Within this novel, the dark side of human nature is seen through fear,jealously, and denial.  Gene is scared of himself. He is scared to find his own identity because he thinks it will be inferior to Finny’s.  Gene is fearful to say no to Finny,and he feels entitled to do everything that Finny suggests.  The next dark trait of human nature that is expressed in the novel, is jealously. Finny is jealous of Gene because he doesn’t have to try to make good grades. Gene is jealous of Finny because he is good at anything involving sports and everyone wants to follow him.  Each of the boy’s spend all of their time impressing the other one. Last but not least, the ever dark denial is seen throughout this novel as well. At the Devon School it seems as if there is no war at all. The boy’s go through their day worrying about studies, and who is falling (or being pushed) from trees. Most of them are not thinking of the war at all. Or if they do think about it, they just imagine it as a horror story in a book. None of them want to face the truth that in the near future they might all have to see the real horror of the very real war.