Gene-The Character Analysis Gene, one of the main characters in the book, has a complex personality with lots of conflicts and a struggle to find himself or, in other words, his own identity. Throughout the book, we come across acts and thoughts of Gene envying Phineas. Although he mentions that he’s glad having a boy like Phineas as a roommate and best friend in several places among the book, it’s clear that he has a feeling in himself against Phineas even he can’t describe himself. At the beginning and the first chapters of the book, Gene shows a very weak character accepting everything that’s offered to him by Phineas, not considering any other facts like his studies or anything he’s responsible of doing like the night he spent with Phineas in the Ocean when he couldn’t study for his trigonometry exam and almost missed it.
Gene lacks self control until the last chapters of the book unlike Phineas who has a total control of himself and is pleased with the way he lives his life. Gene complains about the way of his life with Phineas and sometimes thinks Phineas is affecting his life in a bad way consciously whereas it’s his own fault not wording his thoughts to Phineas. Gene is never sure himself in many occasions and what his own properties are. He always thinks Phineas is good at everything and doesn’t give a second thought to what he is himself, a very successful student with a fine ability in sports.
He becomes aware of his academic abilities when Phineas tells him so and his immature character shows itself here as he gets second thoughts about Phineas, a friend telling him sincerely everything he thinks. Gene’s search for an identity and a higher place among the community results in the unfriendly ideas he gets about Phineas thinking he isn’t really his best friend. Gene’s undeveloped personality suffers a big conflict about Phineas having uncertain ideas on his relationship with him. Gene accepts that Phineas is his best friend also feeling jealous and doubtful.
The Essay on Separate Peace Phineas Gene Life
A Separate Peace: Contrasting Gene and Phineas and the Struggle for Power Julie Gibson John Knowles' A Separate Peace depicts many examples of how power is used. In A Separate Peace, two opposing characters struggle for their own separate might. Gene Forrester, the reserved narrator, is weakened by his struggle for power. While, Phineas was inspired by his own power within. The novel conveys how ...
Phineas is the perfect character in the book and Gene wants to become like him and take the position of Phineas feeling that he is a part of him. This conflict goes on until Gene gains his own identity and matures his personality. This maturation is achieved by events following one another, the trial being the last significant one. Through the events Gene discovers something new in him and corrects the false identity he has given himself. He realizes the situation at the end. The life experience he holds at the end of the book is much more greater than at the beginning and this experience level helps him to pull things together and gain his real himself.
Especially after the death of Phineas, he is mature enough and fills Phineas’ place both as a character and as his personality. Gene matured throughout the book from a follower and weak character to a stable character who has found his identity and killed his enemy which is actually the fears he fed inside him for a long time. His big conflict in himself ended at the end of the book with the fears and false identity gone as he started living in a world he shaped and wished living in.
