Gene succeeds in academics and is relatively quite. He  believes in following the rules. This is hypocritical for he breaks rules all the time with Finny without question. Easily influenced, he skips classes and breaks various other rules with Finny. Though Gene has a smart brain, he doesn’t know how to think on his own very well. Gene typically follows whatever somebody says to do, even if it puts him in danger. Gene submits to every whim of Finny’s. Gene let’s Finny train him for the 1944 Olympics. This is a waste of time for Gene, because Gene’s goals are in academics and with the war on there won’t be a Olympics. Many times in the story Gene tries to be like Finny by trying on his clothes and such. This infers that Gene hasn’t established a identity for himself, so maybe that’s why he obeys Finny’s every word. Gene is also a jealous and competitive person. He envies Finny for getting away with things when he breaks the rules and of his athletic skill that comes easy to him. Gene shakes the branch on the tree, that makes Finny fall, out of jealousy. Gene is continuously comparing himself to others. He wants to be ahead of everybody. Aggressively attacking his studies, Gene is competing against Chet for valedictorian. Gene compares himself to Finny and thinks he is better, because he is excellent in academics and okay in athletics where Finny is terrible in academics and is excellent in athletics. Although Gene is smart, he still has much more maturing to do. He has many flaws and he needs a major boost in confidence, so he can think for himself.