A Separate Peace - Jealousy - Free Essay Example

One of the main reasons that Gene jounces the limb is because of his misunderstanding towards Finny. Gene misunderstands Finny a lot and misinterprets Finny’s intentions. For example, Gene believes that Finny is intentionally attempting to wreck his studies when in reality Finny means no such thing. He simply wants to be friends with Gene and always wants to have fun with him. The misunderstanding takes place on page 45 when Gene has a thought in his head saying: â€Å"Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitzball, that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions. The way I believed that you’re my best-friends blabber! † This all makes it seem like Finny purposely did all these activities in order to force Gene’s grades to deteriorate. In reality all Finny wanted was to be friends as I mentioned before. Gene later on realizes that Finny meant him no harm when on page 51 when Finny asked Gene to go out with him then Finny noticed Gene needed to study so he tells Gene he’ll go alone with Leper. Gene insists on going when he says: â€Å"Wait just a minute. I’m coming† (p. 51). Finny replies and tells him: â€Å"No you aren’t, pal, you’re going to study. † (p. 51) There was the evidence for Gene that Finny meant nothing bad and that all he wanted was to be his best friend and hang out with him as well as have fun. Gene realizes this when on page 51 he thinks in his head and says: â€Å"He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. † This proves that Gene had completely misunderstood Finny and misinterpreted his intentions. Furthermore, the most important and main reason that Gene broke the limb was because of jealousy. One piece of evidence to prove this point is on page 54, Gene dresses up in Finny’s clothes. Gene says: â€Å"I decided to put on his clothes. We wore the same size†¦Ã¢â‚¬  as well as â€Å"†¦the rich material against my skin excited a sense of strangeness and distinction; I felt like some nobleman, some Spanish grandee. This shows that he wishes that he was Finny and that he envies Finny. In addition, another important reason for Gene’s actions is because Finny is perfect athletically and he is very proud of his talent. He is always good at any sport he plays. Meanwhile Gene’s talent is studying and he is smart but for some reason he is still jealous of Finny’s only talent and so he decides to break the branch. Although he did do it intentionally, we still do not know if he meant to actually end Finny’s athletic profession or if he just intended on hurting him.