A Separate Peace

1003 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: What is the message of a separate peace by John Knowles

Difference Too Often Leads to Hate

Many times in the world, differences have lead to hate. Think of Martin Luther King, for example, who stood for fighting against one of the largest differences. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is one of many examples of differences leading to hate. Gene and Finny, who somehow managed to become friends, have completely different views of each other. Finny wanted to be friends with Gene, but had trouble facing the reality that Gene felt differently. Gene became jealous over Finny’s difference to himself. Difference has led to hate, once more, and pain has again resulted, first mentally and emotionally, then finally physically.
Knowles creates Gene as one who always is strictly trying to comply with the rules and regulations, always obeying his superiors; completely different then that of Finny’s personality. “Over your head? Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!” (909). Considering such, he envies Finny, because Finny can ‘get away with murder’ if he wanted to, and can stay out of trouble doing so. “Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him…a little” (909). Knowles shows how much jealousy Gene had over Finny’ s ability to stay out of trouble, no matter what he did. “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it.” (909). He would rather be in accordance to the rules and be on his best behavior, than to be a rebel who goes against everything. Finny, on the other hand was more of a rebel. “I wonder what would happen if I looked like a fairy to everyone.” (909). Finny, more of a rebel, is very outgoing; he, however shows himself off as a perfect individual. One day at Devon, he gets into small dispute because he wore the school tie as a belt. This he frees himself from quickly, explaining, “It goes with the shirt and it all ties together…with what we’ve been talking about, this bombing in Central Europe.” (910). Complying with not only Devon’s rules and regulations, but also the standards of formal conduct, Gene has a strong instinct to follow order, guided by careful thought, which Knowles has implanted in him, throughout the text.
Gene is a person who thinks before he acts. “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this?” (906). He is an individualist with distinct and well-thought characteristics.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, Finny created a counterpart between his athleticism and Gene’s academic abilities. Since sports came easy to Finny, he assumed that Gene was naturally intelligent and smart. Finny eventually figured out that this was not true and that his assumptions were incorrect; “‘Oh for God sake! You don’t know what I’m talking about. No, of course not. Not you…’ ‘I didn’t know you needed to study,’ he said simply, ‘I didn’t think you ever did. I thought it just came to you.’ It seemed that he had made some kind of parallel between my studies and his sports. He probably thought anything you were good at came without effort” (Knowles 57-58). Finny was unable to comprehend that some skills do not come naturally to people. Devoted friendships are a result of having an appreciation for each other. Finny and Gene did not have this nor did they truly know each other very well. A lack of understanding between the two of them provoked various disputes throughout the novel. If Gene and Finny were truly friends, misunderstandings would not have occurred since they would have acknowledged their

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Separate Peace

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Knowles writes a compelling realistic fiction about the lives of two teenage boys throughout the start of World War II in his novel A Separate Peace. Peter Yates the director of the movie plays the story out in a well organized theatrical manner. There are similarities and differences in these two works of art. However; there are also similarities.

    Read More

  • How Did Bayard Rustin Influence The Civil Rights Movement

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    After graduating from Wilbefore University and Cheney state teachers college in1937 Rustin transformed and moved north to New York City City College and joined the (Y.C.L.C.C) Young Communist League of City College. Due to the different racial views such as the issue on racial segregation within the american military during WWII when hitler and the Nazi party invaded Russia.

    Read More

  • Gene's Shadow In John Knowles A Separate Peace

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Additionally, Gene justifies his hatred towards Finny by assuming Finny feels hatred towards him because of his excellence in academics. At this moment, Gene does not attempt to deny his shadow. Rather, he embraces his shadow completely, allowing it take him over and make false accusations against his own best friend. In Gene’s mind, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitz all, that explained the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, that explains his insistence that I share all his diversions.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Separate Peace And Dead Poets Society

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Separate Peace and Dead Poets Society revolve around a group of young boarding school attendees who form groups during their sessions. Although the book and the movie have different plots, they portray similar ideas as well as include some of the same scenes. The characters in these works; Todd, Gene, Phineas, and Neil have numerous similarities though their personalities and behaviors.

    Read More

  • Gene’s Transformation throughout "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and doing well. Finny has a reputation for being the the best athlete in school, and Gene attempts to counterbalance Finny’s power by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny’s activities, Gene thinks that Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny and his activities, and Gene starts interrupt...

    Read More

  • Rivalry In A Separate Peace

    1545 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the early pages of the novel, Finny confesses that Gene is his best friend. This is considered a courageous act as the students at Devon rarely show any emotion. And rather than coming back with similar affection, Gene holds back and says nothing. Gene simply cannot handle the fact that Finny is so compassionate, so athletic, so ingenuitive, so perfect. As he put it, "Phineas could get away with anything." (p. 18) In order to protect himself from accepting Finny's compassion and risking emotional suffering, Gene creates a silent rivalry with Finny, and convinced himself that Finny is deliberately attempting to ruin his schoolwork. Gene decides he and Finny are jealous of each other, and reduces their friendship to cold trickery and hostility. Gene becomes disgusted with himself after weeks of the silent rivalry. He finally discovers the truth, that Finny only wants the best for Gene, and had no hidden evil intentions. This creates a conflict for Gene as he is not able to deal with Finny's purity and his own dark emotions. On this very day Finny wants to jump off of the tree branch into the Devon river at the same time as Gene, a "double jump" (p. 51), he says, as a way of bonding. It was this decision, caused by Finny's affection for Gene and outgoing ways that resulted in drastic change for the rest of his life.

