Gene Forrester is both the narrator and main character in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Gene has many positive qualities such as being compassionate and caring but also contains many negatives such as being disloyal, jealous, paranoid and insincere. Gene’s positive and negative qualities are often within conflict with each other and are the basis for the plot whole story.
Gene’s negative qualities come into play early in the story. Gene’s jealousy, paranoia and disloyalty are visible when he begins believing that Gene is deliberately trying to make his marks drop so Finny can stay “better” than him, when in fact Finny is trying to help Gene have fun by taking him out with him. Gene’s jealousy and paranoia tric