Perception of Others in A Separate Peave by John Knowles

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“Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. Other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere, this sighting of the enemy, and so began an obsessive labor of defense, began to parry the menace they saw facing them by developing a particular frame of mind.”(Knowles 204) John Knowles, the author of A Separate Peace states this quote to explore how some people develop defense mechanisms in order to protect themselves from any harm they may endure. Gene, the novel’s protagonist feels as though his best friend Phineas is somehow out to get him. However, Finny’s perception of his friend was utterly different from Gene’s perspective. In fact, Finny acts as a foil for Gene throughout the story, carrying a completely different outlook on things. Gene’s savage nature allows him to identify the evil within people when Finny simply acknowledges the positive traits in his friends, disregarding the concept of wickedness as a whole. Through Gene and Finny’s friendship, John Knowles illustrates the significance of how one has the ability to perceive others.
Gene believes that people are deliberately out to get him and concentrates only on grasping the evil within his friends. Therefore, Gene decides to defeat his enemies before he gets defeated himself. During the summer session at Devon, Gene encounters a dark suspicion that his friend Finny is drawing him away from his studies in order to make him fail. This makes sense to Gene since he religiously follows the rules to win approval from the staff at Devon, and anyone who persuades him to disobey these rules wishes failure upon him. Therefore, Finny

must be his only enemy who needed to be taken down. Gene is also envious of Finny’s humble personality, his ch...

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...em at the end of the novel. Gene’s firm defense systems enable him to cripple and betray his best friend. Additionally, Finny’s denial of the evil in people allows him to get jounced off the limb leaving him injured. I believe that people are able to contain both good and evil within them. Therefore, my opinion is that people should incorporate both perceptions of Gene and Finny. They should be able to contain some sorts of defense mechanisms to protect themselves since some people cannot be trusted. Before deciding to shield someone from entering your life, it is best to get to know them well. The lesson achieved in this novel is that people should seek out positive traits in others, but at the same time be aware of their intentions. Investigating a person’s positive and negative qualities is the ideal defense mechanism I that I have finally learned to accomplish.

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