Gene And Finny Relationship

The book A Separate Peace follows the lives of two boys going to an all boys prep school called Devon. The few similarities they did have were their codependency on each other, and even though Gene wasn’t the best at sports they both enjoyed sports. They could not have been better friends, but had vast differences including how they were raised, they excelled in different things, and they act differently. Because of their many differences their friendship changes throughout the story.
Finny and Gene are different in many ways. These boys are so different because they were raised differently before coming to Devon. Finny comes from a wealthy family, whereas Gene comes from a poor, hard-working one. The book leads us to believe that Finny

was accepted into the school because of the fact that his family is wealthy, but that Gene had to work very hard to get there. During breaks throughout the school year, Finny was able to go back home, due to the fact that his family was financially stable enough to transport him. Gene did not have this opportunity and was hardly ever able to visit his family back home. Another difference between Gene and Finny is that the boys act differently and are better at different things. For example, Gene excels more in academics, while Finny shines in sports. Finny is known as the classic rebel at Devon, while Gene is more of the rule-following, studying nerd. These differences with the boys causes problems for the two later on in the story.
Along with differences, the boys also have some similarities. An important similarity is that both of the boys depend on the other for nearly everything. Even though the boys each excel in different things, they try to help each other out as much as they can. Gene tries to help Finny with his schooling and grades, and Finny, eventually, tries to help Gene become an olympic athlete. Both boys are working towards becoming the dynamic duo, and together they believe they will be the perfect person. Even though Gene is not as athletic as Finny, he is still decent in sports, this is another similarity between the two.
The change in friendship between Finny and Gene is influenced greatly by the effects of Gene’s insecurities and jealousy.

The boys’ friendship changed mostly when Gene jostled the limb, causing Finny to break his leg. Gene felt that Finny was trying to be better than him and was jealous of Finny’s athletic abilities, causing him to act out. This event is such a big deal in the book because this is the big turning point in the boys’ relationship. After this incident, Gene was incredibly guilty and felt horrible. Finny was affected because not only was his leg shattered, he also had a feeling that Gene, his best friend at the time, had something to do with the injury. Even though this event is so important to the change, the friendship was changed during the mock trial as well. During the mock trial, Brinker had tried to get the truth out of the boys. His plan was successful, but not very good. When Finny finally realized that Gene was involved with his injury, he was instantly broken from the truth. This caused him running out of the room and shattering his leg the second time. After Finny registered this information, the reader comprehends that the boys’ friendship changes completely. When Gene snuck out to visit Finny after the trial, Finny was completely furious with him. The next couple of days, their relationships changes again and Gene and Finny find some sort of

peace.
Gene and Finny are more different.

Gene symbolizes inner war, while Finny symbolizes a sense of peace. Gene is the jealous one in the friendship, and he is also the one to immediately jump to conclusions. Finny is a little stubborn and manipulative, but he tries his hardest to be a good person. An example to prove this statement is when Gene suddenly assumed that Finny was trying to sabotage his achievements during school. When Gene reacted to this by being jealous of Finny, it showed that he was the type to make assumptions off of little factual evidence. Gene’s jealousy and hatred towards Finny resulted in him purposefully inflicting harm on Finny. Finny is the type of boy to try and talk himself out of anything, making him very manipulative and liked around Devon. The book causes the reader to believe that Finny was liked by most of his classmates and his teachers, this giving him an advantage when he tried to get out of trouble. The book gives us many examples of this. One being when Finny was late because of jumping off of the limb, and another when he talked himself out of trouble for wearing a pink shirt and a tie as a belt.
When one first reads A Separate Peace, it does seem that the two boys are completely different. Gene and Finny are different because they were raised differently, they acted differently, and they also excelled at different things. Some similarities between the two are that they both depended on each other and they were both somewhat decent in sports.

Gene and Finny’s friendship changed many times throughout the book because of Finny’s first injury, second injury, and the mock trial. The boys are more different than similar.