A Brief Review Of John Knowles 'A Separate Peace'

Gene’s act of purposely causing Finny to fall out of the tree forces him to feel guilty and move on from his tendencies of jealousy and anger. After Finny’s fall, Gene discovers that Finny is so faithful as to not even accuse Gene of his actions. This causes Gene to begin to feel extreme guilt, thence

These notions come almost immediately when Finny urges Gene to jump out of the tree. Gene thinks to himself, “Was he getting some kind of control over me?” (p.17). This demonstrates his paranoia as a simple invitation for a ‘fun’ activity is misconstrued as a mind game. Gene thinks that Finny is establishing power over him, but in reality Finny is just being a friend. This mindset changes towards the cessation of the novel as Gene gains his own tranquility. He begins to realize who he was as a person, good or bad, and accepts his characteristics for what they are. This change is evident after Finny tragically dies during surgery, leaving Gene at peace he’s never felt before. When questioning why he feels this way, Gene ponders, “I killed my enemy there” (p.204). He understands that since Finny is gone, he can finally be free from the envy and competitiveness that held him in the relationship. Gene also understands that he was the only one who truly felt this way, as Finny was exactly who he acted like. Finny’s actions were never malicious and Gene begins to comprehend that Finny’s charismatic attitude was genuine, he never put on a show. These two traits contrast greatly, but the author

Gene thought at one point that Finny was trying to ruin his grades because Finny always made him come with him to the meetings and to play games. This drove Gene to the point where when he and Finny were on the limb of the tree, Gene bounced the limb making Finny fall and break his leg. “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles pg. 60). Gene immediately regretted it and tried to tell Finny the truth, but Finny didn’t believe him. “I deliberately jounced the limb so you would fall off” (Knowles pg. 70). Besides that though Gene kept the truth from Finny and was planning on never telling him. The fact that Gene kept the truth from Finny just made it worse, and when Finny found out the truth he stormed off and fell down a flight of stairs which broke his leg again. Sadly, this led to Finny’s death. When the doctors were putting his bone back in place, a piece of bone marrow went and punctured his heart. Gene never forgave

Gene pushes Finny out of the tree due to jealousy. This shows just how much jealousy Gene has. He is willing to hurt someone because of one tiny thing after another. All Finny has done so far is be himself. Gene overreacts and seriously injures his “best

Over the summer session, Gene becomes close friends with Finny, an adventurous and amazingly trusting person. Gene, on the other hand, is a person who is more self-centered and doesn’t believe in Finny’s remarkable lack of hatred that makes him so unique. He believes that Finny is jealous of his academic prowess just like he is jealous of Finny’s superior athletic ability. Soon Gene realizes that his jealousy has blinded him to Finny’s authentic benevolence. Together they go on many adventures, and one day Finny and Gene decide to climb up a tree and jump into the river. Finny is balancing on a branch, ready to jump, when Gene accidently bounces the branch, causing Finny to fall. Finny broke his leg and was told that he would never be able to play sports again. Gene feels guilty about his role in the incident and tries to convince Finny that it was his fault. Finny laughs it off and doesn’t blame Gene for his role in the incident, showing more of his amiable personality. The summer session then ends, and both the boys go back to their homes. Gene visits Finny’s home, and he tells Finny that he bounced the branch on purpose. Finny doesn’t believe him and so Gene goes back to school. Brinker Hadley, a serious and responsible class politician, asks Gene if he wants to join the army with him. Gene agrees, but Finny’s return to the school causes his and Brinker’s idea to come to nothing.

It wasn’t my neck, but my understanding which was menaced. He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he.” This is what Gene fears, more than Finny’s charm or athleticism but his goodness of heart, how what he says is what he means for his motives. What I don’t understand is why Gene is relieved of fear when Finny falls from the tree and breaks some bones in his body. His athleticism was destroyed, but his character wasn’t. Maybe it was because that’s one less thing Finny is able to do, but I’m not sure what to make of this. In addition to what I said in the first paragraph, when Brinker brings in Gene and Finny into the courtroom to investigate the accident, although Gene fears that the truth will be told, he’s not the only one there who holds the emotion of fear. “Finny turned toward me. “You were down at the bottom, weren’t you?” he asked not in the official courtroom tone he had used before, but in a friend’s voice.” Finny fears Gene’s betrayal that he has altered the past in his mind to avoid facing the truth. In the beginning of the investigation, Finny is unsure about what happened. First he claims that he took a wrong step and lost his balance. When Gene is the interrogated about whether he was in the tree or not, Finny aggressively said, “How do you expect him to remember?” “There was a

Being “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide”. John Knowles wrote A Separate Peace, based on the German term bildungsroman. Gene is smart, intelligent, and a really great person to be around. He has a great personality up until, he starts to emulate Finny. A Separate Peace demonstrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, their friendship, and Gene ends up finding peace.

Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny caused great internal turmoil with himself throughout the story. He went through and identity crisis because he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be. In the story, Gene said, “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (Knowles 117). He always went along with everything Finny proposed or did; this gave him little to no time to discover who he really was. This lack of personal discovery lead him to doubt who he was. This internal conflict within Gene also affected his personal actions. Before Finny’s fall, Gene said, “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles

“But I no longer needed this vivid false identity . . . I felt, a sense of my own real authority and worth, I had many new experiences and I was growing up “(156). Gene’s self-identity battle ends and he finds his real self. Gene’s developing maturity is also shown when he tells the truth about Leper. His growing resentment against having to mislead people helps Gene become a better person. When Brinker asks about Leper, Gene wants to lie and tell him he is fine but his resentment is stronger than him. Instead Gene comes out and tells the truth that Leper has gone crazy. By pushing Finny out of the tree, crippling him for life and watching him die; Gene kills a part of his own character, his essential purity. Throughout the whole novel Gene strives to be Finny, but by the end he forms a character of his own. Gene looks into his own heart and realizes the evil. “. . . it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart” (201). He grasps that the creation of personal problems creates wars. Gene comes to acknowledge Finny’s uniqueness and his idealism and greatly admires his view of the world. He allows Finny’s influence to change him and eliminates the self-ignorance. At Finny’s funeral Gene feels that he buries a part of himself, his innocence. “I could not escape a feeling

Conflicts start with jealousy; Gene begins to develop a sense of envy for Finny’s outgoing personality and his ability to talk out of troubles which later progresses into a one-sided rivalry. After Gene’s first flunked test, he tries to find an excuse to justify his failure, which he later conclude that Finny purposely interrupt his studies. Gene accuses Finny of distracting him and setting an image of a nice friend, he reasons, “Sure, he wanted to share everything with me, especially his procession of D’s in every subject. That way he, the great athlete, would be ahead of me. It was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all empty” (Knowles 53). The jealousy comes from doubts and predictions, Gene made excuses to make himself feel better. This mindset help justify Gene’s resentment regarding Finny’s accomplishment. Although Gene knows that Finny is an outstanding athlete, he tries to match up to Finny’s by reasoning out possible doubts. When Gene unconsciously jounce on the branch, this life-changing decision affects both Finny and himself. Though he is guilty at the idea of Finny can no longer play sports, he is also glad that his “enemy” no longer exists.

“I jostled the limb. I caused it…I deliberately jostled the limb so that you would fall off,” (Knowles 62). (Theme) This quote is a way to deepen my knowledge about the theme, which is the darkness of adolescences.

Gene is a real trip in the story and to his friends; especially Finny. Gene has a tendency to hide behind people so he will not have to take up for his actions and take a responsibility. Gene would much rather go with what everyone else thinks rather than tell the truth and risk him look like the bad one as he did to save himself from Finny ‘“Oh no, I wouldn’t do that,”’ (71). Gene was the reason Finny shattered his leg because Gene was the one that jounced the limb making Finny fall from it and straight to the bed of the river (60). When Finny was laying in the infirmary after this Gene went to tell he did it, but Finny would not have it and this foible of Finny’s made Genes getaway. By Finny being forgiving and innocent Gene had the upmost perfect opportunity to lie and get the heat off of him even if Finny knew it. Gene was the best liar at Devon, but he was drowned with insecurities. Gene did all of these horrible things to himself because he was insecure about who is was and who he was not as stated in chapter 11 “a barefaced lie about my background” (156). Gene comes from an average family from the south and is only at Devon due to his academics and on a scholarship while everyone else comes from money. Seeing and living with Finny and seeing him being the center of attention, getting away with everything, being ignorant, and not having a care in the world; it made Gene envious. This sinful envy leads Gene right into a war he thinks is with finny “The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (54), but this war was just between Gene and himself. Gene goes through his life at Devon very selfish and envious, and he never stopped to think about Finny or anyone else other than himself. A Separate Peace never shows Gene growing up or maturing until fifteen years later and he comes back to Devon to take a short trip down memory lane (9). As he is back to Devon

First, Gene admits to being guilty of shaking a tree in order to injure Finny when he visits him at his home, making Finny livid, and temporarily tearing them apart. Gene is envious of Finny’s athletic ability and bravery. One way Finny shows his bravery is by jumping off a tree for fun. Gene is greatly threatened by the bravery, so he decides to strip it from Finny by shaking the tree one day, making him fall and suffer an injury. Consequently, he instantly regrets his decision, but he realizes that the damage is done. Remorsefully, he wants to apologize for his terrible choice, but when he tries to talk about the situation and confess, Finny is in denial and starts to get angry. Finny’s denial is evident when he says “‘I don’t know anything. Go away. I’m tired and you make me sick. Go away’” (Knowles 70). This dialogue shows how Finny did not believe that Gene caused the incident even after the confession. This is because he believes that Gene would not do such an action. The confession tears Finny apart to the point that he lashes out at Gene and wants him to leave his house. If Gene did not commit the notorious action, Finny would not have to feel the pain physically from the injury, and mentally from the idea that Gene would hurt him, and the boys could have a stronger friendship.

The relationship between Gene and Finny throughout the story changes and evolves. At points they were friends, sharing adventures and bonding. At other times Gene considered Finny as a rival. Throughout the story, it makes you think what was the real relationship between Gene and Finny?

In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, Leper is back at the Devon school even though he had already enlisted in the war. From the few days that Leper has been in the war he has learned a lot, such as speaking up for himself. Leper will not allow Brinker or anyone else take advantage of him or have him be the laugh of the crowd. I think Leper will eventually go back into the war but he night feel that he currently needs to finish up a few things at Devon first. I find it interesting though how he goes to Gene for help and sees him more as a closer friend compared to the rest of the boys. Gene and Leper did not talk much but I think since Gene was one of the few people that did not make fun of him, this is his only choice.