Compassion Of Phineas In John Knowles A Separate Peace

Are people born with a complete quandary when it comes to compassion or is it something that has always been there? Barbara Lazear Ascher, born in 1946, writes, “On Compassion.” Having lived in New York City, Ascher is able to take first hand examples from the city to show the affection people have towards each other. Ascher is able to illustrate that compassion is something that has to be taught because of the adversity at people’s heels by including tone, persuasive appeals, and the mode of comparing and contrast in her essay, “On Compassion.”

Friendship is one of the most important relationships that people form in all of their lives. Children build bonds when they are young and use those skills to continue fulfilling friendships for the rest of their lives. Throughout A Separate Peace, John Knowles displays the good things about close friendships but also the hardships that often occur. Gene and Finny are two boys that attend Devon school. Which is a school that closely reflects the one that Knowles attended while he was growing up. Both Gene and Finny emotionally grow despite their opposite personalities, and they go through several situations that force them to consider the value of their friendship. Through their time at the school, Knowles reveals Gene’s and Finny’s

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.

Compassion has little to no boundries. In almost every great story there is a specific character or a group of characters that help the protagonist because they feel bad for them. Compassion is the most important aspect of a functioning society; therefore, Elie Wiesel’s Night, 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose, and the generosity of spirit shown by the average citizen after the recent shooting in Las Vegas are all perfect examples.

As time has progressed, people have long debated the inner virtues and vices of humanity. In John Knowles’s novel, A Separate Peace, the raw reality of human imperfection is explained through the main characters, Finny and Gene. Finny and Gene’s personal character flaws represent various dynamic aspects of human nature as a whole; showing that they are flawed characters in a flawed world. Finny’s denial and Gene’s self-hatred and envy symbolize the same pitfalls of human character that so many in reality struggle with.

The quote that is stated above is a crucial part in the novel A Separate Peace. The situation that it was used in is a very important scene to the book, as we find out how Gene feels about Phineas and their friendship. This scene also explains the things that have happened previously in the book and how Phineas really felt about them. These words show that friendship truly prevails over anything, including sorrow, times of pain, and the impulsive act of jealousy.

Friendship isn’t always pure and jealousy sometimes takes over. A Separate Peace by John Knowles proves this statement because it’s a story about a pair of friends trying to make it through the early years of world war ii. Gene and Finny are these friends and each one has their own problems, whether it’s being crippled or ravenous jealousy. This makes it hard for them to have a friendship throughout the book. This character analysis will explain what Gene represents as a character.

In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace, the unhealthy, deceitful, relationships of the boys at Devon caused them to collectively destroy one another, ranging from Leper’s enlistment into the military and mental demise, to Finny’s broken leg and eventual death. The boys were pressured to maintain a sort of friendship that desired honesty and companionship, but reaped dishonesty and competition. The schoolboys’ dependence upon each other for thrills and life quickly went from innocent to controlling as the stress from home, their life, and the war weighed in upon them, resulting in the boys’ relationships being ruled by fear and false expectations.

In the book A Separate Peace, the narrator, Gene, recalls of his friendship he shared with Phineas at Devon. In the beginning, Phineas and Gene are portrayed as this complimentary companionship in which both sides helped the other. But as this connection progresses, this sense of jealousy and resentment floods through Gene in a moment of anger. Throughout the book there are many places in which their friendship collapses, and in all of these places, it is shown how people, when faced with envy,act irrationally and often cause resentment and bitterness.

Throughout A Separate Peace, Gene’s desire to assimilate into his friend, Phineas, is expressed many times. It is hard to tell whether it is out of jealousy, hatred, or envy, but this desire to become Phineas seems to become Gene’s top priority. At Devon, Gene is constantly comparing himself to Phineas and finds himself feeling envious of Phineas due to his athleticism, friendliness, and ability to always get his way. Gene feels as though Finny is superior and becomes jealous of Finny. For these reasons, Gene tries to be more like Phineas by completely absorbing himself into Phineas’ personality. John Knowles portrays Finny as Christ-like, and displays many parallels between the Garden of Eden and other important stories and events that shape

Someone once said “Humans, how tragically destructive we are.” As humans we all have our instincts, and these will subconsciously affect our daily decisions. Very seldom do we realize the decisions we make could change our lives forever in an instant, and it may come back and affect us later. A Separate Peace written by John Kolwes is thought to be about friendship but when looking at the two main character's true personality and motivation it can also show the true human nature of people. The story gives the ensite of Gene Forrester and showed how his natural thought process is what will bring his whole world tumbling down around him. These characters Gene and Phineas may be seen as complete opposites but truly they are extremely similar.

The old man is made fun of and called unlucky by all the other fisherman. He faces many challenges in the book and is put down and discouraged by many people and has no positive input coming toward him. Santiago has many years of experience with fishing and you can tell it by how he reacts throughout the book. The old man seems to be religious in some way because he is saying prayers but it also seems like he isn’t at the same time.

In adolescence, most of us eventually let go of some or most of the innocence we have. A rosy outlook on life is normally reserved for childhood, yet it is what defines Phineas’ character in the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. It defines him, even as a teenager, in his high school years at Devon, an elite boarding school. Furthermore, his innocence defines his relationships with others, particularly his friend and roommate, Gene. Finny wanted the world to be black and white, and to see the very best in people, despite the complications he saw in life. It was a vital part of who he was and the legacy that he left behind. Finny was a purist at heart, and disliked any form of conflict, and both of these qualities caused miscommunication

John Knowles’ A Separate Peace introduces to readers an extremely interesting character: Phineas. The narrator, Gene, never tells us his last name, and refers to him as merely Phineas or Finny. This simple name refers to a simple yet beautiful person, whose one-of-a-kind personality speaks for itself. His spontaneous style of play attracts his fellow peers around him, and his humorous honesty charms the Devon teachers. Phineas’ florescent personality very much sets him apart from ¬¬the other characters in the book, and his unified nature stands out to all.

Throughout the book, we see that Phineas is an athletic boy who isn’t that much into school, and we see that Gene is the opposite of Phineas, and somehow, they are best friends. Their relationship is an example of opposites attract. Phineas is very athletic, humble, kind, and confident. Gene is more of an introvert who is not good at sports, and has no communication skills. Throughout the book, we see Gene’s admiration and jealousy for Phineas is huge, and sometimes gets out of hand. Gene finds out if he wants to find out his individual identity, he has to destroy Phineas. Because of the accident, A Separate Peace tells us that when people try to find their true identity, they create enemies who are really true friends.