Gene's Friendship In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Words: 648
Pages: 3

In the novel A Separate Peace, the protagonist, Gene Forrester, has a best friend, Phineas. The boys go to a school by the name of Devon. The two friends are roommates together; however, the boys are complete opposites. Phineas, who goes by Finny, is extremely athletic, adventurous, and outgoing. Gene on the other hand, he is reserved, intelligent, and thoughtful. Gene is more worried about his next math test, to where as Finny is concerned about figuring out which rule he is going to break next. Throughout the novel, each boy goes through life changing situations, some which bring them closer, and others that push them apart. The most influential moment for Gene was the moment when he was forced to become after independent have he made Finny fall off the tree. …show more content…
Finny was the other half of Gene, the half Gene wish he could be, but simply wasn’t. Throughout all of Finny’s rulebreakings, Gene was very hesitant to follow through with them. However, he broke the rules anyways, trying to be more like Finny in a little way. During the incident when Finny broke his leg because Gene jounced the limb, Finny was pushing Gene. Finny continued urging Gene on by saying things like “come out a little way” and “we’ll go together” (Knowles 51). However, these phrases just caused Gene to get so frustrated and anxious that the anger in his thoughts transferred to his actions. This was the turning point in his