Separate Peace Characters

A Separate Peace by John Knowles portrays two teenage boys who attend The Devon School for the purpose of finishing their education and enlisting in the war. The narrator, Gene, tells about his time with his so called best friend Phineas or Finny for short. Finny and Gene have very different traits. Gene, the smarter of the two boys, chooses to spend his time studying because even with his excellent grades he has to work very hard for them. Finny, the more athletic of the two, doesn't have to put forth effort, everything naturally comes easy to him. Gene and Finny can say that they have a real friendship, but friendships need contain certain qualities and traits that Gene and Finny do not exhibit. When a friend comes into one’s life they should change that person’s life for the better. When Finny comes into Gene’s life, Gene feels as if he has to change what he does and how he does it. Gene doesn’t always want to play Blitzball or jump out of the tree but Gene seems to think he has to do whatever Finny tells him. Finny did not change Gene’s life for better and Gene didn’t change Finny’s for better. They both had to change how they acted when around each other A friendship needs to have a sense of genuinity. When one hangs out with their friend they should talk and the other person

Friends should never have any type of jealousy towards each other. If two friends really care about each other they support what the other person has and what they can do. It shouldn’t matter if one person has more athletic or academic ability. Most importantly even if one seems to have a little bit of jealousy, it should not lead to one friend hurting another. Gene pushed Finny out of a tree on purpose because of his strong jealousy toward what Finny had. A real friendship should never result in one person hurting another for their own