A Separate Peace by John Knowles: A Coming of Age Story

1035 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Literary essay coming of age

Coming of age is a stage where a young person transitions from being a child and becomes an adult by facing a part of adulthood that destroys child-like beliefs while developing new beliefs. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene starts off as an innocent boy unsure of his feelings towards his friend Finny but as the book progresses Gene soon comes to realize he’s living under Finny’s shadow with a least amount of sense of knowing who he is as a person. This leads him to spite his best friend, Phineas.
In the beginning of the book, Gene’s relationship with Finny was a simple friendship but with some undertones of envy and hatred. To Finny, Gene is his best friend who he could trust with his life. Gene, on the other hand, does not feel the same way about the friendship as Finny. Gene both loves and hates Finny, he sees Finny as both a friend and an enemy. Finny is self-assured, friendly, and the best athlete in school; he is everything Gene is not. He tells Finny he is “too good to be true.” Gene is happy for him, but then he grows a little suspicious by questioning himself whether or not Phineas broke the record just to be better than him or to impress him. John Knowles hints a sign of this hatred through a simple thought when Gene thinks to himself, “Naturally Finny was going to be the first to try, and just as naturally he was going to inveigle others, us, into trying it with him.” (15). This reveals a clue that Gene sees Finny as a leader who is always in charge; Gene is a little jealous and believed that he thought too highly of him. Well ahead in the book, Gene develops the idea that Finny is out to get him. John Knowles points out this idea from Gene by revealing Gene’s internal thoughts when he said to himself, “I found ...

... middle of paper ...

... that Finny made for him that no one did. Even though Finny’s not physically there with him, his spirit remains in Gene’s heart. Finny isn’t gone from his life because Finny was a part of him and always will be. Finny’s death causes Gene to find himself because is no longer weighed down by feelings of envy and hatred. Knowles concludes Gene’s thoughts when he says, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone.”(204) Gene realizes that his only enemy is himself and the wicked thoughts of the heart and mindset. He doesn’t have to fret anymore because he is finally able to move past all this and become what Finny wanted him to be, a part of him.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, I believe that Gene and Finny were not sincerely friends throughout the novel due to their relationship being driven by competitiveness. Along with the competitive atmosphere came jealously, envy and enmity. Gene created a rivalry between him and Finny. Since Finny was

    Read More

  • Perception of Others in A Separate Peave by John Knowles

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Gene's Shadow In John Knowles A Separate Peace

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    He becomes aware of Finny’s endurance, as “nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last [Gene] had” (203). Following Finny’s death, Gene states how absolutely nothing could break Finny, not even a war. But the evilness of his shadow and unconscious self could, and cause Finny’s death. One’s shadow can be toxic when displayed to the outside world, especially when it is not in check by the individual. Gene has accepted his dark side when he admits he had been the cause of his friend’s death. In the very end of the novel, Gene finally takes responsibility for all of his shadow’s actions against his best friend, as he thinks to himself, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Gene’s transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end is clearly seen in this quotation, as he no longer denies his shadow’s existence and now claims responsibility of the darkness inside himself. He illustrates himself as being on active duty at all times at school, staying on guard for any of Finny’s tricks that may potentially cause him to fall behind in his studies. His war with Finny, whom he once

    Read More

  • Gene's Coming of Age in A Separate Peace

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... age of Gene Forrester. Because Finny causes Gene to grow up, we are able to realize that one must grow up to move on in life. In that process of growing up, several people impact your life. This novel shows us how our identity is basically created by those who are present in our lives; however we must not measure our abilities against another person (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). We are shown how the impact of one person can make a great difference. The goodness in people is what one should always take away from a relationship. This is shown in the relationship between Gene and Finny. The experiences Finny gives Gene cause him to grow up and become a better person because of them.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Separate Peace And Dead Poets Society

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gene is a well-educated, athletic individual. He takes his school work seriously and keeps to himself, meaning he doesn’t favor standing out or being in the spotlight. He is a follower, especially when it comes to his best friend, Phineas. Throughout the book, he often compares himself to Phineas and talks about how perfect Finny is.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Individuality in John Knowles' A Separate Peace

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion. It is harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) A Separate Peace (1959) written by John Knowles, expresses the true struggle to respect ones individuality. In 1942 at a private school in New Hampshire Gene Forrester became good friends with his roommate, Finny. He envies Finny for his great Athletic ability. In spite of the envy, Gene and Finny do everything together and one day for fun they decide to jump out of a tree into the river. After that they form the Super Suicide Society, the first time they jumped being their reason for formation. During one of their meetings they decide to jump off at the same time. When they get up on the limb Gene bounces it and Finny falls on the bank. He shatters the bones in his leg and will never again play sports. Nobody realizes that Gene deliberately made Finny lose his balance. Because of the accident Gene does not play sports either and continues being friends with Finny. One night, some of the other guys from Devon School woke Gene and Finny up in the middle of the night. They are suspicious of the "accident." They conduct a trial to blame Gene for what has happened to Finny. Eventually Finny gets upset in the midst of argument and runs out. He ends up tripping and falling down the stairs, and breaking his healed leg allover again. It was a cleaner break this time but they still have to set it. Gene confesses to Finny that he bounced him out of the tree. While setting the break there are complications and Finny dies. Gene learns that he is his own person and now that Finny is gone he can finally be content with himself. In the beginning Gene feels inferior to Finny.

