The Second World War in Europe was a two-front war: it was fought on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front. Much like World War II, Gene’s war in A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a two-front war. Unlike World War II though, his war was not fought within Russia or France, but his mind and his social life. Throughout A Separate Peace, John Knowles shows that even though Gene is not in Europe fighting the horrific war, he fights his own war at Devon. On page two hundred four, Gene narrates “my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed by enemy there.” At face value, a reader might interpret this to mean that Gene’s enemy is Phineas, but as one looks deeper, it is discovered that his …show more content…
All through A Separate Peace, Finny is characterized as an overwhelmingly charismatic and sports-oriented young man; therefore, it comes as no surprise that Gene is insanely jealous of this. An example of this jealousy is communicated on page twenty-seven when Finny is about to get into trouble with the substitute headmaster; Gene even goes as far as to think, “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that.” Up until this point in the story, Phineas has been able to talk himself out of every situation, and this undoubtedly drives Gene mad with jealousy because he knows that he does not have the same ability; consequently, when Finny seems to get himself into a tricky situation that seems impossible to evade, Gene sits back and watches the show. At Devon, Finny is not only known for weaving a tale, but also for his achievements on the field; on the other hand, Gene is known for his intelligence, but he is still jealous of all the awards Finny has for athletics. On page fifty-one, when Gene and Finny are speaking about Gene’s lofty goal of becoming valedictorian, Gene, in seemingly mocking way, starts to ponder Finny’s achievements, “After all, he should talk. He had won and been proud to win the …show more content…
This hatred is shown several times throughout the book, but perhaps the best examples are shown through Gene’s feelings towards jumping off the tree into the river and Phineas breaking a school swimming record. In chapter three, when Gene reveals, “ The Charter Members, he and I, had to open every meeting by jumping ourselves. This was the first of the many rules which Finny created without notice during the summer. I hated it. I never got inured to the jumping. At every meeting the limb seemed higher, thinner, the deeper water harder to reach. Every time, when I got myself into position to jump, I felt a flash of disbelief that I was doing anything so perilous. But I always jumped.” If one looks at this quote’s superficial appearance, one does not discover anything strange, but upon closer inspection, it can be found that Gene is actually disclosing his hatred for Finny’s ability to be so carefree as per his rule to jump out of the tree at every meeting. Another example of Gene’s hatred is clearly shown in chapter four when he plainly recounts, “You did hate him for breaking that school swimming record, but so what?” Unlike the first example, this example does not require explication because in plain English, Gene is divulging that because of his insecurities and jealousy, he hates Finny for being able to break a swimming record without
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.
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
“Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. Other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere, this sighting of the enemy, and so began an obsessive labor of defense, began to parry the menace they saw facing them by developing a particular frame of mind.”(Knowles 204) John Knowles, the author of A Separate Peace states this quote to explore how some people develop defense mechanisms in order to protect themselves from any harm they may endure. Gene, the novel’s protagonist feels as though his best friend Phineas is somehow out to get him. However, Finny’s perception of his friend was utterly different from Gene’s perspective. In fact, Finny acts as a foil for Gene throughout the story, carrying a completely different outlook on things. Gene’s savage nature allows him to identify the evil within people when Finny simply acknowledges the positive traits in his friends, disregarding the concept of wickedness as a whole. Through Gene and Finny’s friendship, John Knowles illustrates the significance of how one has the ability to perceive others.
A persona is a mask shown to the outside world developed in relation to consciousness, to hide the darkest aspects of a psyche, known as a shadow, behind it. Shadows contrast personas by holding undesirable and unwanted memories and behaviors, but the dark side of an individual must be accepted for the individual to fully understand oneself. In the coming of age novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, narrator Gene Forrester returns to New Hampshire to visit Devon School, where he studied fifteen years ago just as World War II had begun to unfold. The narrative shifts back fifteen years ago to Gene’s days at Devon School with his best friend, Phineas, also known as Finny, as he recalls memorable events from his past. Gene’s persona and shadow
The literary analysis essay for A Separate Peace entitled Chapter 7: After the Fall notes that Gene’s brawl with Cliff Quackenbush occurs for two reasons: the first reason being that Gene was fighting to defend Finny, and the second reason being that Quackenbush is the antithesis of Finny. Cliff Quackenbush calls Gene a “maimed son-of-a-bitch”, since Gene holds a position on the team that is usually reserved for physically disabled students, and Gene reacts by hitting him in the face (Knowles, 79). At first, Gene remarks that he didn’t know why he reacted this way, then he says, “it was almost as though I were maimed. Then the realization that there was someone who was flashed over me”, referring to Finny (Knowles, 79). Quackenbush is “the adult world of punitive authority personified”, his voice mature, his convictions militaristic (Chapter, 76). Quackenbush reminds Gene of the adult world and all of the things that Finny and Devon protected him from, such as war.
