Essay about John Knowles' A Separate Peace

Gene’s act of purposely causing Finny to fall out of the tree forces him to feel guilty and move on from his tendencies of jealousy and anger. After Finny’s fall, Gene discovers that Finny is so faithful as to not even accuse Gene of his actions. This causes Gene to begin to feel extreme guilt, thence

Some of the blame for Finny's death is the schools fault. The school allowed Finny and Gene to basically do whatever they want during the summer. One day during the summer they just went to the beach ¨the beach was hours away by bicycle, forbidden, completely

8. Who does Mr. Ludsbury call the “old boys”? boys who had been at summer session who should have known school rules – like Gene, Finny, Leper, etc.

Finny's death causes the greatest maturity growth in Gene's character. After Finny dies, he realized how his own hatred caused the death of his best friend. "He came to understand Finny's innocence and purity which causes Gene to see flaws within himself and forces him to grow up" (Alton 1). Being able to admit your own flaws is critical in maturing. When Gene finally sees his impact of immature behavior, he realizes how much he needs to mature. Even though Finny is physically gone, his spirit remains with Gene and essentially makes him the adult that he grows up to be. Finny's death is a crucial part of Gene's coming of age. When Finny dies, Gene's immature behaviors also die. Because Gene's hatred was gone, he entered war as a man.

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

Gene contemplates his and Finny’s friendship many times in the book, but despite what Gene may have thought, Finny was a good friend to him. He always took Gene’s feelings into account, and through all that happened he had faith in Gene. But Gene never knew this,

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

He thinks Finny is trying to sabotage his studies so that he can be number one at that too! In reality, Finny is just trying to be a good friend. Gene is jealous of Finny’s athleticism, but he covers it up by the thought that all Finny wants to do is hurt him. In attempt to have some fun, Finny wants Gene and some other boys to jump from a tree limb into a river. This challenge is something that has never been done by a boy their age. After doing it once, Finny later convinces Gene to leave his studies and come do it again. While the boys are on the tree limb, Finny stumbles, falls into the river, and breaks his leg. Since Finny can no longer participate in any sporting events, he decides to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Gene eventually comes to the conclusion that “[Finny] had never been jealous of [him] for a second. Now [he] know[s] there was and never could have been any rivalry between [them]” (Knowles 78). Gene realizes that Finny wasn’t ever jealous of him, and that pushing Finny from the tree is a mistake that he will later regret. Finny dies after falling down the stairs and a failed surgery, so Gene begins to feel guilty for his actions. Gene had earlier decided to enlist in the war, and had told the other boys about it. After a lot of thinking, he eventually decides not to enlist in the war. Gene now begins to see the wrong doing he had participated in earlier,

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.

Second, the injury puts Finny in the hospital, separating the two, which cause Gene to suffer depression. As Finny is badly wounded, he has to leave his boarding school, Devon, for a long period of time. He spends his time in the hospital, away from Gene. FurthermoreThis makes Gene regret his decision even more. Not only are Gene and Finny physically separated, but also emotionally separated. Essentially, Gene loses his

Brinker tries to cunningly change Finny’s view on his fall by asking him, “Have you ever thought that you didn’t just fall out of that tree?” (Knowles 169). Brinker wants Finny to remember that tragic day. He tries to break Finny’s cheerfulness by asking these testy questions. Brinker does not care that he tries to destroy the friendship between Gene and

Brinker now tries to prove that Gene is responsible for Finny breaking his leg. He calls both boys after school hours asking them for details of what happened that day. Finny’s perceptions of the incident remain blurred he cannot speak about the incident and Gene claims that he cannot remember specific details about it. They then bring is Leper who was seen earlier that day and he begins referring to Gene. Finny states that he does not care about the facts and runs out of the room. While running Finny then again falls down the stairs and breaks his leg once again. Gene later that night sneaks into the infirmary to see Finny, who angrily sends him away. The next morning Gene apologizes to Finny and takes the blame for everything and explains that nothing arises from hatred. Finny accepts Gene’s statements and the two are friends again. During surgery for Finny’s leg some blood marrow enters Finny’s bloodstream and kills him. Gene is not affected by Finny’s death as he feels as he has become a part of Finny. Gene reflects on the things that affect the human heart that only Finny’s curse was immune to. Thus the boy’s relationship becomes a model of codependency with each feeding off each

However the effects of Phineas’ disabled leg had him withdraw from school, sports and he was in no position to enlist in war. Though the teens parted away, it was only for so long. Phineas came back after Thanksgiving, and as roommates, they grew closer again. Phineas was surely in need of additional care,thus again created codependency. Afterwards Brinker Hadley, a mocking friend of Gene began to question Gene and his roome. Brinker found a man, Leper Lepellier who was present during the incident when Finny shattered his leg. Leper affirms what he saw “...up and down like a piston, and then the other one sank and fell” (Knowles 176). He declares that the sun was blazing directly into his eyesight that he could not detect who was who. Eventually, Finny halts the event from going any further; he was not able to incorporate everything. Overwhelmed, he vanished in a haste. “Finny falls down the stairs and breaks his leg again” (SparkNotes). He becomes handicapped in need of surgery. During this time Phineas confronts Gene about his speechless action. Gene speaks it was an ignorant blind impulse and explains it was not deliberately. “I believe you” (191), Finny pardons Gene. Surgery begins after Gene leaves the room and 5 hours later Gene comes back to visit, but ultimately Finny “... dies during the operation on his leg”. Thus in the assumption of his marrow going straight into his bloodstream, instantly

Finny's strong and solid character is again evident the night of the tree jumping in which he fell and broke his leg. Prior to the occurrence, Gene explodes when Finny automatically assumes Gene will be present at the Suicide Society tree "leap"(46). Finny's thinking that studies can just be abandoned at anytime infuriates Gene. Once Gene

Finny is out of school for a while and Gene admits that he caused this on purpose and Finny is distraught about