Jealousy In John Knowles A Separate Peace

In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the principle characters, Gene and Finny undergo their coming of age, as well they experience conflicts, that lead up to their adulthood and maturity. One of the difficulties Gene and Finny face is complying with rules, which they seem to have a challenging time and tend to rebel. As growing up one of the principal difficulties are rivalry, and conformity, however once dealt with it develops maturity. As, evident in the excerpt In this citation Gene declares Phineas as his rival, states that he was better than him until, he took it into his own manners and caused him to fall off the tree, therefore ruining his life by breaking his leg. This is a vital part in the development of maturity in Gene,

Resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, or against another's success or advantage itself. This is the definition of jealousy, and, for instance, it caused Gene to kill his best friend. Gene goes to a private school, Devon, during World War II and his best friend is his roommate, Finny. He did anything Finny wanted him to do and it could be said that he was jealous of Finny. An example is Gene went with Finny to the beach the day before a test he needed to study for and he ended up failing it.

The novel “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles is a story of friendship and conflict. John Knowles uses Gene’s envy to demonstrate that jealousy ruins friendships. This is shown multiple times, including fake friendships, internal conflict becoming physical, and all conflict resulting in the loss of trust of one another.

"Never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy. Never underestimate that.”- Oliver Stone

What kind of inner wars do you fight? Jealousy? Isolation? Everyone battles their own inner wars, including Gene from the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. This book is mainly about jealousy between two boys, Gene and Phineas (Finny), and poor decisions made by Gene which they regret. In this novel, Gene faces many inner wars, and one of them is jealousy. As you grow up, sometimes you make bad decisions, and learn new things from those experiences.

Carl Jung, the very first pioneer who discovered human collective unconsciousness, including archetypes, once said, “An archetype is something like an old watercourse along which the water of life flowed for a time, digging a deep channel for itself. The longer it flowed the deeper the channel, and the more likely it is that sooner or later the water will return.” An archetype is the universal patterns and behaviors that represent a typical human experience that is passed down from generations to generations, creating its originality. In “A Separate Peace”, John Knowles uses many archetypes to enrich the personality of his characters, especially Gene and Finny based on common human experiences. By embodying the archetypes of the Fall from Innocence, the Unhealable, and the Crossroads in “A Separate Peace,” John Knowles was successful in establishing the theme for the novel which implies that the guilt which is begotten from one’s deceitful actions would remain as an irrecoverable wound overtime.

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man.

Symbolism John Knowles uses the symbol of a tree in A Separate Peace to connect the valor one must have in order to join the war and the courage someone must own to jump off a life-threatening tree. The infamous Devon School tree mirrors a connection to war and what it brought. The tree reminded Gene of his past life and all the jealousy he wasted on Finny. Knowles states, “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river” (14).

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.

Henry David Thoreau once said that “nothing is so much to be feared as fear.” This quote suggests that the only thing we should be afraid of is fear itself. This message is found throughout the book “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles. Like many of the times it’s mentioned in the book, I believe that the only thing we should be afraid of is fear itself.

Twenty-two years, for twenty-two years my Dad lived in a drug-filled separate peace. I can conceptualize the stench of marijuana too well for a mere fourteen-year-old girl. Over half his life he was evasive of reality, expecting for his life to magically heal itself. In John Knowles’s, A Separate Peace, I see a similar trait in the main character, Gene. Gene claims that as Leper was talking about the war, he ran and, “left Leper telling his story into the wind (...) I didn’t care because it had nothing to do with me,” (151). Gene considers Leper’s recalling of the war a “story,” akin to folklore or a fairytale. By doing this, Gene is attempting to detach himself from the legitimacy of the war for personal benefit, and inadvertently hurting Leper.

Though it may sound like a myth, the green-eyed monster is as real as the person sitting next to you. Its prevalence is unsettling and so is its ability to make you feel pain unlike you’ve ever felt before. It is envy, raw and unavoidable; just like its counterpart, jealousy. These feelings are an everyday occurrence that everyone must cope with. It is the yearning for what someone else has that can shake us all to the core. Along with envy and jealousy come many physical, mental and emotional side effects. Relationships can become extremely strained and even fall apart under the sheer power of these emotions. How we understand ourselves can also become a very tainted vision. The main characters from John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Gene and Finny, are a great example of how envy and jealousy can affect our lives. Gene, Finny and everyday people show how envy and jealousy can negatively impact our relationships and distort our understanding of ourselves.

Human nature is notorious for its trait of jealousy. One may grow hostile when he desperately seeks another’s possession or talent. This statement is evident in the character of Gene from John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Throughout the story, he is jealous because his friend, Finny, has exceptional athletic ability. After one regretful action from Gene, Finny starts facing tough circumstances, eventually separating them. A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene demonstrates how envy can tear friendships apart.

A Separate Peace Final Paper The setting of A Separate Peace by John Knowles plays a large role in the plot of the story. The most important parts of the novel take place at the Devon School. Another thing that makes Devon so important is that it’s where the main characters live.

Some friendships last forever and others do not but in the novel, A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles, displays a different kind of friendship. The reader throughout this novel was very entertained. This novel takes place at the Devon Preparatory School in the years of 1942-1943.