A Separate Peace Persuasive Essay

Jason McGuire

Ms. Sporn

English 1 CPE

17 March 2017

Friendships May Not Always Last Forever

Many people throughout the world take part in friendships that cause them unnecessary pain. The following sources prove that not all friendships are beneficial. In the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, it takes place in a New England boarding school called Devon at the time of World War II. The novel features the darker side of growing up as the main character, Gene Forrester, has an internal struggle about himself and his best friend Phineas. In the article, “When Friendship Ends”, it talks about the issues that could be hard on a friendship and when it may be the right time to discontinue one. Also, another article, “7 Reasons Why we Have to

Feelings of enmity towards one’s friends are inevitable and often start off as small thoughts of jealousy and envy that seem perfectly normal (Knowles 25). In the novel, A Separate Peace, Gene stated, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I could not help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (Knowles 25). Later on, Gene thought to himself, “You are even in enmity. You are both [Gene and Phineas] coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone” (Knowles 53). Gene is feeling strong enmity and in order to make himself feel better about this feeling, he falsely implants in himself the belief that Phineas feels the same way towards him, making their friendships more of a battle between enemies for himself. Gene’s inevitable feelings of enmity had grown so out of control that when Finny had passed away from bone marrow in his broken leg, Gene had thought of him as the enemy that Finny had become to him which marks the opposite of a caring

Dr. Weisinger stated, “Some say, “we’ve grown apart — we have nothing in common.” These reasons often end relationships, but I have found for most people, including myself, the major cause of ending a friendship is when there is a violation or betrayal of basic values, namely trust” (Weisinger 1). Without trust in a friendship, one would always have to be on guard and rather than having fun with the other person, they would be feeling that the friendship is more of a burden to them. The article, “When Friendship Ends”, states a reason to end a friendship is, “Your friend often tells secrets you’ve entrusted him with, or gossips about you behind your back” (Friendship Ends 4). If one forgives their friend even after committing an act of betrayal then they become more at risk due to their friend’s lack of trust and commitment to the friendship