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I can do anything better than you

Competition is not just between two teams playing a sport. It could be between friends who are always competing against each other. In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, two friends, Gene and Finny, struggle with the differences between them. Gene focuses more on his academics, while Finny focuses more on athletics. This creates an unspoken rivalry, causing competition.

The competition between Gene and Finny lead to jealousy, which changed Gene??™s judgment about Finny. At first, Gene loved his friend Finny. He considered him his best friend and looked up to him because of his athletic abilities and how he was able to get out of trouble by talking himself out of it. He felt they were both equal because he was good in his academics and Finny was good at athletics. However, one night Gene and Finny were in their dorm room and Gene was studying for a trigonometry test he had the next day. Finny was telling Gene how he worked too hard and how he already knows all about History, English, French, etc.

Therefore, that it would not make a difference if he failed Trigonometry. Finny stated to Gene that instead of studying really hard to graduate, he wants ??? to be head of the class, valedictorian, so [he] can make a speech on Graduation Day-in Latin or something boring like that probably-and be the boy wonder of the school??? (51). This shows that Finny is getting jealous of Gene because he knows that he will never get the grades to be the head of the class, so he tries to convince Gene that it is not important. However, Gene catches on to this trick quickly.

He is confused by why Finny would say something like that, since ??? he had won and been proud to win the Galbraith Football Trophy and the Contact Sport Award. If [he] was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then [they] would both have come out on top, [they] would be even, that was all??? (52). Gene is starting to think that Finny wants him to fail his classes so he can be on top. This would explain all the activities Finny is making Gene do like blitzball and attending the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session meetings every night custom essay writing service uk . The jealousy that Gene thinks Finny has for him makes him jealous of Finny because he wants to be on top. Not only did Gene think that Finny was deliberately trying to be on, he also though that he was going to accomplish this goal by doing it secretly and still making him look like the ??? good guy???.

While Gene and Finny were at the pool, they noticed a big bronze plaque for which the school kept the fastest swimming records. Finny said that he could beat the 100 Yards Free Style record; which was completed by A. Hopkins Parker in 53. 0 seconds. So, to prove that he can beat the record, he had Gene time him while he swam the 100 yards. He beat A.

Hopkins Parker??™s record by . 7 seconds. Gene was so excited for Finny and wanted to tell everyone his accomplishment. However, he told Gene that they ??? aren??™t going to talk about this. It??™s just between [Gene] and [himself].

Don??™t say anything about it, to??¦anyone??? (44). This surprised Gene. However, by being jealous of Finny, he tried to figure out what he was trying to do. He questioned if Finny was ??? trying to impress [him] or something??? (44) Gene figured that Finny was trying to get on top without making him seem like that was his intention. As Gene thinks more and more about his relationship with Finny, he starts to see by his jealous judgment that they never had a true friendship. The competition of trying to be on top is getting to Gene??™s head. As Gene thinks further into the situation, his judgment about Finny being a true friend changes more and more as he gets more jealous of him.

While Gene and Finny were in their dorm room, Gene was trying to convince himself that Finny is really a true friend and would never try to compete against him. However, he did realize that he hated ??? him for breaking that school swimming record, but so what [Finny] hated [him] for getting an A in every course but one last term. [He] would have had an A in that one except for [Finny]??? (53). This shows that Gene is thinking to much into the situation because he is jealous of Finny. He is trying to convince himself through jealousy that Finny always wanted to beat him in everything he did and was never a true friend. This lead to the realization to Gene that ??? Finny had deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies??? (53). Gene fully convinced himself that Finny just wants to beat him in everything he does. This changes his judgment about his friendship with Finny completely.

A person??™s judgment of how jealous they are about the people they know can be determined by the competition between them. Finny was always a loyal friend to Gene. However, the jealousy that Gene had towards Finny because of how good he was at everything and still wanted to beat him at his academics made Gene think all the worst possibilities about him. Gene convinced himself that Finny was trying to distract him from his studies so he can be on top. However, Gene realizes later that that was never the case.

No one can hide from competition because it is everywhere in our world and it always finds a way to track people down at one point in their life.

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