Gene is the narrator of the novel and tells the story as he is reflecting back on his days at Devon. Gene develops a love and hate relationship with Finny who he adores and envies. Gene is seen as Finny's best friend and is told so by Finny himself. Gene does not respond to Finny by telling him that he is his best friend too because he cannot bring himself to do so. He says that he was stopped by the truth, which makes us wonder what type of character Gene really is. He envies his best friend and chooses to deal with this envy in an inappropriate way, which is by jouncing him off of the limb to purposefully hurt him. He makes the reader believe that Finny is jealous of his academic success, when really it is him that envies Finny. Once Gene realizes that there is no rivalry between the two of them, he cannot stand the fact that Finny does not feel the same way about him as he does about Finny. This realization causes him to jounce Finny off the limb to intentionally hurt him, if not kill him. He often wants to lose hold of his own identity and become a part of Finny, which shows that a character trait is that he is uncomfortable with his own personality. Another character trait is his motivation. He was motivated to change things between them, which resulted in injuring him. Gene took away the one thing that Finny loved most, which was sports. He realizes his love for Finny after he cripples him, which is too late.
"I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all."
This quotation is from chapter 4 when Gene starts to realize the envy that he feels toward Finny. He deals with this by telling himself that Finny feels the same way about him and that they both sense the rivalry between them. This thought of a "deadly rivalry" between himself and Finny lives in Gene for some time and affects his actions, such as studying harder to impress Finny. This vision is only temporary though because after Gene realizes that Finny does not sense a competition between them, Gene develops a second type of envy, which results in him jouncing the limb.
"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. I couldn’t stand this..."
This quotation is found at the end of chapter 4. Once Gene realizes that there had never been a rivalry between them, he jounces the limb, making Finny fall. Gene's realization of this causes him to envy Finny even more because he realizes that he was not of the same quality as Finny. Gene could not stand the fact that Finny did not see any type of competition between them, which caused him to take action and injure him. This quotation shows that Gene chooses violence to deal with his emotions, instead of using it as a chance to become closer with Finny.
"I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone."
This quotation is found at the end of the chapter when Gene reflects on his experiences at Devon. He decides that every human being finds enemies to fight with and kill at some point in their life. He says that with most people, such as his classmates, this moment came with real enemies, for instant fighting in the war. He says that this was the opposite for him, saying that his moment came before the war evolved and while he was still at Devon. He does not come right out and say who the enemy was, but we can infer that he is talking about Finny. Gene blames Finny's downfall on his inability to understand the war and enmity. Everyone was a friend to Finny and this innocence led to his destruction because of his inability to realize the act of betrayal.
