A Separate Peace - Artificial Vs. Natural

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and weight advantage or disadvantage to Finny were important to him. What people, especially Finny, thought about him worried him. "...I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable." (Gene Pg. 26) Later in the novel, when Finny wanted to wear a pink shirt to school, Gene told him it would make him look like a "fairy". "Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!' (Gene Pg. 17) Gene knew that people might question Finny's masculinity and ridicule him so he spoke up. Gene would have never taken such a risk as wearing a pink shirt because it was not socially acceptable at Devon School. This again points out Gene's obsession with what people thought of him. Gene had a cautious, competitive nature and let grades and trying to outdo Finny run his life. When Finny broke the school's swimming record, Gene did not understand why he did not want people to know about it. "The worst thing is that there weren't any witnesses. Tomorrow. We'll get the coach here, and all ...

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keeps quiet. Instead of being completely honest and open with Finny, Gene chooses to mask his true emotions. He knew if someone ever found out about him saying something like that, that it would be "the next thing to suicide". (Gene Pg. 40) This obsession with grades and other unnatural things leads Gene to believe that there is an intense competition going on between himself and Finny. He convinces himself that they are "even in enmity". (Gene Pg. 46) He feels nervous about all the influence Finny has over him and is suspicious about Finny always taking him away from his studies. "Finny had deliberately set out to ruin my studies...it was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it ...

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