Theme of Jealousy in A Separate Peace by John Knowles (Book Analysis)

Jealousy, a natural and all-consuming part of growing up. From the time we are young we are jealous of the toys other children play with, as we grow older, our jealousy grows with us and forces unthinkable thoughts and actions upon us. This idea is true in the book created by John Knowles, A Separate Peace. In this piece of literature, the author tells a tale of the growth and demise of the young boys’ Gene and Phineas, and their times at the Devon school during World War II. Knowles teaches us the valuable lesson through this book of how the emotion of jealousy infiltrates all aspects of our lives.

First, Knowles uses the internal conflicts of Gene to illustrate how jealousy becomes the main thought on one's mind. One of the first demonstrations of jealousy is after Gene convinces himself that Finny deliberately set out to ruin his academic career. This can be shown when Gene states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained Blitzball, that explained nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions” (Knowles 53). This persuades the reader into believing that Finny, who Gene believed to be a dear friend, quite possibly his best friend, is stabbing him in the back. Before exploring this idea, we identified Finny as the opponent, and Gene was frustrated as the victim. He is so willing to become the best that he doesn't care who he pins against as long as he comes out on top. This shows just how much his jealousy overtakes him. Additionally, Gene later shows his relationship to the aggrivosity he demonstrated towards Finny: “. . . I wanted to break out crying from jabs of hopeless joy” (Knowles 55). Gene feels lonely in his mind because who is he if not jealous of someone else’s accomplishments, we then learn how insecure Gene is and how he relies on jealousy to carry himself forward. Ultimately, Gene's internal thoughts carry the story by showing how jealousy molds our brain to think. 

Next, character development is used by Knowles to illustrate how jealousy molds a person's actions. The use of character development is seen when Gene describes his actions while on the tree: “I took a step toward him and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb”(Knowles 60). It is clear Gene in this stage of his development can no longer handle the amount of jealousy and competition he holds over Finny. Gene wants to succeed and become the best and he finds the only way to do this was to knock other people down. The novel took this evidence seriously and Gene's emotions of jealousy clouded his thoughts and took charge of his action. This shows the development between the healthy competition to the effect of jealousy ruining Finny, a close friend's life. Furthermore, Finny continues to describe the events that occurred on the day Finny lost his mobility “ It was the first clumsy physical mistake I had ever seen him make. . . every trace of my fear is forgotten” ( Knowles 60). From this, the reader can infer that Gene's jealousy moves his story along as he switches from the protagonist to a category that can only be described as the antagonist. Through his development as a character throughout the story, we experience the part of Gene that allows his ugly side to shine through. To conclude through conflict and character development we discover the theme of A Separate Peace by John Knowles which is the effects of jealousy portrayed through either thoughts or actions.