    Read More

  • Personal Identity In John Knowles A Separate Peace

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Finny is a rebellious, charming, and very athletic boy. His charisma comes from his ability to make up rules and ideas on the spot and being able to get out of any trouble which is magnetic to the other boys at Devon. Most of the teachers admired Phineas because he was the poster boy of boys not yet affected by the war as mentioned by Gene when he says " But there was another reason. I think we reminded them of what peace was like, we boys of sixteen. [...] We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives that were not bound up with destruction,". (Knowles 24) While the war rages on the boys of the school begin to adjust to their fates, showing their more negative emotions such as hatred for the enemy. Gene believed that everyone chose their enemy at some point, hated at some point. But what made Finny different was that he never did. Phineas in all his actions was good intentioned. He saw the world as a giant playground. The game he invented, Blitz Ball, is a game where no one actually wins or loses. Blitz Ball's whole idea is enjoying the pure fun of the game and not the outcome which shows who Finny really is as a person. He sees the goodness in everyone and expects that everyone else does the same. (Which can also cause him to look arrogant and selfish at times which Finny never becomes fully aware of.) This blind eye to evil leads to Finny's downfall (literally) as he doesn't realize the burdens Gene holds

    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

  • Gene and Finny in A Separate Piece

    1332 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning to the middle of the book Gene lives through Finny. ‘"Come on,' drawled Finny from below, ‘stop standing there showing off.'…‘Jump!'"(Knowles 9). Finny thought of an extremely adventurous idea. He decided that he wanted to jump out of a tree into the river below. Finny also wanted the other boys that were with him to jump out of the tree. After Finny jumped he attempted to persuade Gene to follow his lead and jump out of the tree. Gene, a very conservative individual, did not even dream of ever jumping out of the tree but Finny got his way. Gene climbed the tree and jumped into the river because Finny manipulated him to. ‘"Studying! You know, books. Work. Examinations'" (Knowles 49). Finny has come to tell Gene that one of the boys named Leper has finally decided to jump out of the tree into the river. Gene finally explodes and starts screaming at Finny. Gene tells Finny that he needs to study for the French final and that he cannot be wasting his time with a silly game. At this moment in time, Finny finally realized that Gene actually has to study in order to get good grades. Finny always thought that school for Gene came just as easily as sports did for him. When Finny realizes this he tells Gene that he has to study. ‘"Don't move from that desk. It's straight A's for you'"(Knowles 50). All of a sudden Gene became perplexed. He could not understand that Finny was actually telling him to stay home and study.

    Read More

  • A Separate Peace

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    is important to the theme because Gene longs to have that same whimsical way that Finny

    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, by John Knowles

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    The quote, “Ignorance is bliss,” by Thomas Gray is a seemingly adequate description of the lives of Gene, Finny, and Leper until they are all roughly jolted out of their fantasy world and brought back to reality. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles does an acceptable job of showing how disillusionment can greatly impact and, thus, change the lives of people. The book showcases the cycle of disillusionment and the ramifications it implies. Throughout the book, we see Gene, Leper, and Finny’s views on the world change. This all culminates in Gene being elevated to a higher level of understanding of the world and seeing the truth about Devon and the war. The illusions created by Finny and Leper are also taken on by Gene, and he, in turn, shares in their disillusionment. Overall, disillusionment is a part of life and often serves as a tool to help many people grow and learn from the past.

    Read More

  • The Color Black In The Great Gatsby

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tom is indirectly responsible for all three of the deaths that occurred in The Great Gatsby. His being, in itself, intimidated

    Read More

  • Becoming A Man A Separate Peace And The Jumping Tree

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    a best friend like Finny is an accolade and he should see it as an achievement. However, this transparent excuse of Gene's maturity at this point, portrays a very young, foolish, and selfish young man. "It was hypnotism. I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying that a little, which was perfectly normal."(Knowles p. 25) Here we see Gene as a simply confused young man who doesn't know the real value of friendship, and can't refuse a feeling of envy towards his so called "best friend.

    Read More

  • gatmoral Moral and Emotional Range of The Great Gatsby

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters.  At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.

    Read More

More about A Separate Peace by John Knowles: A Coming of Age Story

Open Document