A Separate Peace Analysis

People are colliding into battles continuously around the globe. It's not always a physical brawl between two armed forces but it also occur mentally and emotionally. On page 139 of A Separate Peace, a quote was mentioned by Gene, "...because it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and theirs special stupidities but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart..." This quote can relate to the novel, a personal experience and another literary work.

The title of the book, A Separate Peace is completely relevant to the story of the two boys Gene and Phineas and their relationship. The title shows how the boys put themselves in completely different realities, a separate peace. This first occurs when Gene manages to push Phineas out of the tree causing him to shatter one of his legs. Phineas refuses to believe Gene, his best friend would purposely hurt him. “I don’t know, I must have just lost my balance. It must have been that. I did have this idea, this feeling that when you were standing there beside me, yー I don’t know, I had a kind of feeling” (Knowles 66). This quote shows that Phineas has

In A Separate Peace, the characters battle with their identity. Similar to the many other characters that struggle to be themselves, Gene tries to be other people. Given that Gene has a difficult time with his identity, he tries to be someone he is not: Gene tries to be Finny. Finny can be described as athletic, outgoing, and a risk taker, all things that Gene does not possess. Although Gene is far from Finny’s qualities he tries to duplicate them. Gene says “I decided to put on his clothes (Knowles 29).” When Gene puts on Finny’s clothes it starts his obsession of being Finny. The obsession Gene has continues, for example Finny told Gene that he wanted to one day become an Olympic athlete until he broke his leg. In response, Gene

As Carl Jung once stated, “Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious”. To reach a peaceful reconciliation, one must learn to embrace two distinct elements of their personality, the "Persona" and "Shadow." Likewise, in the bildungsroman, A Separate Peace, author John Knowles depicts the common rivalry between young adolescents, and how they struggle to accept their identity and the relationship between their unconscious self. Gene, a Devon High student, becomes best friends with Finny and grows jealous of his ostensibly flawless friend, causing him to make a life-changing decision. His struggles to reach an inner balance between his “Persona” and “Shadow” lead to the ultimate death of Finny. Gene’s transformation involves the changes of his mask and “Shadow”—from guilt and jealousy to pride and tolerance—which results in the later acceptance of the light and dark parts of himself, allowing him to truly reach adulthood and a state of peace.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” takes place at a boarding school during World War II. Best friends Gene and Finny have been inseparable during their time at the Devon School. This is until reality hits Gene, and he slowly starts to realize that he is inferior to his best friend. Through the unbalanced friendship between two teenagers in “A Separate Peace,” Knowles illustrates that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power.

In A Separate Peace, the author chooses to use conflicts to show the growth of a character. As a conflict happens there is some sort of growth which the character gains as a result. In fact, there are many conflicts throughout the story that shape the characters in unique ways including Genes jealousy of his best friend, Finny doing dangerous things, and Gene trying to live through Finny. Some conflicts result in good ways some result in bad and it changes the way the character is. The book is a good example of what it is like when a conflict happens in real life, by showing growth of a character after a conflict. The decisions made by the characters will either change them in positive or negative ways; that is an important message that the book tells quite well.

The tragic novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, apprises a story of Gene, an individual who fights his inner battle between love and envy for his best friend, Finny. The film and the novel’s events are comparatively similar, but there are also many differences between the two sources. Many significant characters do not appear in the film that are present in the novel, and many symbolic plot events are relatively similar in the novel

“As Christians, we do not merely admire loyalty in others; we ourselves are loyal to family members, friends, and fellow worshippers (1Thess. 2:10, 11)”. “But what loyalty should take first place in our heart? Why, it is loyalty to the One who gave us life!” (Rev. 4:11). Without the faith of God, the Land family would not have had the loyalty to each other, nor made the sacrifices they did for one another. Letting God be the guide and savior in their lives, the family would have never found the missing links that complete their family. The sacrifices the loyal family has made have brought them closer together in their faith and love of family. Peace Like a River is a strong story that elaborates and engages characters, artistic aspect, and its suggestions and belief on faith.

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.

Knowing that one event can change the outcome of a person’s life is very crucial to the thought process of humans. In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles the characters experienced an event that changed the outcome of the rest of their lives. At the boarding school Devon, Gene and Finny spent their high school years being each other’s best friend. Gene is known as Finny’s intelligent sidekick, Finny is great at any sport he attempts. Gene is dependent on Finny to make decisions for him. When Finny falls out of the tree, this hinders Gene and Finny’s relationship. Gene believes that he caused the accident so he goes to admit it to him. When Gene goes to Finny’s house to admit he pushed him out of the tree is the single pivotal moment because it changed their relationship and how

n chapter seven of John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is adjusting to school without Finny by his side. His personality changed once he had to face school alone. Gene might not have realized it but Finny had a huge effect on his overall mood. Finny has a very upbeat personality that rubs off on the other students.

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.

"Your surroundings may change but your essence and your personality pretty much stay the same" (Dewan). The setting of the novel A Separate Peace is at an all boys school located in New Hampshire. The characters and plot are finely woven into the fabric of this institution. However, would events in this novel turn out differently if the story was set in a public high school, with a diverse environment? The characters and plot of A Separate Peace are not solely driven by their surroundings because the boys would still break the rules, Gene would have internal conflicts, and the war would affect the students.

Only after Finny’s death, is Gene capable of letting go of his jealousy and frustration, that resolves his conflict, allowing internal peace. Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene’s continuous change in character along with the reality of war only created an ongoing battle within himself that severely affect him and those around him. Without realizing, Gene ironically inflicted his jealousy upon himself and therefore suffered the most pain, that is until he found his separate