Character Analysis Of A Separate Peace

Finny in this novel is a magnetic, charismatic character whom people cannot help liking, but he is also manipulative, immature, and self centered. He is not nearly as innocent as he seems. There are many moments of these and because it shows up more than once it proves that he is this. Finny is a likable character but as likable he is as manipulative and does things for his own self. Finny is immature which makes him seem innocent but as the book progresses further we can see he is not innocent at all he is really a self centered, manipulative kid.

The fictional novel, A Separate Peace was written by John Knowles describes the life at Devon School during WWII. The novel follows two young boys, Gene and Phineas, as they face hardships and struggles throughout their life at Devon during the war. The war dominated life at Devon by creating tough decisions, causing students to act upon a life altering decision, and essentially create a war among each other.

Gene was jealous of Finny throughout the whole book because Finny was more athletically inclined then him, and Finny was able to do basically whatever he wanted to.¨ 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¨(8). This lead Gene to want to be better than Finny, by being first in the class. One night while Gene was studying Finny interrupted him, as he wanted to go jump out of the tree. After a little argument Gene eventually went with Finny to the tree, but he was still kind of angry. This lead Finny to jounce the tree limb. ¨Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud¨(28). Because of this fall, Finny completely shattered his leg. He may have been able to walk again, but he would never play sports again. Because of Gene's jealousy toward Finny he decided to make a rash move, which cost his friend their

In the fiction novel, “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, there are plenty of characteristics exposed from the setting about the character Finny. How the setting of the novel helps reveal the character Finny is by the way he reacts towards his education, sports, and friends. He and a friend, Gene, go back fifth-teen years as if they were still at Devon High School, which is a boarding school for boys only.

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

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

Everyone makes mistakes. Some mistakes can end in a tragic way. In A Separate Peace, Finny made a mistake that ended in a terrible way. The author, John Knowles, uses details that paints a picture in the reader's mind. When an author uses details, it makes the book a lot more interesting. In the book, John Knowles makes a character, Finny, one of the most athletic but not athletic kids in the school.

Sometimes people read a text and do not go any further into the message inside. Howeverin the story A Separate Peace by John Knowles, The character of Finny represents innocence-aninnocence that is destroyed when it is forced to confront the hatred and evil in the real world.Finny is preserved by most as a picture of innocence because he acts like he has nothingto hide from anyone. The reader can infer this because, most of the teachers at Devon seem tothink of him this all good boy way. The reason the reader thinks this is because, they let the stuffthat Finny does, that is against the rules, slide and he does not get in any form of trouble.However when anyone else at Devon done these things they do not let them off as easy. Thisbeing because of the fact that Finny had a certain attitude towards life that made people not seethe bad in him.However later in the novel Finny falls from the tree and

Finny completely ignores the war going on all around him because since they won’t admit him in anywhere, he prefers to tell himself that it simply isn’t real instead of acknowledging his new handicap. Contrastingly, Gene remains aware of World War Two, and his point of view shows just how immature Phineas acts about it. When Finny complains about the absence of maids at the school, Gene sensibly replies by saying, “‘There’s a war on. It’s not much of a sacrifice, when you think of people starving and

Finny wouldn’t make a capable soldier due to his purity and innocence. In addition, Finny does not contain an ounce of malice inside of himself. He simply could not kill another human being. Throughout the course of the novel, all Finny ever wanted was fun, which for him was not found in winning or losing, but in playing. Finny’s main belief was “everyone always won at sports,” (page 27). However, war is based off winning and losing. You simply cannot have that mindset during a battle. Gene realizes, Finny lacks desire and comprehension, to do true evil. The closest Finny has ever gotten is in athletics, and even there he constantly switches teams to keep the “competition” going. ”You’d make a mess, a terrible mess, Finny, out of the war” (page 182). Even during a snowball fight Finny switches sides. According to Gene, Finny would not know what side to fight for.

Gene and Finny had started off great in the beginning of the novel. When Gene came to Devon, Finny and his fellow friends accepted him and took him under his wing. For instance, all the boys

When Phineas died, Gene was able to breakthrough and make decisions for himself, instead of succumbing to Finny’s peer pressure. In various places in the novel, Finny is convinced that World War II does not exist. He even persuaded Gene that it was just a hoax. Finny and Gene became so against the war that they refused to

“I did have this idea, this feeling that when you were standing there beside me… But you can’t say anything for sure from just feelings. And this feeling doesn’t make any sense. It was a crazy idea, I must have been delirious. So I just have to forget it. I just fell.” (66) The feeling that Finny had, was the slight thought of his best friend possibly being the reason behind his fall, makes him This shows that Finny is starting to feel guilty and sad as he couldn’t believe himself for thinking about something like that, just judging from his feelings. “I’m sorry about that feeling I had.” (66) This indicates that the loyalty in Finny is preventing him from knowing the truth of his friendship with Gene; which is that he was actually the one who caused him to fall. Adding on, the goodness and authenticity of Finny’s heart is prohibiting him from believing; let alone thinking about a small possibility that his best friend would do something like

This change is shown in “A Separate Peace” when the residing feelings of happiness fade to confusion and tragedy. As the summer session comes to an end, Finny falls from a tree and shatters his leg. Gene witnesses this and affirms “Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank…” (Knowles 52). This abnormal mistake in Finny’s behavior was caused by Gene’s recently developed feelings of resentment towards his friend. Gene thinks “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles 45). Gene purposely jounced the limb Finny was standing on due to his rash feelings of animosity. These feelings are conveniently aligned with the season shift by the author to add character development and change, as well as symbolism and depth in his writing. Gene’s shift from a trusting, willing friend to a skeptical, apprehensive enemy shows how the season of fall changes the characters in this novel. In final analysis, autumn brings about a negative change in the boy's psyche and forces them to face unpleasant realities and come to terms with their friendship.

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.