Analysis Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

The boys at the Devon school, in the novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, are World War II influenced by making them mature and grow up more quickly than they would have had there not been a war. The war makes some boys stronger and more ready for whatever life would bring, while in others it disables them to the point that they cannot handle the demands of life. This novel shows a “coming-of age” story, especially with three boys. Gene starts out as a naïve and sensitive person but matures into a person more knowledgeable and capable of handling the challenges of life through his crisis experiences with of course, Phineas, Leper and, Brinker.

As Gene and Phineas begin to establish a close friendship, Gene secretly develops a strong sense of jealousy towards Phineas, which leads to a life-changing incident. Fear of the unknown and those who are different is part of human nature. Gene and Phineas are complete opposites; one is a serious scholar, while the other is an athletically talented individual with a free, unbalanced spirit. When Gene notices that he is beginning to lose his identity to Phineas, he decides that he must get rid of that part of him by pushing Phineas out of a tree, leaving Phineas with a broken leg. Right before the incident, Gene and Phineas get into a small altercation, which causes Gene to realize Phineas’ innocence. Gene states that “[Phineas] had never been jealous of me for a second [...] there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the

I think that when Gene lies about claiming to be taller than Finny (p.16) is when he begins to feel a small amount of envy. In fact, later on page 18, Gene talks about the way Finny walks gracefully with each step. Furthermore, Gene talks about how Devon has never had a student who combined a calm ignorance for the rules with an urge to be good and who seemed to love the school truly and deeply. This, to me, shows how Finny gets out of trouble easily, besides being charismatic, a gifted athlete, etc. For instance on page 25, Gene states,“I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” He says that when Finny decides to wear pink to celebrate the first bombing and then later reveals his tie being worn as a belt to further push the discussion at afternoon tea. Despite Gene stating that there is nothing wrong with a little envy, he then says, “This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that” following the ‘belt-tie’ reveal. Soon after Finny, unsurprisingly, gets away with it again, and Gene says that he felt a stab of disappointment. However, Gene thinks to himself that Finny is a extraordinary person for being able to get away with everything and how he is glad to be his friend. Yet,

At the start, Gene is instantly jealousy of Finny, creating a fake friendship that is fueled by competition. This is shown when he wants to do something so he is good at, so he “was becoming the best student in the school: Phineas was without question the best athlete, so in that way we were even” (Knowles 55). This proves that their friendship is fueled by competition because it shows that Gene always wants to be even. This

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him in many ways. Gene begins to lose his identity and start conforming to Finny. According to Knowles, “If I was head of the class and won that prize then we would be even…” (27). This quote explains how Gene follows finny by trying to be head of the class with him. Gene gets jealous of Finny being head of the class, so he tells him if he was head they would be even. When Finny introduce jumping off the tree to Gene at first he didn’t want to do it, but he wanted to be like Finny so he did it. In Knowles words, “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? (5).

To begin, Gene Forrester, an intelligent boy, and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, face mental and physical changes in their lives due to the looming war. Gene and Finny are pals and roommates, but once the root of jealousy springs in Gene’s heart, he begins to believe that Finny is out to sabotage his grades. Therefore, Gene, in a moment of blindness, pushes Finny out of a tree shattering his leg and leaving him injured for life. For Gene, World War II is a backdrop for the guilt he faces over Finny’s

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.

In chapter 11 of A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene is back from Leper’s and wants to see Finny. Gene sees that Finny is in a snowball fight and Gene joins in when Finny hits him with a snowball. Later that night Brinker asks about Leper, Gene decided to tell both Finny and Gene that Leper has gone crazy. Finny admits that there really is war going on if Leper is so affected by it that he has gone crazy. At 10:05 pm that night Brinker and some others want to take Finny and Gene somewhere. They are both confused since it is after hours. Brinker takes them to the Assembly Room where he has taken it upon himself to investigate what really happened in that tree the day of Finny’s accident. Finny and Gene do not want to be in this situation

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

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

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles carries the theme of the inevitable loss of innocence throughout the entire novel. Several characters in the novel sustain both positive and negative changes, resulting from the change of the peaceful summer sessions at Devon to the reality of World War II. While some characters embrace their development through their loss of innocence, others are at war with themselves trying to preserve that innocence.

Gene was attempting to be top of his class academically, but he was continuously being distracted by Finny. Oneday Gene decided to ask Finny if he would be upset if Gene was top of their class. Finny responded by saying, “‘I’d kill myself out of jealous envy’” (Knowles 52). Although Phineas said that in a joking manner, it is clearly that he really would be jealous if Gene was top of their class. Finny loved to be first, and he didn’t like when people threatened his position. After pondering on Finny’s comment, Gene realized, that he may have, “deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies” (Knowles 53). Finny clearly had extreme envy of Gene for better academically. It is unhealthy for friends to be jealous of each other, especially when taken to that extreme. Finny was being unsupportive and selfish, just so that he could be better than Gene.

Who does not remember their school days? The good times, the bad times and all the memories. John Knowles wrote an inspiring novel that shows all that can happen when life is at its worst. In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene grows up and sees how hard life can be. The novel is a bildungsroman because it is a book about a person coming of age or growing up. A Separate Peace is a bildungsroman because when Gene returns to his school as an adult he remembers all the good times he had, the heartbreak he experienced, and he sees the school differently, .

Initially, Gene and Finny begin as best friends. Although, Gene’s insecurities manifest into jealously and envy toward Finny as he begins to view Finny as more of a rival than a friend. In the novel, Gene says, “Finny has deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 53). Gene misinterprets Finny’s motivations and feelings towards him. Gene develops envy over a big misunderstanding. This leads to later events in the book. Eventually, Gene decides to purposely make Finny fall from the tree. Also, his imitation helped their friendship, because it gave the allusion that he and his friend have common interests. For example it states in an article, “Initially Gene emulates Phineas: he joins him in climbing the tree and jumping into the river, being late for dinner, and taking a forbidden trip to the beach” (Alton). Gene follows a lot of what Finny does, which strengthens their friendship. Although he knows of the consequences, Gene still follows Finny. They seem to be the perfect best friends. Gene’s envy and imitation ultimately takes a turn for the

In the novel, “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, the seasons develop actions and characters in the story. The story takes place at an all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II based off of the author’s previous experiences at a boarding school. The two main characters, Finny and Gene, experience character development alongside different seasons. In written works, seasons are commonly used to symbolically represent a change in the character’s personalities. The nature or setting of the story is used to specifically evolve Finny and Gene in seasons such as the summer, autumn, and winter. Each season change also generates an entirely different mood.