Gene and Finny are Allegorical characters in "A Seperate Peace".

Essay by onlyonelikemyselfA+, April 2006

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Innocent death caused by bleeding green with envy

Wars begin when countries compete to be the unsurpassed leaders of the world. It all starts with a good country that has the finest resources and the top technology. This country does not have to try to be the best; it is born to be, and it lives angelically with other countries. Consequently, the immeasurable greatness of this nation is never loved by all. The weaker countries develop evil jealousy, and hatred for the dominant empire. Soon the wickedness of the county starts creeping out. Mournfully, the powerful country lacks the ability to see the hatred flowing through the veins of the weaker country. As a result of the jealously, a massacre of the superpower takes place, and the once weaker country over takes the superpower. In the same way that envy leads to the termination of a country, if affects people also.

People, who do well for themselves in life, are envied by people who do not accomplish the same. This leads to obsessive jealously by evil characters, therefore resulting in the end to the once prosperous individual. John Knowles uses two allegorical characters in his novel A Separate Peace, to represent how Gene's evil personality and the innocent charisma of Phineas affect each other. Finny's death is caused by Gene containing envy for Finny's attitude, personality, nature and talents.

Gene was doomed to be wicked well before his teenage years when he caused the death of his best friend Finny, his parents were the initiators of his fate. When a mother and father pick a name for their offspring, they pick names that will represent what their child will become. According to critic Anne Alton, Gene's complete given name is Eugene, which means well-born when translated into Greek meaning...