A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

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

There is an unspoken contract between Finny and Gene that they both know about, and that contract is that Gene has to do anything to help Finny because Finny can’t do the things that he normally does anymore. Finny is taking this contract as a way to live through Gene, whatever he can’t do anymore that he wants to do he makes Gene do it. Finny says,“Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,” and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas”(85). This conversation forms a pattern for their relationship after the impulse makes Gene jounce the branch. Their new relationship works in a way which Gene allows Finny to live through him by becoming apart of Finny and by letting Finny train him to be the athlete that Finny can no longer be. Even though Finny is living through Gene, Gene is also living through Finny. Gene’s words in this quote suggest, to experience life by living through Finny is to be able to gain a sense of purpose, and Gene likes this idea because he doesn't know what his purpose in life is yet. When Finny trains Gene for his fantasy of going to the 1944 Olympics,their friendship develops as a codependency. This codependency fills Finny’s need to live out his dreams and Gene’s desire to find himself and what his purpose is. By Gene becoming apart of

Genes understanding of the world causes him to view things differently than others. Gene was only 17 and he didn't really understand the reality of what is going on. Gene’s short worldly experience causes him to be very naive and states“I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone”. Gene doesn't see the true purpose of Finny’s actions and is constantly being biased towards Finny. Finny had created a very aggressive and painful game called Blitzball. When the game first started Finny elected Gene to be the victim of the game, through the game only Gene has had the ball which

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affected him. Gene became paranoid and assumed Finny was out to get him. The author states, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 53). Gene took Finny’s act of kindness and made it seem like something negative. Gene thinks Phineas is purposely trying to mess his grades up by distracting him. Gene’s personality changed, making him harm others. The book reads, “Then my knees bent and I jounced the limb.”

However, Phineas contradicts Gene’s idea and clarifies Gene’s conflict as a misinterpretation when he states, “I didn’t know you needed to study… I just thought it came to you” (58). Phineas reveals his own perception in juxtaposition to Gene’s. Phineas’ sincere statement puts to rest Gene’s postulation about the intentions of Phineas.

After Finny tells Gene that Gene will play sports instead of him, Gene experiences a “soaring sense of freedom” that reveals, to him, that “this must have been [his] purpose from the first”(86). Gene is happy to do sports for Finny, since Phineas’s athleticism is now gone. This shows both boys think they are the same, as they are clearly happy to be in the other’s control, describing it as freedom. While the reader has seen Gene’s codependence towards Finny, the reader has not seen vice versa. Even though Finny realizes that Gene is the one that caused his fall from the tree, Gene can “hardly believe it”, when Finny indirectly shows that “he needed [him]”(108). This reveals how Finny also is codependent of Gene, conveying how Gene is astonished to see that Finny still wants his companionship even after the wrongs Gene has committed. As a result, this evinces how Gene realizes his mistakes, showing the dynamic nature of

He lets Finny have a life through him, effectively conforming himself to become a part of him by agreeing to have Finny train him and help him become an athlete, something that Finny cannot be anymore because of his injury. “‘Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas (85).” This quote, capturing Gene’s new perspective on the post-incident relationship he has with his friend, indicates that inversely, and somewhat as a result, Gene also lives through Finny now; he feels that living life through him was what was meant to be and who he was meant to be. Gene essentially acquires a previously nonexistent sense of self and identity through Finny as Finny attempts to fulfill his own dreams of being a star athlete through Gene, and it is this codependency that provides a deluding sense of protection from the real situations for both of them. Furthermore, as fate may have it, Finny breaks his leg again, this time dying due to the operation going wrong; Gene “did not cry then or ever about Finny. [He] could not escape the feeling that [it was his] own funeral, and you do not cry in that case (194).” This once and for all solidifies the motif of Gene living his life as Finny

