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An essay on "being a man
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Sometimes I think that the trouble with men is that we aren't women. One almost never sees women fight. No, that's a guy thing, a manly thing that also raises disturbing questions about what it means to be a man these days. Becoming a man comes with realizing your responsibilities in life. Becoming a man comes when you take control of your responsibilities in life for yourself and for others. If you live at home, and accept money, food, or anything else from your parents - you have no earthly idea what it takes or means to become a man. On the day that you catch the clue that electricity costs a great deal of money, and that leaving the lights on when you leave the home becomes very expensive, then one may slightly show the slow turning into the corner to manhood. On the day that you can solve tour own problems without having to call someone for help or whining to your parents, you have become a man In "A Separate Peace" many characteristics of becoming a man can be seen. For example, as the novel progresses, so does Gene's maturity. Gene's first seen in the novel as a boy, not yet brought on by nature, but as one gets deeper into the novel, one sees change; Gene embarks on life change that all men journey through once in their life. Gene begins to see his life and others from a totally new standpoint, as though even from a newer perspective. In Chapter two and chapter three, Gene, develops a sheer envy for Finny, and acknowledges it as the truth. He is extremely envious of the methods in which Finny uses to escape his unusual actions and his popularity. He embeds himself in a pool of self-assurance, by repeatedly telling himself over and over again that having 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.
In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene and Finny have boarding school experiences during World War II. Finny helps Gene mature throughout the story. Finny is an archetypal Jesus because of he preaches his ideas to his peers, his death is similar to Jesus’s, and his charismatic personality.
Although Gene hurt Finny, he never questions Gene's loyalty and friendship. Showing how true friends will always believe and trust each other. During a school
Insidiously and pervasively, Gene's original doubt creeps into his mind while at the beach, when Finny confesses that Gene is his best pal, yet Gene's hesitation holds him back, stating that “perhaps [he] was stopped by the level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth” (50). By pondering his motivations, Gene reveals that he truly does not believe that Finny considers him his best friend; Gene doubts Finny because he believes that hate forms the cornerstone of the relationship, which in turn leaves no room for love. Instead, Gene believes the confession of friendship serves the purpose of disillusioning him, that, as a conniver, Finny wants Gene to falsely trust him. Through a lack of communication, neither boy truly knows where they stand as a friendship based on trust and mutual affection fosters no home for envy, and yet Gene believes that Finny is his adversary. Finally, Gene ponders how he “might have asked, 'Who are you then?'” while realizing that Finny cares more about him than the fake rivalry; as Finny's personality seems to suddenly veer away from competitive, Gene feels he “was facing a total stranger” (50). Because Finny fears destroying the friendship by addressing its problems, he never empathizes with Gene and therefore does not see Gene's deluded misinterpretation of the association or the hatred that he fosters towards Phineas. Finny throws Gene off guard as he expressed his true feelings because, fed by doubt, Gene does not believe that Finny truly cares for him. Again, Gene's fears escape his mind as he exclaims “to drag me down too!” (57) when Finny talks of how he could have reached out to Gene in the moments before his fall. In his mind, Gene molds Phineas into a resentful person, so he automatically assumes the worst with Finny's intentions. Like an animal of prey, Gene retreats suddenly when
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...
Gene was only a mediocre athlete and is always jealous of Finny. They form a Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session which includes jumping from a tree into a river as its initiation. Eventually, Finny falls from the tree fracturing his leg. This leads to Finny’s death and Gene struggle to find himself. The relationship between these two boys proves my thesis statement; a friend and an enemy can be one in the same.
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.
