“A Separate Peace” is a novel written by John Knowles. It is a flashback written from the point of view of a character named Gene. As the narrator, Gene recounts his experiences from his years of attending a military school named Devon, as an adult. Gene begins by visiting the school 15 years later and indulges into a flashback from 15 years before. His flashback takes place in 1942, during the world war. As an upper middler (equivalent to eleventh grade), Gene and his best friend Phineas attend summer session at the Devon school. In addition to reading the book, the characters in “A Separate Peace” can be characterized by their actions, thoughts, what they say, and how the characters perceive each other. The reader can identify the character …show more content…
Phineas, Gene, and one of the boys’ headmasters, Mr. Patch-Withers, will be characters that will be described in this essay. The first character that I am going to characterize is Phineas. Phineas is an independent, careless, and humorous boy. These three character traits are ones that I strongly think describe him well. While he avoids authority and gets out of any risky situation that he is in, Phineas shows to be an independent human being. Independence means that you don’t rely on others to help you and can thrive on your own. Furthermore, that is exactly what Phineas does. He is also careless in that way. Denying the possible risks and getting the most out of life is how Phineas is throughout the book. He is also very humorous. Providing laughter is something that Phineas does not lack. At any given time, he will crack a joke …show more content…
Patch-Withers, a headmaster at the Devon school, is an assertive, attentive, and clear individual. He displays an assertive quality through his headmaster duties. When Phineas and Gene do not attend dinner the one day, Mr. Patch-Withers has to give punishment. Phineas easily talks his way out of the punishment, but Mr. Patch-Withers still possesses the authoritative and assertive attitude of a headmaster. Had he not been assertive, he would not have confronted the boys at all. I assume that Mr. Patch-Withers is an attentive man because he notices things like the absence of Phineas and Gene from dinner out of the many students at Devon. Subsequently, Mr. Patch-Withers also notices Phineas’s demeanor and “hypnotism” to get out of his bad situations, but Mr. Patch-Withers chooses to be lenient on the matters. Lastly, Mr. Patch-Withers is a very clear man, meaning that what he says is easily understood without question. When Phineas explains his plan that the soldiers should avoid bombing children, women, elderly, hospitals, churches, and schools, while still “bombing the daylights” out of the nation, Mr. Patch-Withers inserts his opinion explaining that the soldiers cannot be that accurate. His intent was clear along with his tone in saying that he was adamant that the soldiers could not be that accurate with bombs. While Phineas often explains why he broke a rule throughout the book, Mr. Patch-Withers clearly explains not to do it again, but lets Finny go. At times
In William Golding's, “Lord of the Flies”, all the young boys depict one of the Kiersey Temperaments as they conform to what they believe are the islands expectations. There are four different personality types: the Guardian, Idealist, Rationalist, and Artisian. Ralph is the young boy in this novel that portrays a Guardian the uttermost, through his responsibility, common sense and charisma.
After reading the passage, “Clover”, by Billy Lombardo, a reader is able to describe a particular character’s interactions and analyze descriptions of this individual. In the passage, “Clover”, is a teacher, Graham. He, in his classroom, shares something that had occurred that morning. In this passage, the author, Billy Lombardo, describes interaction, responses, and unique characteristics and traits of the key character, Graham.
In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the narrator, Gene Forrester struggles to earn and preserve a separate peace. The story takes place in a remote boarding school named Devon, in New Hampshire. While Gene and Finny are in school, World War II is taking place. The author clearly explains an important story about the jealousy between Gene and his best friend, Phineas. Gene suspects that Finny is trying to sabotage his grades, and Gene allows his jealousy to control his actions. Therefore, Gene misinterprets their relationship by thinking that they shared enmity towards each other, and this caused Gene to enter a world of jealousy and hatred, which ultimately leads to Finny’s death. By examining this jealousy, John Knowles
A Separate Peace is a coming of age novel in which Gene, the main character, revisits his high school and his traumatic teen years. When Gene was a teen-ager his best friend and roommate Phineas (Finny) was the star athlete of the school.
John Knowles wrote a fantastic novel entitled A Separate Peace. Some important character in the novel were Gene, Finny, Leper, and Brinker. Gene and Finny were best friends; Leper was the outcast; Brinker was the “hub of the class” This was a novel about friendship, betrayal, war, peace, and jealousy. Although Gene and Finny were similar in many ways, they also had numerous differences.
My Essay is about Ralph and and his Motivation’s and did he contribute to the tragedy in any way. Also about if he prevented any of the deaths and what would I have done differently in his situation. I defend Ralph’s actions as leader, He had tried his best but everyone fell apart.
In the novel A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles creates a unique relationship between the two main characters Gene Forrester and Phineas, also known as Finny. The boys have a love hate relationship, which becomes the base of the problems throughout the book. The setting of this novel, a preparatory school in New Hampshire known as Devon, creates a peaceful environment where World War will not corrupt the boys. The boys might be protected from the war, but they are not protected from each other. Throughout the book Finny manipulates Gene. These reoccurring manipulations cause Gene to follow in Finny's footsteps and begin to live through Finny. The lives of the two boys change dramatically when an accident occurs. Instead of Gene living through Finny, Finny begins to live through Gene.
