A Separate Peace: How People Affect Gene
Connor Paleski
Period 4
Mr. Valentine
December 2011 Throughout A Separate Peace Gene’s changes are due to his surroundings and the people that are surrounding him. Sometimes the people you are around can change the way you feel and your emotions. Gene is surrounded by many different people such as Brinker, Finny, and Quackenbush. When Gene’s surroundings change so does he. Throughout the book his emotions change, he gets hot headed and at times attacks people, he gets jealous of finny, he feels sorry for what he has done, and at times envious. At one point in your life you will be jealous of someone else and you are going to want what they have. Gene’s emotions are very mixed throughout the book when he is around Finny but I think the overall emotion he has is jealousy and envy of Finny “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying your best friend a little.” (P.25)This is the first sign showing that Gene is jealous of Finny. This happens when Finny wore the pink tablecloth as a shirt and a tie as a belt. Gene finally realized if anybody else ever did this they would have it torn off their back and other consequences. Since it was Finny though all he had to do was explain it and he got away from it; he even ran in to the head master and Finny told it was his emblem and he did not care. Finny could convince anybody to do anything he wanted them to do. He convinced Gene to jump out of the tree even though Gene did not want to. Gene wants the power to do this that is why he is so jealous of Finny. Finny could also do whatever he wants. An example of this is when Finny broke A. Hopkins Parker’s swimming record by .7 seconds. All these emotions change when he is not around Finny. Anger is a very strong emotion and at times people can not hold it back. When around Quackenbush Gene can not hold back this anger. Quackenbush who has a big ego, cant
Period 4
Mr. Valentine
December 2011 Throughout A Separate Peace Gene’s changes are due to his surroundings and the people that are surrounding him. Sometimes the people you are around can change the way you feel and your emotions. Gene is surrounded by many different people such as Brinker, Finny, and Quackenbush. When Gene’s surroundings change so does he. Throughout the book his emotions change, he gets hot headed and at times attacks people, he gets jealous of finny, he feels sorry for what he has done, and at times envious. At one point in your life you will be jealous of someone else and you are going to want what they have. Gene’s emotions are very mixed throughout the book when he is around Finny but I think the overall emotion he has is jealousy and envy of Finny “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying your best friend a little.” (P.25)This is the first sign showing that Gene is jealous of Finny. This happens when Finny wore the pink tablecloth as a shirt and a tie as a belt. Gene finally realized if anybody else ever did this they would have it torn off their back and other consequences. Since it was Finny though all he had to do was explain it and he got away from it; he even ran in to the head master and Finny told it was his emblem and he did not care. Finny could convince anybody to do anything he wanted them to do. He convinced Gene to jump out of the tree even though Gene did not want to. Gene wants the power to do this that is why he is so jealous of Finny. Finny could also do whatever he wants. An example of this is when Finny broke A. Hopkins Parker’s swimming record by .7 seconds. All these emotions change when he is not around Finny. Anger is a very strong emotion and at times people can not hold it back. When around Quackenbush Gene can not hold back this anger. Quackenbush who has a big ego, cant