Throughout the flashback, Gene realizes that might have hurt Finny on purpose, out of jealousy due to his own feelings and imperfections. Gene at the conclusion of chapter four, {page: 59} thinks “He had never been jealous of me for a second.” Gene’s inner conflict is that he is struggling with the knowledge that he might have hurt Finny intentionally. Therefore,
Throughout the book, Gene must live with the feeling of pushing Phineas out of the tree and permanently disabling him. Gene is outside Phineas’s window of the Infirmary when Gene shows sympathetic emotion for the first time. “...I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I put my hand over my mouth; then I tried to stop my mouth with my fist; if I couldn’t get control of this laughing they would hear me in the room. I was laughing so hard it hurt my stomach and I could feel my face getting more and more flushed; I dug my teeth into my fist to try to gain control and then I noticed that there were tears all over my hand.” (Knowles 183-184). On a literal level, this passage explains how Gene was thinking of Finny inappropriately saying things to Dr.Stanpole and Miss. Windbag. In
Gene and Finny are not friends. A friend is someone you would do anything for, somebody that you care about. You never intentionally hurt a friend, and you congratulate them when they do something incredible. Gene has shown multiple times that he doesn’t care about Finny. Gene is so jealous of Finny that he blames him for all his problems, so they can’t be friends
After talking to Finny on the phone, Gene said to himself “I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas” (85),. At this point, instead of discovering his own identity Gene decides to give his up for Finny's. Gene says he felt freedom becoming part of Finny, showing he is not content with himself so he wanted to be someone else, like Finny who he admires. Therefore, Gene didn't want to discover his own identity, making him unable to develop and the only way he could get his back, would be if Finny died... At Finny's funeral, Gene thought this to himself, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case” (194). Gene, at this moment feels as if Finny's funeral is his own, but now that Finny had died, the part of Finny that is apart of Gene had died. By this occurring, it means that Gene can finally discover his own identity and not Finny's identity, which he has been living without for most of the story. This shows that Gene has progressed since he has now claimed his old identity and learned from his mistakes, that he has to be himself, not someone
Early on in the novel Gene appears reliant on Finny’s leadership even when Gene does not want to follow his best friend. Consequently, Gene almost mindlessly follows Finny’s every action and desire. When the back of an Air Force controlled drone gets cut off “the drone is as useless as an eyeball cut off from the brain” (Bowden 5). Much of the same can be said about Gene. If he were to be cut off from Finny, Gene would lose the greatest influence and the person who made most of Gene’s decisions for him. After Phineas’ accident Gene, possibly out of extreme guilt, puts on Finny’s clothes and tries to essentially become Finny, "But when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat I had become no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas, Phineas to the life" (Knowles 62). From the moment that Gene puts on Finny’s clothes Gene, thrives off of the thought of getting to become his best friend and greatest adversary. The moment also defines Gene for most of his time at Devon and even into his adult life. A young drone pilot refelcts that "it feels bad almost...A lot of
Gene starts struggling battling jealousy after seeing finny being so successful with his athletic accomplishments and how well he could please people. Gene is jealous of Finny that he can go have fun and still be good at whatever he does without practicing. Gene says talking about Finny “It seemed that he had made some kind of parallel between studies and his sports. He probably thought anything you were good at camae without effort. He didn’t know yet the he was unique.”(58) Gene wished he could be like him, so the only way his jealousy would win was if he pushed Finny out of the tree. After Finny falls out of the tree, Gene has to deal with the guilt of knowing what he did to Finny. The other conflict he has is when he has to deal with the reality of the truth of what he did, which makes him feel very upset. After Finnys death Gene has to deal with knowing he already killed his best friend. He has to deal with his own demons of guilt and knowing what he did. At the end of the book Gene states “I was an active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there”(182) Referring to what he did to Finny and how it'll always mentally affect him. This causes Gene to realize he has to live with the guilt of knowing what he did to his best friend
When a friend comes into one’s life they should change that person’s life for the better. When Finny comes into Gene’s life, Gene feels as if he has to change what he does and how he does it. Gene doesn’t always want to play Blitzball or jump out of the tree but Gene seems to think he has to do whatever Finny tells him. Finny did not change Gene’s life for better and Gene didn’t change Finny’s for better. They both had to change how they acted when around each other A friendship needs to have a sense of genuinity. When one hangs out with their friend they should talk and the other person
Throughout the story, Finny never felt a jealousy to Gene or to any other guys. The narrator expressed quoting,” Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone.” This shows the readers that Finny saw everyone as decent people. Finny saw everyone as his friends and never hated anyone. Finny appears that he can not take it upon to believe particular things. An example would be when Gene broke Finny’s leg. When Gene visited Finny in the infirmary room, Gene asked Finny what made him lose his balance in the tree. Finny had an unclear mind of Gene being the cause; however, he refused to accept this theory and apologized for even ponding about it. He admired Gene and never lost faith in
Phineas (also known as Finny) never found his separate peace. A clear example of this is Phineas’ vulnerability especially to Gene. For example, Check out the scene on the beach, when Finny declares that Gene is his best pal. He makes himself vulnerable emotionally, and by not responding, Gene takes advantage of him and his emotions. “‘I hope you’re having a pretty good time here. I know I kind of dragged you away at the point of a gun, but after all you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal.’ He hesitated and then added, ‘which is what you are,’ and there was silence on his dune. “ (Knowles, 48). Phineas’ character was also known as the class athlete. He was notorious to succeed in everything he took part in and even succeeded in whatever challenges lied between. “ ‘Well, how did I do?’ I looked at the