Phineas and Gene: A Comparative Study To be an opposite of something or someone means to be the furthest from being like that person or object. One can say this for Gene and Phineas in the short story "Phineas" by John Knowles. Through reading the story one comes to see that Gene is an exact opposite of Phineas. One could say that Gene is insecure, envious, an admirer, intellectual and vindictive. In contrast, Phineas is …showed first 75 words of 1981 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1981 total…because sports must be a number one thing for Phineas if he needs a friend to break the news. As we can see through the reading and analysis of the short story "Phineas," one can see that Gene and Phineas were foils of one another. Phineas was unconcerned, self-assured, influential, outgoing and athletic. On the other hand, Gene was insecure envious, an admirer, intellectual and vindictive. These traits show Gene and Phineas to be opposites.