'Jealousy In John Knowles' A Separate Peace

Copious amounts of children experience hardships in their youth. In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene goes through a tremendous amount of hardships. In the novel Gene is insecure regarding himself and it comes out as jealousy towards Finny. This is seen when he jounces the limb, he tries on Finny’s clothes, and he tries to be better than finny. The first way Gene is jealous of Finny is he jounces the limb upon which Finny is standing. When Gene jounces the limb he says to himself that this is the first clumsy mistake that Finny had made. “It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make” (Knowles 60). This quotation shows that Gene has been watching Finny, and he specifically knows that Finny has never made that sort of action before. Secondly, Gene’s action is purely instinct. This means that Gene just did whatever came naturally to him, and he is so jealous of Finny, he jounced the limb out of pure jealously. Next, when Gene and Finny were both on the limb Gene felt inferior to Finny, and he felt that Finny could fulfill everything perfectly. So he jounced the limb to spot if Finny could control his balance. But the outcome is Finny didn’t keep his balance and Gene let his jealousy attain the best of him. This is how jouncing the limb is based on jealousy, Gene also shows jealousy when he tries on Finny's clothes. The secondary way Gene is jealous of Finny is how he tries on Finny’s clothes. When Gene tries on Finny’s clothes he is trying to be more like Finny due to the fact that he feels insecure referring himself. Gene says, “We wore the same size, and although he always criticized mine he used to wear them frequently”(Knowles 62). This quotation proves that Gene feels insecure in respect to himself now as a result of how Finny always criticized his choice of clothes. This insecurity goes way deeper than just that though. Also, Gene feels in a way guilty for what he did to Finny and still jealous, that’s why he tries on …show more content…
First, when Gene is pondering his goal of Valedictorian, he thinks about the awards that Finny has won. Gene thinks that if he earns the title of Valedictorian then, he and Finny will be equal with each other. In chapter four Gene says, “ If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all. We would be even" (Knowles 52). This quotation shows that Gene strives to be more superior than Finny in his studies, and it means a great deal to him to be the head of the class. This also proves that everything that he does, he believes that he is competing with Finny. Second, Gene agrees to anything that Finny wants him to accomplish . This is shown when they are both at the tree, and Finny suggests that they perform a double jump. Gene says, “I would have listlessly agreed to anything” (Knowles 59). This example proves that Gene would do anything that Finny suggests, and this would constitute him just as superb as Finny or greater. In conclusion, Gene always mentions Finny and compares himself to Finny. This shows that Gene desires to be like