A Seperate Peace Essay

He wants people to see him as the nice, academic scholar he strives to become. Soon after Gene shoves Phineas off of the tree, guilt overpowers Gene. “I spent as much time as I could in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, or who I was. (62)”

First of all, Gene Forrester is the narrator and one of the main characters in the novel. One of Gene’s best friends is Phineas, another main character in the novel, and an important one as well. Gene and Phineas’s relationship has its ups and downs. One of the downs being, Gene's feeling of jealousy towards Phineas. Phineas is an athletic champion and a charmer, someone everyone adores. These same qualities of Phineas make academic and studious Gene envious. The envy drives Gene to try to be a better student than Phineas, thinking that would make them equal. He thought that if he could be the smartest person in the class, then it would be equal to Phineas’s athletic stardom. What he did not know was it would change him as a person and his

What do you consider a good friend? Is it a person who always looks for your best interest, someone who wants to see you succeed, or how about someone who helps you to reach your goals in life? In the book A Separate Peace written by John Knowles, Gene and Finny appear to be friends. As the story follows them going through another school year, the characters show traits and actions that reveal unhealthy characteristics of a good friend: jealousy, mistrusting, and distracting. This negatively affects their relationship. Gene is clearly better off without Finny in his life.

John Knowles implies Phineas is naive through the implementation of dialogue. Phineas confesses to Gene that “[he] hope[s] [Gene is] having a pretty good time here… you can’t come by yourself, and at this teenage-period in life the proper person is your best pal” (48). The boys live in a masculine society, which places an emphasis on strength. To expose one’s feelings to someone else is considered “social suicide.” Therefore, Gene takes advantage of Phineas’ naiveté by not responding to his declaration of friendship. Phineas also asserts that “when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love” (111). Phineas’ philosophy centers around a world of youth of peace; he always attempts to find the best in everyone. This naive attitude contrasts with the cruel nature of the world, where wars and competitions are common occurrences. At Gene’s trial for Phineas’ fall, Phineas asks Gene if “[he] was down at the bottom” (170) in a concerned, friendly tone. Phineas fears of Gene’s betrayal; he cannot believe that his friend would have the urge to push him out the tree. In order to protect his high opinion of Gene, he alters the past in his mind to avoid facing the truth. This emphasizes his naiveté as the true events do not align with what Phineas made up in his mind. At the hospital after Phineas’s second fall, following the trial, Gene explains to Phineas that he would "get things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more” and that “[he would] make a mess, a terrible mess...out of the war'" (191). Phineas’ world does not hold any fights or enmity. His good character is unrealistic in this world. Consequently, the war would drive him to madness.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is known as a mental illness that is suffered commonly by many soldiers after the traumatizing events of war. Within the troubling illness, not only does it affect the mindset of the person dealing with the disorder, it also affects the family and friends of the person suffering. In the book “A Separate Peace” written by John Knowles, a character known as Elwin Lepellier suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

After the realization of the person he truly is Gene confronts with his problems, faces reality, and deals with the future. He learns a lot about life and relationships when he finds about his true self. He learns that he must truly express his feelings and communicate instead of keeping all the feelings inside as he had always done with Phineas. Also he learns to listen to himself not others around him if he wants a true advice. After a while, he faced reality and acknowledged the fact that he was not as great was Phineas but they were two different individuals and they were unique in different ways. Gene accepted the guilt for Phineas’ difficulties after his accident and decided he must he must help him as a punishment and act of repentance for what his deed. He does this by giving part of himself to Phineas as we see with the case of the sports

The fiction-based novel “A Separate Peace” written by John Knowles, explores a unique and complex theme of jealousy in the friendship between the two main characters, Gene Forrester and Phineas, or known as Finny. John Knowles paints a vivid picture of the complicated relationship between Gene and Finny. As the story progresses, Gene experiences intense feelings of jealousy towards Finny, which untimely leads to tragic consequences. The novel delves into the destructive nature of jealousy and how it can impact friendships and ultimately lead to a loss of innocence. In the fiction novel, “A Separate Peace”, John Knowles portrays a strong central theme of Jealousy throughout the novel which can be seen by the protagonist, Gene, by the ending of the story

Forrester’s contrasting emotions began with a juvenile thought of jealousy that escalated into an act of violence. First, Forrester felt jealous because Phineas and his confident personality got away with almost anything. Gene Forrester desired to have the same effect on people as Phineas. He desired this effect so desperately, he tingled with excitement at the thought of Phineas getting in trouble. Not only did Forrester think Phineas was due for a punishment, but he also felt a stab of disappointment when Phineas was not punished. Gene Forrester’s hate for Phineas intensified at the thought of Phineas trying to wreck his grades. He believed Phineas wished to stop Forrester from studying so they

89) and after being pressured to tell everything , "First I stole all his money. Then I found that he cheated on his entrance tests to Devon and I blackmailed his parents about that, then I made love to his sister in Mr. Ludsbury's study, then I..." (g. 90) and he trails off as he's about to mention the accident because he could never tell the truth. As stated before, Phineas argued with Gene about the accident, but he had suspicions too. As the book goes on he continually ignores his broken leg the best he can, and turns the war into a fable that was created by the fat old men that don’t want their jobs stolen.

Their friendship is predicated upon a suspended reality they build together. From his clothes, to his daring jumps from the tree, Finny represents all the prep school conventions in an overwhelmingly conformist world. For example, Finny cannot imagine that Gene might envy his easy success as an athlete, nor does he suspect that his friend's secret animosity might suddenly erupt in violent ways. In conclusion, the spontaneous actions that represented who Phineas was as a person were lost through human weakness and the war.

Betrayal, one of the most horrible things you could do to anyone your family, a friend anyone. To me it’s one of my all time most hated things a person could do and it’s almost unforgivable. In this book A Separate Peace by John Knowles two boys Phineas and Gene who are best friends at a boarding school in New Hampshire experience some of the worst kinds of Betrayal you could think of. Gene commits a very bad betrayal when he jousts the tree limb they are both standing on ending up with Finny falling and badly breaking his leg. This was no accident because Gene can’t stand the guilt.

“Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud” (Knowles 52). He was jealous of Finny’s great athletic talents, and since Phineas tried to ruin his grades he was going to ruin Finny’s athleticism. Envy

Peace is very complex. It could happen when your young, or when your older and more experienced. Peace can come from bright times or dark time, such as death. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles Gene finds peace in a very odd way. He has a quite “separate peace” from everyone else. Staring off as one piece, braking off into a separate piece, and finally finding a separate peace, Gene discovers he is himself, and not Finny.

A second way is when he begins to try and somewhat become Phineas. Like shown here, “… a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas.” (Knowles 85) from the quote, Gene is stating how by doing sports for Finny gives him a sense of purpose. Also that it may help support his thought of “losing a part of himself”. This only though shows the few of many examples throughout the book of how genes envy or imitation of Finny can affect him in a way.

Historical events can play an important role in a person's life.  In A Separate Peace, the whole atmosphere at the Devon School changed as World War II progressed.  The boys either eagerly awaited the draft, enlisted in the area of war they wanted, or did not want to go at all.  The students at the school created new activities for enjoyment since the customary past times could not be played due to a lack of materials.  When a friend "returns" from the war, the boys at Devon got a real sense of what the war was like.  The boys learned that going to war was not all fun and games like they had anticipated.  The influence World War II had on the characters in A