Not really working. Those characteristics can be described as lazy. Something like Rip Van Winkle. Another character in the book is Doc. He is a marine biologist, and often takes one of the boys- Hazel to go find things. He is the classic Renaissance man except less wealthy. He is very cultured. He exposes the residents of the Row to knew things. He is a very kind man who is always taking care of someone. He is a womanizer and often frequents Dora’s brothel. But he always seems to be lonely. Dora is the local madam she is big strong woman he runs a tight ship at her brothel. She takes good care of her girls and she took care of families during the depression. Frankie is handicapped boy who Doc has taken in. He is not capable of doing much. He is sent to mental institutions after stealing a gift for Doc. He is very similar to Lenny from Of Mice And Men. Another main character of the is Henri; Doc’s friend he speaks with a French accent but he actually not French at all, even though he keeps up with everything from Paris. Henri is an artist but the only true evidence of this is a boat he is building. He also is a womanizer same as his friend Doc; women are often seen leaving his
The first character that intrigued me, probably because I could relate to him the most was Andrew, the "jock." A jock is the group of people that are athletically inclined and are usually part of a sports team. When all the students were confessing what they had done he seemed the most regretful of his actions. Andrew being a great wrestler at school saw an unsuspecting teammate that was much smaller than he was and decided to jump on him and start beating up on him. What made his case so extreme was that not only did beat up on his teammate but he taped his butt cheeks together. The perception that I, as well as the members of the breakfast club, had of Andrew was that he couldn't think for himself. He also thought the same thing because he said that he felt pressured by his dad to do something mischievous because he (his dad) used to get into mischievous acts often while he was in high school. So while he was looking at his smaller teammate he said that all he could here was his father telling him about being a winner and doing so many unnecessary things just because he was an exceptional athlete. When Andrew told his story it seemed that all the other people were going to cry because they could see that he regretted doing what he did.
The greatest battles of humanity are often not merely a clash of arms, but a quiet, vast conflict in the human heart. Similarly, actions in the world are thoughts made into reality, and feelings turned into motion. It is terrible to realize that war in all its evils is often a pure expression of something sinister within. A Separate Peace by John Knowles intimately explores the depths within humanity to uncover the essence of human nature. The novel is focuses on the solitary and intelligent narrator Gene Forester and his best friend, the athletic Phineas, or Finny. Their experiences over the course of a semester have many parallels with author John Knowles' actual life. He based the Devon School setting on his own time at the prestigious Philips Exeter Academy during the end of World War II (Jones). The author uses introspection to exhume the mind and soul of Gene, and to explore what shapes him. In his novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles expresses that one can only mature through self-awareness, in order to counter the indoctrination of youth into World War II.
A Separate Peace tells the story of a 16 year-old boy named Gene who is on a journey of self-exploration and growth. By returning to his home roots where dramatic life changing events have shaped who he has become, he reflects on how fearful he was in those days. Taking place during World War II, Gene's adolescent years at Devon boy’s boarding school were spent mainly with his best friend and roommate Phineas (nicknamed Finny). Through his friendship with Finny, he discovers their undeniable personality difference’s that inevitably pushes them over the edge. Although Gene is quiet, intellectual and reserved and Finny is outgoing, athletic and daring, these two opposites tend to compliment each other for the most part.
A Separate Peace shares the lives of students at Devon that are forced into an unknown world of fear, problems, and uncertainty as they head off to World War II in training to fight and represent their country where they will find or lose themselves and make important decisions that will impact their future. The students at Devon are put into adulthood at an early age, having to fight and make their country proud, but they are left feeling pressure for a war they do not start. The students enter a world of unexpectedness and dread where they are forced into adulthood through war, and are exposed to self sacrifice, physical awareness, and patriotism.
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Phineas has a foundational characteristic, by which he is just his unique self. Everyone enjoys is company, and likes to be around him; Specifically, he is adventurous, likes to play around, impulsive, and less rational. Also, Phineas can provocative, but too provocative at some points of the novel. In fact, when he wants something done it happens. Some characters in the novel are less impulsive and do the things because he can be persuasive, along with being in endearing or genial to others and only thinks about himself.
Knowles deliberately juxtaposes Gene’s social awkwardness to Finny’s natural athleticism and charisma to suggest an imbalance of power between the two boys. Set in Devon School, described as “very athletic” (Knowles 13), Finny, “an extraordinary athlete…the best athlete in the school,” (16) establishes himself to be popular, tilting the balance of power. Stating there is no one “in this school – in this world – whom [he] could trust” (53), Knowles introduces Gene as a distrustful individual. Gene’s hesitant nature lets the animated Finny take charge of their relationship. To create power imbalance, the author purposefully creates Gene and Finny with wildly different personalities.
The novel A Separate Peace focuses mainly around a 17 year old named Gene Forrester and his psychological development. The story is set in a boys boarding school in USA during World War II. There are four main boys in the novel and they all undergo major character changes through the story. One of them goes crazy, and the others experience severe attitude changes. Gene is caught right in the center of these changes. He is very close with all of the other three boys, and thus all of the changes affect him very much. Due to all the tension occurring in this novel because of the war and events going on at the school, there is a lot of denial of truth happening. Three of the four boys mentioned earlier deny the truth at sometime in the story. This denying of truth sometimes ends with the person who committed the fault in a bad condition at the end of the book, and sometimes in good condition. So it can be said that there were both positive and negative results for each of the denials of the truth, but these will be explained more in-depth in the following paragraphs.