A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles that delves into the world of youth and tells a tragic tale of happiness, jealousy, family, and overall the progression of a friendship. I examined the theme of envy and how it drives the Knowles’ characters. Phineas and Gene are analyzed in greater detail so that we can get a better understanding of these characters and what motivates them. Finally I conducted a psychological examination of the characters and how others view them and how that affects the characters. Gene Forrester, a boy from the south who gets the chance to study at Devon an extremely prestigious academy. He doesn’t quite fit in at first until he meets his roommate Phineas or Finny for short. They become friends quite quickly and the reader sees that Gene is held back or suspicious of this overly friendly guy. This shows us the first glimpse into the character that is Gene and how he is not as open to new people. As the story progresses we learn that Gene switches from adoring Finny, to envying him and his ways of persuasion. In this quote Gene states how everybody loves Finny and how lucky he is to be his best friend. “Finny could shine with everyone, he attracted everyone he met. I was glad of that too. Naturally. He was my roommate and my best friend.” (32)
Later on when the boys are invited to the Headmaster’s Tea Finny manages to weasel his way out of trouble with his charm and persuasion. “Phineas was going to get away with even this.” (20) Finny had worn the school tie as a belt in his haste and managed to explain the tie and label it as a tribute. This part is important because this is when we start to see the other side of Gene, the side that wanted him to get in trouble, and was disappointed when he wasn’t.

Soon the psyche of Gene becomes much more complicated as we get to the part in the novel where Gene causes Finny to fall out of a tree, shattering his leg. “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the tree.” (52) Gene then talks about how his fear was gone. I took an abstract meaning of this being Gene’s fear of Finny gone, as right before Finny falls Gene says it was the first time he had seen him make a physical mistake. We find out later in a conversation between Gene and Finny that he really doesn’t know what made him do it. I think that Gene matures throughout the book, maybe not to the extent of some of the other students, but matures nonetheless.

Phineas is Gene’s roommate at Devon and is very athletic and has the extremely useful skill of persuasion. Phineas is the joker in the book but is also the most popular. Unlike Gene, Finny doesn’t think much of this power over people. “Was he getting some kind of hold on me?” said Gene, as he felt compelled to jump from the tree. (9) He is free-spirited and rebellious in the way that he doesn’t like the rules and loves to make up his own. Finny is one of the most constant characters in this novel, changing very little. He creates a game called that he names Blitzball (29) and makes up the rules as he goes. This control or general acceptance of anything he says is one of the attributing factors to Gene’s pent-up hate for Finny. Gene idolizes Finny throughout the book, especially when Finny decides to try and beat the school swimming record, and succeeds but makes Gene swear not to tell anybody. (35)

Finny is astoundingly loyal as well. Even after Gene shakes the branch so that he will fall Finny refuses to believe that he did it on purpose. Even though the reader can guess that Finny has figured it out. Again we see this loyalty demonstrated when Brinker puts Gene on “trial” trying to figure out what happened when Finny fell. Finny walks off yelling about how he doesn’t care about what happened. (169) It is right after this that Finny falls a second time, this time on the marble stairs. We discover that Finny has broken his leg again and that it is supposedly a clean break and should be no problem. Gene later visits Finny in the infirmary. This is when Finny freaks out at Gene and we see a release of all the emotions towards Gene that Finny has hidden under veils of happiness. Later when Gene visits again it has a more somber tone. Gene receives the news that Finny is dead, killed from the marrow in his bone. (185)

The theme of envy really connects with this book because it is filled with it. It’s Gene’s darker thoughts of jealousy and envy that motivate him to shake the branch. We see envy in other characters too. Brinker is envious of the relationship between Finny and Gene and wants to break it up. When Finny is away recovering Brinker becomes Gene’s best friend up until Finny moves back into Devon. This book really shows exactly how dangerous envy can be when concentrated. I don’t feel envious of others. What starts out as competitiveness can become nasty very quickly and while I am quite competitive, I never feel envious or jealous of others, both physically and mentally. I funnel any envy into bettering myself or using that person as an example of what I should be. Gene, on the other hand, doesn’t know what to do with these dark thoughts and eventually gives into the temptation to try and take away something from Finny, something that would cripple him and eliminate him as a threat. That’s one of the things that are wrong with Gene’s mentality, he sees friends as enemies and he incorrectly acts on these views.

The theme of envy was widely used throughout the book and influenced the characters in this novel. Gene with his envy of Finny and Finny with his complete lack of envy for anyone. This theme inspired and ultimately forged the characters views on others and themselves.