Free Essays - A Separate Peace :: Separate Peace Essays

In Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is portrayed as an intelligent learner who is motivated by academics. He is to a fault a thinker that considers a situation from all sides before making a decision. Gene is also a person who follows all the rules and regulations. He always obeys his teachers, studies hard, never misses a class, and makes excellent grades. He does non really enjoy sports, for he is not a good athlete. While in school he lets many another(prenominal) distractions such as his friend Finny engender part in his animateness. This leads to his home(a) wars. Finny is Genes roommate and best friend, who has a completely glacial personality from Gene. He always acts on blind impulse, never idea about the rules or the consequences. He is also a poor student, for he does not devote himself to his studies. He would rather be playing sports, since he is the best athlete on campus. He lets sports motivate him and wants to participate in the 1944 Olympics. During thei r days at Devon, Gene is motivated by Finnys ameliorate grace and coordination. Gene begins to adore and worship Finny as a superintendent hero. He feels his roommate can handle any situation and appealingness the teachers and classmates. As a result, Gene tries to imitate him and also lets himself be controlled by him. Gradually, Gene grows jealous of his friend. He begins to hope that Finny will get caught and penalise for one of his many wild stunts. For instance, when Pinny wore an outrageous pink shirt, he escaped punishment by giving a satisfying intellect saying that it was his emblem. Gene wants Finny to be forced down to his level so that he can compete with him and not just lose to him.Gene tries to enthrall Finny. Although he knows that by doing so, he is acting against every instinct of his behavior. In order to keep up with Finny, he jumps from the tree into the river, a avant-garde feat, even though he is scared to death. He also allows Finny to take him away fr om his studies, which are very important to Gene. When Finny saves Genes life by preventing him from falling from the tree, Gene knows that he should be grateful, instead he accuses him by saying he would not have been up in the tree if werent for Finny. He concludes that he