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The key component of the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is jealousy. The novel builds upon jealousy, which is one of the ten deadly sins. Envy, can make a person act in a way that is out of their character. In the novel, Gene is jealous of Phineas. Jealously is one of the most common feelings in the world we live in today. When we are driving down the road, and we see someone in a nicer car than the one we have, our immediate instinct is to be jealous and feel that we would like to have that car.
If there is someone that is smarter than we are or cooler, we are immediately jealous and want what they have. Finny exemplifies the perfect young man; great at sports and the person that everyone wants to be associated with. Finny, is an upper middle, and he is the best athlete in the whole entire school. All that Gene wants is to be in Finny's shoes. There are many ways a person can become jealous. A lot of examples of jealousy in the world have something to do with members of the opposite sex.
I noticed that people were looking fixedly at him, so I took a look at myself to see why. His skin radiated a copper glow of tan, his brown hair had been a little bleached by the sun. (Pg. 39) Gene is immediately jealous of Finny. He believes that the girls are staring at Finny. The odd thing in this is that the girls are actually staring fixedly at him. Gene is so caught up in his jealousy towards Finny that he cant even recognize his good characteristics. Gene and Finny decided to go to the beach and in one of the scenes at the beach Finny tells Gene that he thought of him as his best friend.
Gene had a hard time responding to this remark, and never did. This goes to show that Gene is so paranoid that he feels that no one pays attention to him, therefore he wants to become the man in the spotlight, but in order for him to do this he must knock off Phineas first. Athletics is key in our society and in the society in the 1940 s. Jealousy is commonly found in the world of sports today.
I looked at the watch; he had broken the A. Hopkins Parkers record by. 7 of a second. Was he trying to impress me or something? When he had broken a school record without even a day of practice... (36 - 37) Finny is such a great athlete that he doesnt even need to practice a sport to excel in it. This is another reason why Gene gets jealous of Finny's God-given abilities. Gene and Finny go to the Devon School pool, where Finny asks Gene to time him.
Finny starts his laps. When he is done, he has beaten the school record by seven tenths of a second. Gene, of course, is jealous of this. Who would not be? Some people can go through life very easily.
They dont need to work hard to succeed. This makes Gene angry and he begins to feel like he wants revenge. Jealousy controls your mind and your body and makes you act in ways you would never believe yourself capable of. Gene, is a good kid, until jealousy makes him act in a way that is outside of his character. Gene and Finny start a club called Super Suicide Society for the Summer Session. In this club, they basically just jump off the limb of a forbidden tree, which is against the rules.
One day the two boys were supposed to attempt the first double jump, when Gene decides not to. Gene doesnt want to go because he said that he needed to study. Gene felt that Finny was trying to make him fail his classes. Finny replied to this by saying basically, okay I understand. This reply makes Gene want to go and complete the jump. When the two boys get up on the tree, Gene jostles the limb and Finny loses his balance and falls off the limb and shatters his leg.
We understand that Gene is a great kid. He has a lot of potential and many friends. W are made to believe that he is not capable of doing such a deed as this. This deed is out of his character and we are surprised that he did this.
All Gene had his mind on was becoming better than Phineas and the only way that he could achieve his goal was to cripple his friend, Finny. Devon School is a microcosm of the world in the 1940 s and even of our world today. No matter what the times are, people will always have the feeling of jealously. Envy can push people to the extremes. People in the world today sell drugs, and steal, because they are jealous of what other people have. People need to realize they cant have everything.
It is hard to not be jealous until you look at how much you actually do have and compare that to the people in the world who have much less. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Gene And Finny People In The World
