Character Analysis Of Phineas In John Knowles A Separate Peace

In the book A Separate Peace, kindness and compassion are viewed as weaknesses. It shows how only true men go to war and handle the truth, while those who can not survive, will not survive. In it, Phineas, a student at the Devon School, is good friends with a boy named Gene. Phineas is full of life, and he always sees the best in everyone. He makes up games, sports, and holidays, and he is known for being very fun to be around. He effortlessly and openly showed compassion and love to the “true men” that were surrounding him, even though he was the only one. “... you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal.’ He hesitated then added, ‘which is what you are,’ and there was silence on his dune. It was a courageous thing to say. Exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide. I should have told him then that he was my best friend also and rounded off what he had said. I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth” (Knowles 48). Phinny risked everything to show Gene compassion. He risked his manliness, and he risked his place on the social ladder at Devon School. Not only did Phinny tell Gene that he was his best friend, but he wasn’t perturbed when Gene didn’t reply to him.

In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the protagonist Gene Forrester constantly battles within himself to find the true emotion towards his friend Phineas and to find out who he really is. Gene and Phineas formed an illusion of companionship, but there was always a silent rivalry between them in Gene’s mind. In the beginning, Gene thought his feeling towards Phineas was completely normal and it will go away in time. However, as the time went on and Gene matured he found out that his feeling was much more than little jealousy but it has turned into hate. Gene Forrester develops into a mature adult when he finally accepts his feeling and faces reality.

Is competition allowed in a friendship? Or should two friends be just friends or just rivals. According to many studies, competition is healthy for a friendship. It allows for a group of friends to push each other and get better. But what if there was a friend who took the competition to heart and viewed the friendship more like a rivalry? In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, the protagonist, Gene Forrester, and his best friend, Finny, grow from a great friendship to a full out rivalry. Can a friendship be a rivalry?

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 implies Phineas is naive through the implementation of dialogue. Phineas confesses to Gene that “[he] hope[s] [Gene is] having a pretty good time here… you can’t come by yourself, and at this teenage-period in life the proper person is your best pal” (48). The boys live in a masculine society, which places an emphasis on strength. To expose one’s feelings to someone else is considered “social suicide.” Therefore, Gene takes advantage of Phineas’ naiveté by not responding to his declaration of friendship. Phineas also asserts that “when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love” (111). Phineas’ philosophy centers around a world of youth of peace; he always attempts to find the best in everyone. This naive attitude contrasts with the cruel nature of the world, where wars and competitions are common occurrences. At Gene’s trial for Phineas’ fall, Phineas asks Gene if “[he] was down at the bottom” (170) in a concerned, friendly tone. Phineas fears of Gene’s betrayal; he cannot believe that his friend would have the urge to push him out the tree. In order to protect his high opinion of Gene, he alters the past in his mind to avoid facing the truth. This emphasizes his naiveté as the true events do not align with what Phineas made up in his mind. At the hospital after Phineas’s second fall, following the trial, Gene explains to Phineas that he would "get things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more” and that “[he would] make a mess, a terrible mess...out of the war'" (191). Phineas’ world does not hold any fights or enmity. His good character is unrealistic in this world. Consequently, the war would drive him to madness.

Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene’s relationship with Phineas is constantly being questioned. One second they’re the best of friends, whereas the next moment they’re enemies. “It made Finny seem too unusual for not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. Gene’s confused with Phineas

Likewise, in A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses Phineas and his experience at the Devon School to show that one must lose innocence and acknowledge this loss to reach maturity. At the beginning of the novel, Phineas, a graceful, energetic athlete and speaker, truly cherishes and trusts his friends and the world beyond them with his loyalty and love, and he maintains an extremely optimistic worldview. In fact, his playfull life consists mostly of games. One of these games, which he introduces to Gene, his best friend, and the rest of

In A Separate peace does Gene truly envy his friend Phineas? Well John Knowles the author of A Separate peace sets the story at a private school named Devon. Here Gene is introduced as the main character, who happens to be a conformist who, more often than not, envy’s his friend Phineas. In A separate peace it shows how Genes envy over Finny turns him against him, which ruins their relationship, making Gene lack any sort of peace in the end.

The novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, follows the life of a young Gene Forrester and his friend Phineas. The boys’ antics get them into numerous rigorous and life-threatening situations and furthermore let them learn about each other's true nature. A Separate Peace’s plot can easily be compared to the Shakespearian quote; “Never waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run.”. This mere sentence can easily summarise the jealousy that Gene holds towards his friend. Gene’s jealousy is mostly for Phineas’s impeccable ability to get away with his risky stunts without punishment while still remaining completely humble. In the end, Gene’s jealousy of Phineas dilutes his view of him as a person and companion. Gene believes Phineas to be a conniving manipulator when in reality, he was genuinely a down to earth boy. Throughout the novel, copious relations to the quote are littered among the text and ultimately carry the story from start to finish.

In the novel A Separate Peace, the two main characters, Phineas and Gene, are very different. Gene, a sarcastic 16 year-old from Georgia, must work hard for everything he does such as academics and athletics. He envies Phineas’s athletic ability because all sports come naturally to him. Gene is a rule follower and tends to back out of things. He isn’t very trustworthy and tends to be very envious of other students such as Finny. He has a terrible temper and no self-control. He is a solid student who succeeds because of his discipline, obedience and traditional thinking. While he isn’t a straight A student he is still running for valedictorian. He loves the satisfaction of the grades but isn’t excited to learn. Gene is also a pretty good athlete

Every good story has one character that contrasts from the mood of the entire story. Within the story A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Phineas was an optimistic, fearless, and humble student at the Devon School. Phineas, with Finny being his more commonly used nickname, tried to be a positive influence to those around him all throughout the book. He constantly supported himself and Gene, his friend, even if Gene did not return the favor. In addition, he was involved in many adventures and always thought of new ideas to enlighten the bleak mood of the school. To summarize, Finny genuinely was an amazing character, even his closest friend was secretly jealous of him.

Loss of innocence was addressed in both novels in similar ways. When Phineas exhibited confusion at Gene’s studying habits, Gene felt like his “brain exploded, he minded, despised the possibility that I might be head of the school” (Knowles 45). In both works of literature, a sudden realization triggered a loss of innocence and change in attitude. In this case, when Gene “found out” that Phineas minded that he could be the top of their class, he interpreted it as Phineas being envious and wanting him to fail. Gene thinking that Phineas wants him to fail completely changed the dynamic of their relationship and Gene’s naive thoughts of him and Phineas having a healthy friendship. Comparably, when Brinker confronted Phineas and Gene about the tree incident, “the words shocked Phineas into awareness” (Knowles 167). When Phineas realized the true reason behind his injury, Phineas’s character, specifically in the way he acted towards Gene, was affected. Phineas had spent the majority of the novel in denial of Gene’s crimes and when he found out he came to the realization that not everyone was on his side. With this comes his loss of naivety and his undying love for life were compromised. Similarly in To Kill A Mockingbird, when Jem found out the true views of Maycomb it was, “Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears...it ain’t fair” (Lee 243). Similar to the previous two examples Jem was a young boy who after hearing the verdict of the trial, comes to the realization of the true working of Maycomb. After seeing

In “a Separate Peace”, Gene made one selfish decision that ruined Phineas's (or Finny) life as he knew it. The day Finny fell off the limb of the tree was Gene's fault. Finny had been great at sports, so Gene was motivated to be good at his academics and out do Finny at their school. When Finny had Gene come with him that day to jump out of the tree, Gene thought Finny was trying to take away time from his studies. He jostled the limb which made Finny fall and just happened to break his leg on the fall down; not allowing him to play sports ever again. This decision Gene made costed finny his life. Near the end of the book one of their classmates, Brinker, called a meeting to find the truth about what happened on the tree. Finny ran out because

Gene Forrester, the main character of A Separate Peace, tells a story of when he was in school. This story takes place during the time pf World War II. Gene is a well-minded boy who, at times, lets jealousy take over. If this book was narrated by Phineas, or Finny, it would have a happier nature to it. Gene is a smart, kind boy who thinks deeply into the problems of the world at the time. Finny, who is almost the complete opposite, sees conflict as he wants to view it. They are very similar in some ways as they share the same interests as the other.

“A Separate Peace” is more than just a book about war and stressful times. It is about maturation; in the case of Gene and Phineas, this couldn’t be truer. The two best friends who attend Devon Boarding School have to deal with a stressful time in their lives, growing up and having responsibilities, and the looming idea that draft age is not far. Throughout the book, the two go through a chain of events leading to loss of innocence, building up anger and stress, and eventually: accepting the reality of the situation. Their lives, dreams and ideals won’t be same afterwords.