A Separate Peace

"He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he." (59)

In the early chapters of A Separate Peace, readers get the apparent characteristic traits of intellectuals presented by the author of the novel, John Knowles. Phineas, the handsome athlete, not spectacularly built, has the power to get away with basically anything. His charm overpowers the wrong. The boy is exactly five feet eight and a half inches tall, and weights a hundred fifty pounds. Sports are his life. With his intelligence, Phineas both invents the game of blitzball and creates the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. In general, Finny is a daredevil. On the other hand, Phineas' best friend, Gene, is the total opposite of him. Gene is more lonely, and cautious. Gene, five feet nine inches, and 140 pounds is an excellent academic student. The boy is more of a follower, closely watching his best friends footsteps. From the beginning, he wants to be superior to Finny.