A Separate Peace Finny Quotes

Even though the accident is not his fault at all, he does not blame anyone but himself. Finny 's point of view on the whole situation is very grown up. Finny seems as though he will never grow up; his immaturity is shown through his habit of always coming up with strange things to do just for fun and his silly disbelieving ways of the war 's existence: “"But there 's isn 't going to any Olympics in '44. That 's only a couple of years away. The war-" "Leave your fantasy life out of this. We 're grooming you for the Olympics, pal, in 1944." (Knowles 117).” Inside he is suffering with the hurt and anger of being denied from the one thing that he wants to do the most: fight in the war.They have to face adulthood, and in order to do that, they have to become adults. This is an excellent example of how the war suddenly makes the boys grow up into men.

Finny did a lot of risky things, that most people would not be able to pull off, but somehow he always manages to slip away with no punishment. Unknowingly, Finny went to a party, the headmaster was also attending it. As usual, Finny was out of dress code, wearing a neon shirt and their school tie as a belt. Somehow he talked himself out of trouble. Gene says “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little (Knowles 9).” Finny continued testing his luck, with skipping chapel and classes, and test, and meetings. In the article "A Separate Peace: The Fall from Innocence" James Ellis writes “Incapable of the spiritual purity of Phineas, Gene finds himself jealous of Finny's ability to flout Devon rules.” All of this grew on Gene and started to make him very jealous of something he did not have. Trying the ultimate dare, Finny decided to go to the beach, Gene says “The beach was hours away by bicycle, forbidden, completely out of all bounds. Going there risked expulsion (Knowles 20).” Finny went through with his plan and spent a night at the beach, and received no punishments or disciplinary actions. As Gene was struggling with his identity, he saw that Finny could do things he could not. All those things made Gene jealous and gave him something to focus on, other than solving his identity

Finny pushes Gene until he get’s what he wants. As soon as Gene begins to show discomfort, Finny quickly jumps in with teasing and almost forces Gene to jump. “ Come on’, drawled Finny from below ‘Stop standing there showing off.’ I recognized with automatic tenseness that the view was very impressive from here. ‘When they torpedo the troopship’ he shouted, ‘you can’t stand around admiring the view. Jump!’ What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?” (Knowles 10-11). Finny almost does have a sort of hold on Gene. Maybe it’s not a physical hold but emotionally, Finny is seemingly in control of Gene enough to be able to force him to do things that Gene himself things are stupid. Why would anyone go along with anything they think is stupid? Why would anyone put their own life in danger because someone else asked them to? It’s simple, Finny is a very manipulative boy who seemingly achieves what ever he sets his mind

Finny suggests that him and Gene should do a double jump, and right as they are about to jump, Gene bounces the limb and Finny falls. This is completely out of jealousy.

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

Gene contemplates his and Finny’s friendship many times in the book, but despite what Gene may have thought, Finny was a good friend to him. He always took Gene’s feelings into account, and through all that happened he had faith in Gene. But Gene never knew this,

Phineas, also known as Finny, is a boy who plays a lot of sports. Although Finny might not look like an athlete, ”Phineas had been the best athlete in the school” (Knowles 8) Finny also wants to join the military, which people need to be strong for. Athletes, like Finny, usually run the school. So naturally, Finny can get away

Gene’s trust towards Finny first subtly comes through after returning from Leper’s house. “I wanted to see Phineas, and only Phineas. With him there was no conflict except between athletes… This was the only conflict he had ever believed in.” (Knowles, 152)When Gene returns from Leper’s house, all he wants to do is see

When Gene is quick to realize that him and Finny will never be of the same power, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. Gene realizes that Finny is someone who can do anything and he states that “He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could be any rivalry between us. I was not the same quality as he” (59). Gene’s low self-esteem starts to build up as he explains that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be as good and powerful as Phineas. Finny has everything in his power and is capable of so many things also remaining his own person. However, Gene feels the complete opposite as he understands that to become someone as mighty as Finny, he has to change who he is to even get Finny to notice him as a threat. As a result of this unequal

