Gene is the narrator of the novel and tells the story through the lens of his memories. He is in his early thirties, relating the story of the school year that began when he was 16. Since his time at the Devon School, Gene has served in the Navy during World War II but is never sent overseas. Gene remembers his relationship with his friend Phineas (or Finny) and the summer before he and his classmates became draft-bait for the war. Gene’s telling of the story is unemotional as he frequently reminds readers how the war shaped their lives, even as he and his friends lived in a bubble of peace.

A southerner, Gene feels like an outsider in the New England boarding school. He is a strong student, pushing himself academically so he can become valedictorian. Gene presents himself as flawed, eaten by the envy he feels for his best friend and roommate, Finny. However, the events of his senior year that cause Finny’s injury and eventual death (Gene, feeling jealous of Finny and frustrated that Finny does not suffer from the same jealousy, jostles a tree branch they are both standing on, causing Finny to fall and shatter his leg) form the impetus for Gene’s coming-of-age.