A Separate Peace

Jealous, jealousy—resentful or bitter in rivalry; envious. Gene is jealous about the fact that sports comes naturally to Finny, but in order to succeed in academics Gene needs to work arduously. In fact, Finny shows such expertise that he doesn’t need any preparation to reign victorious in any specific sport, or to surpass old records, as seen in chapter two. "I stopped and looked at him up and down. He didn’t look …

…is he cheerful at all, or—" "Oh, you know Finny." I didn’t, I was pretty sure I didn’t know Finny at all. "It was a messy break," he went on, "but we’ll have him out of it eventually. He’ll be walking again." "Walking again!" "Yes." The doctor didn’t look at me, and barely changed his tone of voice. "Sports are finished for him, after an accident like that. Of course."(55)