What does Gene mean when he says “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war end before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Who/what is his enemy? Why does he contradict himself there? What was his war? Oliver Resnick

When Gene says this quote he is stating that although he never killed anybody as part of World War II, while that was going on he fought his own battle within himself to kill the hate he had beneath the surface. When Gene says "I never developed a strong hatred for my enemy (Knowles 204)," he means that he never really developed a hate for the Nazi's, but he did become obsessively hate filled towards Finny, who he saw as the face of the conflict within himself. Gene was full of insecurities and competitive to a malicious point, which reflects that he probably felt he had something to prove to himself and everyone around him. Finny being naturally talented and good natured, challenged that competitive spirit and brought of the darkest point within Gene. Finny was not the enemy, Finny just represented everything Gene felt he was not, which was Genes enemy. However when he says "I killed my enemy there (Knowles 204)," he is saying that with Finny's death, he killed that part of his nature, or at least found a way to suppress it.