Throughout the chapters of John Knowles novel “A Separate Peace” there are many biblical allusions. In particular, the story of Cain and Abel. Phineas and Gene are based on story of Cain and Able. Cain and Abel are brothers such as Genes and Phineas’ friendship. In the story one is filled with jealousy like Gene and one brother kills the other also like Gene. Gene and Phineas have a strong connection, their friendship is like a brotherhood. The brotherhood is similar to the brothers Cain and Abel, Gene is Cain and Phineas is Abel. Gene and Finny are the best friends; they share many adventures and feelings. When Gene almost fell off the tree, Finny grabbed his arm quickly to save him. Gene knew he would get severely get injured but Finny saved him. Gene and Phineas both look out for each other when one is feeling down the other keeps him up. Phineas would never let Gene down or fall but Gene is slightly different. Gene is much like Cain and because he is like Cain he has jealousy and hatred against Phineas who is Abel. When Gene wakes up at sunrise on the beach, while Finny is still sleeping. Gene realizes that he has an important exam and it will take him a long time to get back to Devon. He makes it back in time to Devon, but fails the …show more content…
The story of Cain and Abel ends with Abel’s blood being shed and Cain being banished. Gene’s intention was not to kill Phineas; due to the jealousy taking Gene’s mind he hurt Phineas. Many of the other students started questioning if Gene intentionally pushed off Phineas. That is similar to when God questions Abel of what happened to his brother Cain. After the second fall Phineas had another severe injury caused by Gene he had to go thru an operation that killed him. As Cain was left to wandered the earth knowing that the earth was cursed to drink his brother’s blood. Gene was left with the guilt of his best friend being gone thru his
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
Growing up with siblings a sense of competition was always dealt with. Who was better or who got the better present for example. Sibling rivalry was definitely an occurrence that is seen throughout the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Specifically how the author embraces the good and the evil in the personalities of his characters. The brothers from the book Charles and Adam were resembling the more Biblical brothers known as Cain and Abel. As scenes unfolded in the novel, we glimpse at the rivalry that goes on between the two. Even when the generation carries on to the new brothers, Cal and Aron, there’s still a connection being made to the legend. “Symbol story of the human soul” as Lee, a character, relates it to the same idea. In the secence of
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
... 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.
Even as negative as these feelings are, they still prove to help people become successful in this world as they navigate through tough times and they use these feelings to re-inspire them to work harder and achieve more. Furthermore, Phineas' viewpoint is too innocent to last in the real world. For example, Finny views the world as he views sports which Gene explains as, "Everyone always won at sports. When you played a game you won, in the same way as when you sat down to a meal you ate it. It inevitably and naturally followed. Finny never permitted himself to realize that when you won they lost" (27). As idealistic as this sounds, it is not plausible to live by this statement in the real world and expect to succeed. Since Finny refuses to see logic in this statement but Gene understands the underlying problem with it, Gene is more likely to survive and succeed in this world because he understands not everything can be the perfect version that a person wishes it to be. Phineas' pure heart and innocent intentions are good in theory but they do not last in this world which demands more cunning and strategic motivations such as the ones Gene
My definition of friendship between two people, can be described as being able to trust or confide in a person, being able to talk to them without much or any hesitance, and someone who can get along well and stay friendly through difficult times. In my opinion, Finny and Gene seem to fit this description. They both had multiple "adventures", such as skipping school for the beach, and making a club together with some of their other friends from Devon. Also, although Finny took a while to believe or even listen to him, Gene admits to Finny about pushing out of the tree on purpose. Last, Finny feels comfortable enough with Gene that he can tell him his true feelings about the war that was go...
feels that he has to get revenge. This anger leads to Gene jouncing Finny out of the tree.
Phineas spent a couple of weeks in the infirmary before he was allowed to have visitors. When Phineas was finally accepting visitors the doctor requested Gene to go visit him. When Gene is able to go visit Phineas they talk about the fall and if Phineas remembers it. Phineas doesn’t remember Gene being the one to push him off and denies it being Gene’s fault. Of course, Gene feels very guilty about being the one to cause his best friend to break his leg.
Competition and rivalry have the ability to make people shine and accomplish things they never thought possible, and the ability to bring a person’s dark side and get them to do terrible things. Phineas and Gene’s friendship is viewed very differently by each of them. Where Phineas sees Gene as his best friend Gene sees Phineas as a competitor. Gene sees him as someone trying to keep him from being successful in school. This warped view of their relationship is the cause of many of the eventual problems of the novel and arguably the death of Phineas.
John Grimes, the eldest son of Gabriel Grimes, a former well-respected and dynamic preacher, is in search of answers to his unhappiness. John wants to find his place within the church, define his relationship with God, and wants to flush the dislike he has for his father out. His father favors John’s younger brother Roy over himself. Although Roy is a bad seed and has an impeccable ability to get into trouble, he undoubtedly remains the apple of his father’s eye. John has been compared to another young man named Elisha, who is a member of the church.
Immediately after the fall of mankind and the expulsion from the garden, the human race begins populating God's creation. Cain is the first-born son of Adam and Eve. His actions in life from beginning to end exhibit one thing: a lack of reverence for God. In contrast to Cain's irreverence, Abel comes along and displays a greater sense of concern in pleasing God. Abel, who was righteous and zealous in pleasing God, became a "keeper of sheep" (cf. Gen 4:2). Cain, however, was a "tiller of the ground" (cf. Gen. 4:2).
The two rivers intermingle, showing the boys’ changes from immature individuals to slightly older and wiser men. Sooner or later, Gene and Phineas, who at the beginning of the novel are extremely immature, have to face reality. Signs of their maturity appear when the boys have a serious conversation about Finny’s accident. Finny realizes that Gene did shake the tree limb purposely so that he would fall. However, he knows that this action was spontaneous, and that Gene was never meant to cause him life-long grief.
"And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in
Next, we should look at the brilliantly and elaborately detailed armor of Ares. The shield’s handle, the rivets along its edge and the circular decoration around the inside of the shield are meticulously done. Additionally, the shadow created with the change in hue, saturation, and value on the inside of the shield help create the depth and curvature of the shield. The body armor also implements a well-crafted mixture of shadows and smooth curved lines as well as color change to create depth. Had this not been so craftily accomplished, the shield would have taken on a flat and dull appearance. This is true for the lion head on the shoulder of Ares , which is able to convey the concept of layered gold on top of iron without using the layering of paint to create the three dimensional character. The more time I spent viewing the particular parts of the armor, the more admiration I had for Batoni as an artist. The helmet, with the golden dragon atop and ram around the lower front are also finely detailed.
This shows that for Cain's sin of killing Abel, he receives a just punishment not only to him but also to his "offspring."