The Hostility Between Gene and Finny in A Separate Peace by John Knowle

The Hostility Between Gene and Finny in A Separate Peace by John Knowles Gene feels increasing hostility toward Finny before his fall from the tree. In the novel A SEPARATE PEACE by John Knowles, the hostility between Gene and Finny increase because of the competition inside of them both to be better then one another. It is about the increasing competition between Gene and Finny and the hostility it brings. The hostility finally burst inside Gene and for one instant it takes over. It makes him do something he will always regret. Gene’s increasing hostility towards Finny finally brings the down fall of their friendship. Gene’s first form of hostility toward Finny was the realization that Finny could get away with anything. First instance was when Finny was wearing his emblem, the pink button-down shirt, and Mr. Patch-Withers came up to him. Mr. Patch-Withers ask him about the shirt and Finny told him the meaning of the shirt. As he explained the substitute headmaster became more amused about the situation and allowed Finny to get away with breaking the school dress code. After this instance Gene admitted to being envious of Finny in this Quote, â€Å"I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which is perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying your best friend a little.† (18) In this quote Gene is just saying that he envies his best friend for some thing that he can’t do. This situation is the first of many forms of hostility towards Finny that brings about the incident in the tree. At the Patch-Withers party anther sign of Gene’s increasing envy towards Finny is shown. This happens when Finny again gets away with breaking the dress code. At the party when discussing the bombing of Europe, Mr. Patch-Withers discovers that Finny is wearing the school tie with his pink shirt. With some quick anecdotes about how his shirt is a contribution to the war effort and also be glad he wore a belt because his pants could fall down. With these quick anecdotes Finny got away with it, gave Mr. Patch-Withers a good laugh and enraged Gene’s envy towards Finny. Gene gave this quote about the instance, â€Å"He (Finny) had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment........† (21) Gene really does not know what he is feeling he says, but deep down it is hi... ...out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball, that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society.............Sure he wanted to share everything with me , especially his D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be way ahead of me. It was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all enmity.† (45) Gene thinks he was doing this by cramming his schedule with clubs and sports so that he won’t have time to study and wreck his school grades. Then Finny can be better than him at everything. Gene’s misunderstanding of Finny, not understanding that Gene did need to study and that it did not come naturally, enraged Gene more making him ready to explode. â€Å"I (Finny) didn’t know you needed to study.† (50) When Finny said this Gene took it way out of proportion making it Gene’s final straw. Gene was so enraged that he could not take it that Finny only meant that brains came natural. With the final straw gone Gene lost it. His mind was in such confusion that he followed Finny out to the tree. He climbed up it, and with out any regard for human life, Gene exploded. He shook the limb making Finny lose his balance and fall to the ground.