    Read More

  • A Separate Peace - Symbolism

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    In John Knowle’s A Separate Peace, symbols are used to develop and advance the themes of the novel. One theme is the lack of an awareness of the real world among the students who attend the Devon Academy. The war is a symbol of the "real world", from which the boys exclude themselves. It is as if the boys are in their own little world or bubble secluded from the outside world and everyone else. Along with their friends, Gene and Finny play games and joke about the war instead of taking it seriously and preparing for it. Finny organizes the Winter Carnival, invents the game of Blitz Ball, and encourages his friends to have a snowball fight. When Gene looks back on that day of the Winter Carnival, he says, "---it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace" (Knowles, 832). As he watches the snowball fight, Gene thinks to himself, "There they all were now, the cream of the school, the lights and leaders of the senior class, with their high IQs and expensive shoes, as Brinker had said, pasting each other with snowballs"(843).

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning, the conch symbolized a way of holding onto the boys’ school life. When the conch was blown and the powerful sound echoed throughout the island, Piggy claimed, “I bet you can hear this for miles” (17). Just as Piggy said this, children started to appear among the palms in the forest. The conch that called them together portrayed the kids’ school bell. It made most of them feel safe when they were confused about what was might happen to them.

    Read More

  • The Case Against Standardized Tests

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Standardized tests cover certain material, which gives teachers something specific to teach. This is helpful, in that it allows teachers to know exactly what to teach. It also sets up a goal for the teachers, which is to get the students to pass. However, this process leaves something to be desired. Because the test is so important to the future of the students, teachers, and school, helping students to pass test becomes the most important part of their schooling. This restricts the educators from teaching students about things that are more important. College is usually next step for students after high school so it would seem logical that high school prepares them for college, but teachers are so busy preparing students for the test that they are not preparing them for the future. Consequently, students arrive at college ill-prepared, with shallow educations (Gitlin).

    Read More

  • Essay on Escape Mechanisms in The Glass Menagerie

    502 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, each character attempts to escape the real world by creating their own “reality”. Laura hides from the world by magnifying her illness. Tom convinces himself that his needs supersede the needs of his family. Amanda focuses almost exclusively on the past - when she saw herself as a desirable southern belle. Even Jim focus his hopes on recapturing his good old high school days. Each character transposes their difficult situations into shadows of the truth.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Glass Menagerie

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is a prime example of a classic drama, infusing powerful themes with compelling characters to draw the reader in and allow them to connect. William’s character Laura plays a large part in accomplishing this, particularly in Scene VII, when she converses with Jim. This scene is especially important to the story as a whole, and helps develop Laura’s character and the theme of conformity. This theme, that to be accepted by society one must conform, is prevalent throughout the story, but centers around this portion of the play specifically. The conversation between Laura and Jim is a pivotal part of the drama that is very impactive and provides substance for the theme and character development in the rest of the drama.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of E-Waste

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Electronic waste, or any waste for that matter is an inevitable part of an economic system where the destruction of an ecosystem is the primarily source of resources that are used to create the product. The waste that occurs from this process has to be disposed of in some way and more often than not, it is disposed of carelessly with out consideration to the affect it would have on the environment or the very people that create and let capitalism live on, “The political economy approach also defers progress on environmental issues to a pint after economic ones are solved” (Robbins et al. 2010, 114). And if this continues there may be no place left for the excess waste created by capitalism.

    Read More

  • The Human and Environmental Effects of E-Waste

    3186 Words  | 7 Pages

    The phenomenon of discarded electronic or electrical waste has generated worldwide attention and concern as it is a global problem that is getting bigger by the day. This concern is justified due to the effects of environmental pollution that e-waste causes. An estimated 50 million tons of e-waste is produced each year, globally, and this is projected to rise even further. America is the world’s largest producer with China a close second.

    Read More

  • Essay On Existentialism And Ethical Worldview

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the existential and mythical worldviews differ and connect on many levels but they link mostly through the presence of absurdity among them. The relation between the absurd and these theories is their contrast and outlook on life. Meaning, characters and purpose differ between the existentialist and mythical worldviews. The Mythical Worldview and Existentialism share the common bond of the absurd, regardless of the fact that they are two distinct theories in Philosophy. Although many suggestions can be made about these theories, there will never be a right answer for Philosophy is endless and God will always remain a mystery...

    Read More

More about A Separate Peace

Open Document