Phineas, the main character of “A Separate Peace,” was a very athletic and cheerful young man. He was a friend through and through, and he was a friend to everyone around him. That's not the only thing Phineas was. Phineas represented an innocence beyond this world that no normal human being can find. He had a sincerity that was infused in all his words and a joy that could not be dampened. Finny's innocence is personified multitudes of times throughout the book. He shows great sincerity towards Gene when he tells Gene that Gene is his best friend during their day trip to the beach. (23) Finny's unbridled joy finds a way to manifest itself in dark ways, such as when he wore the pink shirt and belt. "Well, we have to do something to celebrate." (25) What most people find fear in, Finny finds excitement, such as when he jumps from the tree and starts the Summer Suicide Society. “This is the most fun I've had in weeks. Who will be next?" (16) An example of Finny's innocence is shown through blitzball, the game he created with no teams, therefore no losers or winners, but it was a lot of fun. (37-40) However, with a Innocence so perfect, there is bound to be corruption. Finny's innocence has been corroded by the jealousy and malice of his supposed best friend, Gene. Gene saw Finny as a good, but very influential friend , halfway through the book, Gene began to despise Finny, thinking that Finny was just trying to be better than him. “That way he, the great athlete, would be way ahead of me. It was all a cold deception, it was all calculated , it was all enmity. (53) In reality Finny was a great person, as demonstrated by the previous paragraph. “Now I knew that there never was and could never be any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as him.” (59) Ultimately Gene's jealousy of Finny's perfection tried to wear away at the integrity Finny had found. This was shown when Gene shook the tree branch. (59-60) This breaks Finny's leg and he ends up, essentially, where his perfection, his athleticism, originates. “Sport is over for him after an accident like that. Obviously." (63) Finny still retained his innocence but was no longer the same as before.