Lord of the Rings A main them in both A Separate Peace and Lord of the Rings is jealousy. To be jealous means to be hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage or to want something that isn't yours. Jealousy is shown in A Separate Peace because Gene is jealous of Finny's ability to play sports. This bothers Gene so much he injures Finny by pushing him out of a tree and injuring him for life. In the Lord of the Rings Boromir becomes jealous of Frodo because Frodo has the one Ring. Boromir believes that if he had the Ring he could bring it back to his homeland and use it for good to battle evil. Boromir tries to force the ring from Frodo but Frodo is quick to use the magic of the Ring and disappear. Jealousy is a major factor in both of these books and this essay will prove that.
Elijah Wood as Frodo in Peter Jackson's live-actio...
Frodo in Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lo...
The eponymous Fellowship from left to right: (Top ...Gene is jealous of Finny from the beginning. Gene is jealous of Finny's natural athletic ability and natural leading skills, but Gene believes that he compensates for this lack of athletics and leading skills in his academic excellence. Gene leads himself to believe that Finny is trying to sabotage his academic success with the many nights at the beach, and the Super Suicide Society meetings. Gene had a "realization pop into his head. Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies." But the reader learns later that Finny just thinks that Gene has a natural academic ability, which means he doesn't need to study to be smart. Finny tells Gene not to come to the Super Suicide Society meeting and apologizes for thinking that he didn't have to study. This led to another discussion, which had Gene asking Finny if he minded of he tried for Head of the Class. Finny jokingly says that he would "kill himself out of jealous envy." Gene doesn't know that Finny is just joking around and it ends up angering Gene even more. Gene was now sure that Finny was trying to ruin his chances for head of class and he was also trying to improve in sports so he could steal Finny's trophies. One day Gene is so fed up with Finny being better then him and his attempts to bring him crashing down that while they were doing a double jump out of the tree Gene "jounced" the limb, causing Finny to fall onto the shore below shattering his leg.
Boromir first enters the book at the council of Elrond. He is on a quest from his homeland of Mordor to find a broken sword that him and his brother had dreamed about. Boromir learned many things at this council such as the where bouts of the broken sword that he was searching for as well as finding out about the Ring. When the Ring is first introduced Boromir wonders why it can't be used to destroy the enemy and doesn't fully understand what would happen if the Ring wasn't destroyed. As the journey continues Boromir begins to change. He begins to get jealous of Frodo because of the Ring. Boromir begins to act different. Sam notices him "muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails, as if some restlessness or doubt consumed him, sometimes seizing a paddle and driving the boat close behind Aragorn's." Pippen was also noticing the new strange behaviour of Boromir as well as the way that he was looking at Frodo. He kept catching queer looks that Boromir was giving to Frodo in the other book. The peak of Boromir's jealousy came when the group was deciding what to do. Frodo as the Ring bearer was given the chose as to go on to mount. Doom and destroy the Ring or go with Boromir back to Minas Tirith. Boromir follows Frodo up a hill and tries to convince him to come to Minas Tirith just for a bit. When Frodo refuses to go Boromir tries to persuade him to give Boromir the Ring to take with him to Minas Tirith by saying "I am a true man, neither thief nor tracker. I need your Ring: that you know now; but I give you my word that I do not desire to keep it. Will you not at least let me make a trial of my plan? Lend me the Ring!" When Frodo refuses to "lend" the Ring to Boromir, he begins to get violent calling Frodo a "Obstinate fool" and that the Ring was meant to belong to a man and not a halfling like Frodo. Boromir again tires to persuade Frodo to give up the ring but this time when Frodo refuses Boromir jumps at Frodo with a "raging fire in his eyes." Frodo dodged Boromir's first attack and quickly put the ring on his finger on his ring and disappeared. Boromir was greatly changed by the jealousy of the Ring from when we first met him.
Boromir (Sean Bean) using the horn in The Lord of ...
Boromir in Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The ...
Sean Bean as Boromir in Peter Jackson's live-actio...