Jealousy is the route of many evils, and can
effect us, all from the poorest of
paupers to the
richest of kings. It has lead men to
lie, cheat, steal and exhibit other
harmful acts
toward their fellow man. This one emotion has broken the spirits of men
since the dawn of
time, and there is no end in site. In A
Separate Peace by John Knowls,
Gene, an all
American boy, is griped with the age old torment of jealousy towards his best
friend. This drives him to do despicable things.
Gene's
jealousy flourishes for Phineas every time Finny accomplishes something
new. It reaches
it's pinnacle when Phineas beat the school swimming record and does not
want anyone to
know about it. As if the feat itself
wasn't enough, being humble about it
angers Gene even
more. He tries to deny the jealousy by
figuring:
" I was more certainly becoming the best
student in the school; Phineas was
without question the best athlete, so in that
way we were even. But while
he was a very poor student I was a pretty good
athlete, and when everything
was thrown on the scales they would in the end
tilt definitely toward me"(47).
So in Gene's mind
he was better than Phineas, and this appeased the grip of jealousy for
awile at
least. Peace is once again retained at
the Devon school, but it wont last.
Neither
Gene nor Phineas
can foresee the agony which will soon be beckoning them.(4)
The summer was quickly passing for these two boys and Gene nearly forgot his
jealousy towards
Finny. The stress of trying to be better
and follow Finny's wild ideas
finally got to
Gene. He has had enough, and the
jealousy turns to rage without Genes
knowledge. Finny has another wild idea, he and Gene will
jump off the large tree into
the river
together. Carelessly, Phineas ambles up
the tree first with Gene following closely
behind.(1) They reached the top "...I took a step
toward him, and then my knees bent and
I jounced the
limb"(52). Finny fell, shattering
his leg as well as his hopes and his dreams
for his future as
an athlete. Gene is no better off. What
had been jealousy was now
replaced by an
even more painful emotion, guilt.
Neither Gene nor Phineases' lives would ever be
the same because of the role
jealousy played.
While Phineas has to try to overcome his physical handicap, Gene must
deal with
watching the pain he has brought upon Phineas. Jealousy will effect everyone
once in awile,
but we must not follow the example of how Gene let jealousy rule over his
actions . When we are able to recognise jealousy we
must try to use those feelings to
make use strive
to be our very best instead of preventing someone else from being their
best. This makes it possible for both people to
accomplish their best and live in harmony.
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