Competition and rivalry have the ability to make people shine and accomplish things they never thought possible, and the ability to bring with them the dark side of a person and lead them to do terrible things. The friendship between Phineas and Gene is viewed very differently by each of them. Where Phineas sees Gene as his best friend, Gene sees Phineas as a competitor. Gene sees him as someone trying to keep him from succeeding in school. This distorted view of their relationship is the cause of many of the novel's eventual problems and probably Phineas' death. Peer competition causes people to strive to be better than their opponents and can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the competitors. and their responses to the competition. Sometimes people see competition and face it head on like Gene when he tries to become the “head of the class” (Knowles 24). It pushes people to strive to be their best, and whether they succeed or not, they are better off than before. Even though Phineas was crippled, it seemed like he would end up getting a better education...