Separate Peace Essay

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Gene Forrester Analysis In the book "A Separate Peace", Gene Forrester was the narrator, as well as the protagonist. Gene was a sixteen years old. He shows obvious signs of his immaturity. Jealousy, self-consciousness, and has not reached the rebellious phase that many teens his age go through unlike his friend Finny, who has. Gene seems to be a bit confused about his actions and decisions. HE does not know if it was an accident that Finny fell or that it was his jealous sub-conscious that "accidently" made the branch snap and make Finny fall. Gene is confused by what really went through his mind when it happened because he has mixed emotion of both love and fear of his best friend. He seems to care a lot for his best friend Finny, but he also seems to be jealous of him as well. He may admire some of the traits that finny has that he is Muno2 also jealous of or how Finny is capable of getting away with a lot of the trouble he causes. Gene seems to fall into a more depressive state as World War II goes on and the fact that his friendship is fading with his friend. Something else interesting that happens to Finny is how he starts to become confused with his identity. After the incident with Finny, Gene begins to do some out of the ordinary activities such as wearing Finny's clothing, walking in the dark and the inability to cry at Finny's funeral. It is obvious how Gene had reacted to the incident. It could be that he is not happy with who he is and feels guilty because he starts to believe that it was his sub-conscious that had made him shake the branch and cause Finny to fall and he is not satisfied with himself. He would rather be Finny than himself. Gene is depressed and confused with the paths his life was passing through and from the way the narrator protrays himself seems maybe naive and again,
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