Gene's Jealousy in A Separate Peace Essay Example

Jealousy has the ability to manipulate one’s perspective through Gene’s questions if they are best friends, Gene’s one-sided rivalry towards Finny, and Gene’s intentional jounce of the limb. Gene feels a desire to be better than Finny and be his rival. Finny does not think about what Gene is thinking of him, only that he wants to have fun with Gene. Gene's rivalry is also a delusion created by himself as he notices little things that Finny does to Gene. For example, Gene believes that Finny is sabotaging his studies. Gene also does not understand the relationship between the two of them. Gene sets a boundary and thinks hard about what Finny is to him. By pushing Finny off the limb, he caught his friend unable to grow, crippled, but a carved way to number one. Gene's viewing of Finny gradually changed after the fall as he realizes who Finny is to himself.

Gene's jealousy towards Finny causes him to question if they are truly best friends as he admires Finny’s ability to stay out of trouble, but envy’s his success. This ruins Gene’s ability to think of Finny as someone with who he can stay friends. Gene does not know that inside his head lies malicious thoughts towards Finny, causing him to focus more on his actions. Finny said that Gene is his best friend but he halts thinking that he “should have told him then that he was my best friend also and rounded off what he had said. I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth,” (48). Gene starts to create a delusion in his mind knowing well that he does not think of Finny as a friend anymore. Being Finny’s best friend is not something Gene desires to do but rather has a mutual rivalry between himself and Finny. This slanted view deludes Gene’s mind as he realizes Finny is just a person he once looked up to. 

Gene’s jealousy of Finny causes him to see Finny as his rival. Though the rivalry is one-sided, Gene thinks that Finny is sabotaging his studies in order to be better than Gene. Finny is already on the top of the school in athletics so all Gene has to do is aim to be Valedictorian. Gene creates the delusion that Finny is trying to stop him from becoming valedictorian because he asks Gene why he studies rather than having fun. Gene always thinks of it as Finny’s way to demolish his top grades. Gene thinks that Finny only wants to sabotage his studies because “he wanted to share everything with [him], especially his procession of D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be way ahead of me,” (53). Gene keeps his guard up around Finny, not realizing, until after the fall, that Finny is always true to his innocent heart, only trying to be his best friend.

Gene’s desire to better crowd his mind as he jounces the limb for reassurance to becoming valedictorian. His mindset towards Finny changes once he realizes that Finny is truthfully a good person at heart. Finny is now, in other students’ perspective, a crippled failure with a broken leg, lazy, and someone unable to participate in sports or the wa. Gene, who is responsible for Finny’s broken leg, exerts great remorse as the envy he feels slowly purges itself through accepting the dark truth. Gene visits Finny in the school hospital when he chokes as “[he] burst out crying into [his] hands; [He] cried for Phineas and [himself]…” (64). Gene’s jealousy is reflected through his subconscious intentions and his actions playing them out towards Finny.

Jealousy has the ability to manipulate one's perspective. Gene has envy towards Finny, someone who excels at everything Gene can not do well. Gene also admires Finny as he can talk his way out of any problem. As Gene admires Finny, he starts to notice the little things he does to get Gene out of studying. A delusion that Finny tries to sabotage his work to become valedictorian forms in Gene’s mind. Jouncing the limb is a way for Gene to push past Finny, ending out as valedictorian. Guilt builds up from Finny’s fall and the delusion Gene has slowly started to fade as he realizes Finny is a good person at heart. Jealousy manipulated Gene's perspective on how he views Finny and his feelings leading to actions that hurt his best friend.