it represented “Devon in the War.” Again, Gene was envious of Finny’s openness to make up a story and “get away with everything.”
Every person feels rivalry or competition towards others at some point in their lives. This rivalry greatly affects our ability to understand others, and this eventually results in paranoia and hostility. It is a part of human nature, that people coldly drive ahead for their gain alone. Man's inhumanity towards man is a way for people to protect themselves from having pain inflicted on them by others, and achieving their goals and desires without the interference of others. This concept of man's inhumanity to man is developed in A Separate Peace as the primary conflict in the novel centres on the main character, Gene, and his inner-battles with feelings of jealousy, paranoia, and inability to understand his relationship with his best friend Phineas. Competition is further demonstrated by the occurrence of World War II. It is shown that, "There were few relationships among us (the students) at Devon not based on rivalry." (p. 37) It is this rivalry and competition between the boys at Devon that ripped their friendships apart.
Although Gene hurt Finny, he never questions Gene's loyalty and friendship. Showing how true friends will always believe and trust each other. During a school
Gene is the narrator and protagonist of A Separate Peace. He suffers from all PDF the regular teenager ailments; self consciousness, jealousy, an identity crisis, and uncertainty. It is obvious from the start that Gene holds a great deal of admiration for Finny. Finny is a hero, an athlete, and a God in Genes eyes. Gene admires Finny, but naturally, Finny is also the competition. Finny gains what Gene lacks. Finny has the talents for sports, better conversation and actions and could easily be described as the perfect "Devon student". Gene May get better grades, but he goes unnoticed while Finny is able to corral the boys into any activity and talk even Gene himself into breaking the rules. Gene admits to jouncing the limb of the tree on that one summer day of 1942, and he even admits his crime to Finny. It is unknowing whether this crime was subconscious, a blind impulse or consciously malevolent. The source of our facts is Gene himself which makes it even more of a rocky situation. It could be that Gene over stricken with guilt jounced the branch, or that he has imagined these antagonist thoughts which were never really t...
This quote shows their friendship. Gene didn’t understand why Finny talked him into things that he knew he shouldn't have done. Finny influenced Gene. This wasn't necessarily a good thing. Sometimes Finny helped Gene overcome his fears and help him become more social. But sometimes, it was a bad thing, like jumping from the tree. Much of his hesitation over jumping has less to do with a fear of dying than a fear of subordination, of blindly following Finny's desires