Beginning of Essay
The theme suggested in the closing paragraph of the novel is that people create their own enemy and then they defend themselves laboriously and obsessively against their imaginary enemy. They develop a particular frame of mind in order to allay the fear that aris ....

Middle of Essay
.... being a carefree person does not even care about his own grades, certainly not Gene's grades. Gene does not realize this, perhaps he simply does not want to admit the truth. He has created an enemy o protect himself from acknowledging that he is not completely satisfied with his character, or lack of character and individuality. Gene soon realizes that Finny is not trying to be his rival. However, this realization only makes Gene angrier with Finny. He is irritated at the notion that he is "not of the same quality as Finny,” thus he cannot possibly compete with Finny. At this int Gene already knows that his enemy is not Finny, but he is n ....