Knowles further manipulates Finny and Gene’s relationship in their escapades together. At the beach, Finny shares his inner emotions with Gene, an act likened to “the next thing to suicide” (48). Surprised, Gene attempts to share his own feelings, but hesitates and does not follow through. Knowles uses Gene’s hesitant, distrusting nature, to suggest dishonesty in his relationship with Finny. In the scene where Finny saves Gene from falling out of the tree, Knowles continues to imply power disparity. Realizing that “Finny had practically saved [his] life” (32), Gene feels personal debt to Finny. This widens the power gap even further ...
The novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is the coming of age story of Gene Forrester. This novel is a flashback to the year 1943, when Gene is attending Devon School during his senior year and the summer before it. "Gene's youth and inexperience make him ill-equipped to deal with situations that require maturity" (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). However, Gene is a follower of Finny and therefore gains experiences that provoke his development into adulthood. Some of these experiences include: breaking Finny's leg, training for the 1944 Olympics, and killing Finny. Through these three experiences Gene is forced to grow out of his childish-self and become a man.
The development of the war occurs with the maturing of Gene and most of his fellow students. The negative diction associated with the war revealed how Gene feared and even hated just the idea of war. In the end, however, he realized his own involvement in the war included no real warfare. As the war continues, Gene gives up on childlike activities like games and instead joins the war efforts. Through the setting of the Devon School, Knowles shows how war can reach even the most sheltered places. War molds our youth and thus molds our
In the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character, Gene, transforms from a clueless individual, to one who understands events by the middle of the novel, when he starts to gain knowledge. By the end of the novel, Gene is a wise individual who has obtained his knowledge with age.
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.
The theme suggested in the closing paragraph of the novel A Separate Peace is that people create their own enemy and then they defend themselves laboriously and obsessively against their imaginary enemy. They develop a particular frame of mind to allay the fear that arises while facing their nonexistent enemy. In the novel, the protagonist, Gene, tries to fight a war with his best friend, Finny, not realizing that the enemy he sees is not Finny but is his own insecurity.
In his book A Separate Peace John Knowles communicates what war really is. He uses a number of complex characters in a very complicated plot in order to convey the harsh, sad, cruel, destructive forces of war. The Characters Gene and Finny are used as opposing forces in a struggle between that cold reality of war-that is World War II in this story-and a separate peace. A peace away from the real war and all of the terrible things that come with it. Through their relationship, that is a struggle on both sides from the beginning, Knowles establishes the reality of war in all of its essence.
In John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is plagued by jealousy for his best friend, Finny. As this novel continues, Gene ends up hurting his friend because of his jealousy. After Gene blindly intentionally hurts his only friend, he has a guilty conscience and has to overcome it by being good friends with Finny. However, Gene still feels guilty for Finny, has lost his best friend, and he knows his life will never be the same.
Throughout human history, war has stood as a universal reaction to various conflicts between diverse peoples. War can embed itself into a culture over generations of fighting. It can generate cultures that base themselves around the concept of war, creating hostile and bellicose peoples. At times, war may not even have grounds, but the aggressive nature of the people often cause it to proceed without justification. These wars often proceed due to perceptions conceived within the depths of peoples’ imaginations. Irrational assumptions, fears of the unknown, and the development of nonexistent threats allow the justification of these wars within the individuals. In A Separate Peace, wars such as these are seen between the characters and within the characters of Gene and Phineas. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace reveals Gene’s perceived war with Phineas and Phineas’ internal conflict with World War II to be intertwined with each other through Gene’s misunderstanding of Phineas and Phineas’ dependency on Gene to escape the realization of war itself.
Phineas pulls Gene away from his responsibilities and chances for growth. Phineas tells Gene, “You never waste your time. That’s why I have to do it for you.”(Knowles 51). Gene and Finny are arguing about Gene’s goal to become top of the class. Finny tells Gene that he is working too hard and needs to waste some of his time. Finny may just be trying to give friendly advice, but in the process, he pulls Gene away from his goals and plants the seed of enmity between them. Later, when Finny finds Gene studying in their dorm room he says,”I didn’t know you needed to study” and “ Don’t move