Rivalry and Betrayal in A Separate Peace Essay

In the book a Separate peace, rivalry negatively changes relationships throughout the characters actions. There are many characters in this book that face jealousy, rivalry and betrayal throughout the novel. The major character that faces jealousy is Gene; he got jealous of Finny throughout the novel which ends bad.

Throughout the book Genes jealousy of Finny, results in death. First of all Genes first sight of jealousy of Finny was when he realized that Finny got away with everything he did. Finny got away from skipping class and dinner and would never get in trouble. Gene was also jealous of the fact that Finny was an amazing athlete. He invented his own game called Blitzkrieg. There was no point of the fame, there was not winner either. Finny dominated everyone at his own game. Gene ultimately shows his jealousy when he tries on Finnys clothes when he is in the hospital. Gene decides to skip dinner like Finny would and wore his clothes all day in his room. This represents that Gene wants to be exactly like Finny. Gene would do anything to be like Finny. Gene is completely opposite Finny. Finny is athletic and outgoing and Gene is quite and obeys the rules and is not very athletic. Finny has always been nice to Gene. He never made him angry or upset. Gene had no right to be jealous of him, his jealousy got in his way of their friendship. Genes jealousy leads to Finnys death in many ways. If Gene wouldnt of shook the limb which made Finny fall, Finny would still have had his life and innocence. Genes jealousy ruined Finnys life in many ways,

In this novel rivalry and betrayal are major conflict between characters. First of all, the first major conflict is with Finny and Gene. This conflict began when Finny took Gene out to the tree so they could jump of it together. When they were about to jump, Gene shakes the limb and Finny falls into the trees. This action by Gene was on purpose and he betrayed his best friend. Finny was innocent throughout the whole book, but Genes jealousy got in his way of their friendship. When Gene told Finny that he did it on purpose, Finny would not believe him at all and was saying that he is talking nonsense because Finny thought that Gene would never do that to his best friend. Gene also had a rivalry with Brinker. Brinker accuses Gene about shaking the limb and the fall of Finny. Gene keeps on denying it but Brinker thinks he definitely did it. Gene betrays Finny throughout the whole book. First it started with him pushing Finny of the limb and not feeling bad about it. Then ultimately Genes rivalry and betrayal leads to Finnys death. Gene realized that he did not want to kill his friend on purpose. Genes first suspicions of a undercurrent of rivalry till the time in the army when he wonders if the enemy he killed at Devon was really an enemy at all (Wolfe,Peter). Gene knows it was wrong to be jealous of his friend.

In the novel A Separate Peace, rivalry negatively changes characters relationships through their actions. Genes jealousy and betrayal lead to Finnys death. His innocence was ruined by Genes actions throughout the novel.