To elaborate, Finny falls and injures his leg again, trying to run away on the stairs after facing the truth behind the events occuring at the tree. When he does not aid Finny after his second injury, Gene believes, “My aid alone had never seemed to him in the category of help. The reason for this occured to me…; Phineas had thought of me as an extension of himself,” (180) and jokes to himself to avoid pain, “There couldn’t be such a thing as the old Harvard try. Could there be the old Devon try? The old Devon endeavor? The decrepit Devon endeavor?...That was pretty funny. I bet I could get a rise out of Finny with…” (182). Even though Gene causes Finny to run and fall on the stairs, he does not truly understand the pain Finny feels and instead finds comfort in the belief that Finny feels the same way about Gene. His inner monologue trying to create jokes out of the situation represents the realization of a broken friendship and the feeling of pain while facing the truth of his ignorance. After repeatedly stating, “the old Devon endeavor,” Gene begins to believe in the attempt of achieving a goal, which he believes is being Phineas. Because Gene tells himself he is an extension of Finny, he tries to avoid the truth that Gene, instead, finds his identity by copying Finny. Moreover, Finny does not rely on Gene

             Gene also realizes that wars-both the wars at Devon, such as between him and his imaginary rival, and the other wars, such as World War II, are caused "by something ignorant in the human heart." Gene feels "only Phineas was never afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. Other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere."

We as people get easily carried away in emotions and it drives us to do things we never thought we were capable of. When things do occur it’s hard for us to even want to comprehend that the people we love and trust would do such things harm us, because of that we get tangled up in deception and false truths in order to obtain a peace of mind. This emotion, this feeling was brought about in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the story took place back in the early 1940’s during World War II in a flashback. I believe this novel brought up many worthy questions of troubles in life and relationships but I think the main one that the whole novel is surrounded by is: What are you willing to do and believe in order to keep the people you love?

Then, Knowles uses the death of Phineas to describe a funereal environment and an aloofness created inside of Gene. “He was incomprehensible. I felt an extremely cold chill along my back and neck, that was all… I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case” (185-186). In the last quote, Gene appeared to be quite intolerant to the fact that Finny

Where there is perfection, blunder is just as likely to occur. Gene and Finny have a bizarre reliance on eachother. Knowles makes it very clear their seemingly unbreakable bond. It is now understood the main theme of the book, their friendship. We begin to see and understand the conflicting personalities. Gene is the pure brains and reasoning with little to no athletic skill, as Phineas is the sports star, without a care in the world. Immediately we identify the conflict as Gene’s jealousy. Gene envies Finny’s charisma and abilities different from his own. Gene’s paranoid personality attempts to defend himself for his unreasonable anger and even creates a fabricated hatred of himself by Finny to justify his feelings,

He believes this relationship is so strong that he is, indeed, “...Phineas to the life” (62). Before Gene’s visit to Finny, he is consumed by the guilt of subconsciously pushing his friend out of the tree and obeys an uncanny urge to dress like Finny. Gene sees the resemblance of Finny in himself. He not only sees himself in the mirror, but he also sees what he would like to become; which is a charismatic, charming, funny, and kind person. Gene continually shows his jealousy, which is due to his “ant” like feelings.

BP 1: In the beginning of the novel the present Gene is a fully matured ma, looking back on an incident in his past ;when he was sixteen years old. A key detail of immaturity iin the protagonist, Gene, is his envy toward his friend Phineas.. Gene 's jealousy leads him to the point where he wants to destroy Phineas ' greatest asset, his strong skill in sports. During the first jump off the tree Gene loses his balance and almost got severely injured but Finny held Gene so that he would not fall down. This shows how Finny perceives Gene as a friend and is willing to risk his life for him. During the other jump Gene Jounces the limb and when finny loses his balance and reaches out for Gene 's helping hand; yet Gene ignores it and allows Finny to fall down and shatter his leg. Another detail of Gene 's immaturityis on page sixtyfive, when Finny told Gene that he tried to grab hold of him to save himself then Gene responded byu saying " 'To drag me

One must adapt to their surroundings by using the skills and knowledge acquired from their experiences because life is survival of the fittest. As an individual ages, they gain skills and wisdom through their experiences, accomplishments, mistakes, and observant of their surroundings. Many people, including Phineas, believe that “ignorance is bliss”. In John Knowles’s A Separate Peace, the author characterizes Phineas as a charismatic, yet naive individual. In this novel, Phineas forces himself to stay ignorant and to remain innocent and carefree. He denies Gene’s involvement in his accident and refuses to acknowledge Gene’s confession. He also goes through stages of denial and anger before accepting Gene’s responsibility. In the end, Phineas