In the novel "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles, a man named Gene visits his high school 15 years after graduating in an attempt to find an inner peace with himself.
In the novel "A Separate Peace," by John Knowles, a man named Gene visits his high school 15 years after graduating in an attempt to find an inner peace with himself. While attending Devon, his high school, during World War Two, Gene's roommate and best friend Phineas died partially because of an accident involving Gene. Phineas, otherwise known as Finny, was one of the more popular and athletic boys in school. He was a brave, cunning, attractive guy that had total trust in his best friend Gene. On the other hand, Gene was a lonely, self-sufficient intellectual. The two became great friends, but Finny is eventually led down a trail of betrayal, deceit, and jealousy by his best friend.
Gene couldn't imagine that a person of Finny's stature would want to be his best friend. Gene envied Finny for all that Gene believed Finny to be. His envy grew to a point where he was subconsciously willing to injure Finny for being the great athlete that he happened to be. To Finny's dismay, Gene succeeded in injuring his leg, shattering it in multiple places. Finny's perfection was the basis for Gene's resentment towards him. Gene envied everything that Finny did. Finny seemed to be so perfect to Gene. Finny was so confident that he didn't care what others thought about his appearance. One example was when Finny wore a pink shirt as an emblem of the bombing of central Europe. Gene told Finny, "' ...Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!" "Does it?'" he replied. "He used this preoccupied tone when he was thinking of something more interesting than what you had said," commented Gene. Another example of this occurred when Finny and Gene were at the school swimming pool when Finny happened to notice that a boy named A. Hopkins Parker held the school record for the 100 yard free style. Finny realized that A. Hopkins Parker had graduated a few years before he and Gene had even been to Devon. After acknowledging this he remarked, "I have a feeling I can swim faster than A. Hopkins Parker." He blew away Parker's time. Gene envied Finny due to the fact that he had broken a school record without any formal training. Gene could only respond "You're too good to be true."