“The closest friendships often involve intense rivalry.” The quote above is one of the many main themes in A Separate Peace. Rivalry and jealousy become two very important words in the novel. Gene and Finny become jealous of each other’s qualities. Gene strives to be class valedictorian and constantly worries about his studies, but wishes he could excel in sports like Finny. Finny, strives to become a superstar athlete at Devon and an Olympian. Finny doesn’t worry about his studies but wishes his studies could come naturally to him like Gene.
Early in the book both characters demonstrated a rivalry towards each other. On page 44, the boys go to the indoor pool at Devon. Finny requests, Gene to time his swimming record. Finny breaks the record, and initially Gene requests Finny to alert the swimming coaches so he can have his name put on the plaque. Phineas decides he doesn’t want his …show more content…
The headmaster and his wife greeted him and as Finny expected they were stunned to as what Finny chose to wear to the brunch. As always, Finny tried to turn the conversation into an illogical explanation as to why he would wear the outfit. Gene became jealous of Finny, and he was able to dodge punishments for his disgraceful choices. Gene assumed Finny would never get penalized for his actions, due to his way of untangling himself out of situations, Gene didn’t find this fair and became jealous. Throughout, the novel, A Separate Peace, Gene and Finny had multiple times where they showed their jealousy and rivalry sides towards each other. The events mentioned above are considered one of the few major turning points for rivalry and jealousy. Gene and Finny remain the best of friends until Finny’s tragic death. But underneath it all, both characters had a deep dark twisted hate for each other’s
Early in the book both characters demonstrated a rivalry towards each other. On page 44, the boys go to the indoor pool at Devon. Finny requests, Gene to time his swimming record. Finny breaks the record, and initially Gene requests Finny to alert the swimming coaches so he can have his name put on the plaque. Phineas decides he doesn’t want his …show more content…
The headmaster and his wife greeted him and as Finny expected they were stunned to as what Finny chose to wear to the brunch. As always, Finny tried to turn the conversation into an illogical explanation as to why he would wear the outfit. Gene became jealous of Finny, and he was able to dodge punishments for his disgraceful choices. Gene assumed Finny would never get penalized for his actions, due to his way of untangling himself out of situations, Gene didn’t find this fair and became jealous. Throughout, the novel, A Separate Peace, Gene and Finny had multiple times where they showed their jealousy and rivalry sides towards each other. The events mentioned above are considered one of the few major turning points for rivalry and jealousy. Gene and Finny remain the best of friends until Finny’s tragic death. But underneath it all, both characters had a deep dark twisted hate for each other’s