Friendship can play an important part in many people’s lives. Every friendship is unique, and consists of different phases. There can be phases of joy and happiness, or of envy and competition. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, showcases the phases of Gene and Finny’s friendship. In Gene and Finny’s friendship, examples of loyalty and rivalry, betrayal and guilt, and confession and forgiveness can be seen.
All friendships have times of loyalty, and times of rivalry. Finny and Gene’s friendship showcases these traits on a more serious matter. At first, before the loyalty phase of their friendship, Finny and Gene were no more than friends, it was not until Gene jumped out of the tree after Finny that they really started to become good friends. When Gene says, “I suddenly became his collaborator” (19) is really when his loyalty starts. This statement of Gene’s shows that the friendship just happened instead of continuously building on, like most relationships. Gene would have done anything for Finny, as it is shown in the story, when Gene drops everything to go to the beach with Finny, sacrificing his studying time. Finny even told Gene that he was his best friend at the beach, …show more content…
Gene accidently causes Finny to fall out of the tree, but did not mean to. Betraying Finny, for he can not do what he loves, sports, anymore. In his time of guilt, Gene still relies on Finny, “If Phineas had been sitting here in this pool of guilt, what would he have done?” (62). Even though it was a blind reaction on the tree, Gene, drowning in guilt, actually believes that he had purposely made Finny fall. He believed that he had betrayed Finny, out of jealousy or spite. When the guilt begins to affect him majorly, Gene decides to confess, thinking that that is what Finny would do, if the roles were switched. Gene is the only one who experiences this stage of betrayal and