He thinks Finny is trying to sabotage his studies so that he can be number one at that too! In reality, Finny is just trying to be a good friend. Gene is jealous of Finny’s athleticism, but he covers it up by the thought that all Finny wants to do is hurt him. In attempt to have some fun, Finny wants Gene and some other boys to jump from a tree limb into a river. This challenge is something that has never been done by a boy their age. After doing it once, Finny later convinces Gene to leave his studies and come do it again. While the boys are on the tree limb, Finny stumbles, falls into the river, and breaks his leg. Since Finny can no longer participate in any sporting events, he decides to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Gene eventually comes to the conclusion that “[Finny] had never been jealous of [him] for a second. Now [he] know[s] there was and never could have been any rivalry between [them]” (Knowles 78). Gene realizes that Finny wasn’t ever jealous of him, and that pushing Finny from the tree is a mistake that he will later regret. Finny dies after falling down the stairs and a failed surgery, so Gene begins to feel guilty for his actions. Gene had earlier decided to enlist in the war, and had told the other boys about it. After a lot of thinking, he eventually decides not to enlist in the war. Gene now begins to see the wrong doing he had participated in earlier,

The field shows how much more athletic Finny is than Gene which makes Gene jealous. Finny makes a game called blitzball and excels at the game and this makes Gene somewhat jealous. Gene notices how much better Finny is at sports than everyone else, and says,”Right From the start, it was clear that no one had ever been better adapted to a sport than Finny was to blitzball. (Knowles, page 40)” This brings a jealousy to Gene and he wants to be great at something that Finny is not so good at, so he begins to really focus on school. The field is important because it changes the relationship of Finny and Gene. Now Gene sees their friendship as a competition and thinks every little thing Finny does, is another one of his, “tricks”. Another example that shows Gene’s thinking is on spark notes. “Thus, Gene initially asserts that Finny resents him for his academic success. (Spark notes)” This statements made on spark notes shows how Gene always saw there friendship as a competition which all began from a game in a

Crafted by author John Knowles in the late 1950’s, A Separate Peace is a heart-wrenching Bildungsroman narrated by a pensive Gene Forrester as he reflects upon trials and tribulations at his alma-mater, the Devon Boarding School. In an attempt to process the tragic loss of his best friend and coping with his own responsibility in his friend’s death, Gene returns to the campus to confront his progressive loss of Finny in both his plummet from the tree by the river to his tumble down the marble staircase. At a glance, Finny and Gene’s relationship appears to be a story of tragedy as Gene must forever carry the loss of his very best friend, but as the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Gene and Finny’s relationship before Finny’s accident was far from being black-and-white. Diving deeper into the text, Gene reveals his true feelings about Finny that fluctuate from Finny being an object of obsession to being a source of resentment. As the story is told from Gene’s point of view, the reader is submerged into the realm of Gene’s odd fascinations with Finny and the manifestations of his feelings of hatred and idolization as he acts out in odd ways, such as mimicking Finny’s facial expressions and clothing and developing conspiracy theories in which Finny is planning Gene’s academic downfall. Gradually, the picture painted of the teenage Gene Forrester of A Separate Peace becomes more and more distorted as Gene’s sanity is called into question. His

Second, the injury puts Finny in the hospital, separating the two, which cause Gene to suffer depression. As Finny is badly wounded, he has to leave his boarding school, Devon, for a long period of time. He spends his time in the hospital, away from Gene. FurthermoreThis makes Gene regret his decision even more. Not only are Gene and Finny physically separated, but also emotionally separated. Essentially, Gene loses his

Throughout life, there is always a person who one strives to beat, be better than or rise above. Little does each of them know that in the end the two actually make each other stronger. In John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace (1959), he addresses just this. The novel, told from Gene Forrester's point of view, is based on a friendship and rivalry between him and his friend, Finny, during World War II. The two sixteen year olds attend Devon School, a private all boys' school, in New Hampshire. Finny, a very athletically talented youngster, continually but unintentionally causes Gene to feel inferior and insignificant, producing inevitable anger and jealousy inside Gene. During their

This shows how Finny moves in groups. He isn't just athletic; he is also very intelligent and is always at the top of his class.