A Separate Peace- Genes Growing Discontent With Finny

Genes Growing Discontent with Finny

Gene comes to the Devon School 15 years after he attended it and tells us the story when he was sixteen. In chapters 1-3 of John Knowles' A Separate Peace, the characters Gene and Finny appear to be the best of friends. However, the names that Gene calls Finny, Gene's resentment at feeling forced to engage in activities of Finny's devising, and Genes responses when he thinks Finny is getting in trouble reveal his growing discontent.

The names that Gene calls Finny reveal his growing discontent with their relationship. As a response to Finny when they were talking about the jumping of the tree, Gene calls Finny "goofy."(10) Gene retaliates against Finny because he was trying to shame him. Finny decides to wear a pink shirt as a symbol of him supporting an allied bombing in Europe, Gene see's this and calls him a "fairy."(17) Gene does not like Finny's shirt because it is out of the ordinary so he says it makes him look like a fairy.

While playing a game called blitzball Gene seriously states "are you crazy" (30) when Finny tells him to knock down the person he passed the ball to. This shows that Gene is basically calling Finny stupid by calling him crazy. All of the names that Gene calls Finny show the growing discontent that Gene has with Finny in their relationship.

Gene's resentment at feeling forced to engage in activities of Finny's devising shows his growing discontent with their relationship. One activity Gene resents is being forced to jump off the tree. Finny gets Gene to get on the tree and tells him to jump, Gene being afraid of jumping off thinks "Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this?"(9) Gene thinking about his discontent toward Finny implies that he was talked into or forced into jumping off the tree. Finny saves Genes life when Gene turns to look at Finny on the tree and loses his balance, he was about to fall when Finny put his arm out to rebalance Gene. Gene later realized that Finny might have saved his life but he would not have been on that "damn limb"(25) if it was not for Finny. Gene was forced to jump off the tree by finny so he could have died because of Finny which shows his discontent with him. Another activity that shows Genes resentment is while playing blitzball. Blitzball is a game Finny invented so he was naturally good at it. Finny is explaining