Masculinity In John Knowles A Separate Peace

In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the boys at Devon have an eager desire to be better than the rest. Gene is jealous of Finny and his jealousy is increased due to Finny’s athletic abilities. The symbol of sports that constantly occurs in the novel signifies how being envious and competitive in a friendship, as Gene’s and Finny’s is, can bring out the worst in people and drive them to have negative mindsets.

| Gene strives to be either better or equal to Finny. He has the smarts, and Phineas has the athletics. Again, he is not being a good friend by comparing themselves with each other.

With each scenario, it is shown that most of the time Gene’s enemies are only in his head- not many are in a battle to reign supreme as he is. The war put together with these power struggles allows for such a well done piece, for the reader learns that even in times where others are in battle one does not have to be anchored against someone. Phineas and Gene’s relationship is also instrumental in delivering this message because the reader can witness Phineas, with his free and peaceful ways and realize that Gene does not have to be on the defense and seek power all of the time. Phineas is a unique contrast to Gene that helps Knowles prove his point. Just as in the book, life shows us that this urge to beat an “enemy” is unnecessary and can often have consequences like the ones Gene experienced. It is crucial to recognize the reigning powers in life and not let them take over and cause one to find evil in everyone- Knowles displays this perfectly with Gene and his

Competition and rivalry have the ability to make people shine and accomplish things they never thought possible, and the ability to bring a person’s dark side and get them to do terrible things. Phineas and Gene’s friendship is viewed very differently by each of them. Where Phineas sees Gene as his best friend Gene sees Phineas as a competitor. Gene sees him as someone trying to keep him from being successful in school. This warped view of their relationship is the cause of many of the eventual problems of the novel and arguably the death of Phineas.

This concept is further explored in “Jasper Jones” by Craig Silvey via the characterisation of Charlie Bucktin, the main protagonist. For Charlie, hypermasculinity was an idealism. Something to be desired in a man. And at least for someone like him, timid and effeminate -belonging more to the femininity archetypes of masculinity-, it served as a life goal. The reason he is depicted as so, is due to his cautious personality and reserved character traits. For example, Charlie described his sandals as “scrubbed clean and perfectly aligned”. Stereotypically, “real” men are associated with labour and dirt, never caring much about hygiene and yet Charlie’s sandals, clean and aligned, seem to contradict those masculine traits entirely, suggesting

Throughout Jasper Jones the boys use the word “queer” to playfully insult each other and the narrative is constrained by heteronormative ideas and discourses. Discuss how masculinity is constructed throughout the novel. In particular, how does Charlie relate to the conventional masculine values of Corrigan?

    The novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is the coming of age story of Gene Forrester. This novel is a flashback to the year 1943, when Gene is attending Devon School during his senior year and the summer before it. "Gene's youth and inexperience make him ill-equipped to deal with situations that require maturity" (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). However, Gene is a follower of Finny and therefore gains experiences that provoke his development into adulthood. Some of these experiences include: breaking Finny's leg, training for the 1944 Olympics, and killing Finny. Through these three experiences Gene is forced to grow out of his childish-self and become a man.

After the realization of the person he truly is Gene confronts with his problems, faces reality, and deals with the future. He learns a lot about life and relationships when he finds about his true self. He learns that he must truly express his feelings and communicate instead of keeping all the feelings inside as he had always done with Phineas. Also he learns to listen to himself not others around him if he wants a true advice. After a while, he faced reality and acknowledged the fact that he was not as great was Phineas but they were two different individuals and they were unique in different ways. Gene accepted the guilt for Phineas’ difficulties after his accident and decided he must he must help him as a punishment and act of repentance for what his deed. He does this by giving part of himself to Phineas as we see with the case of the sports

Gene’s trust towards Finny first subtly comes through after returning from Leper’s house. “I wanted to see Phineas, and only Phineas. With him there was no conflict except between athletes… This was the only conflict he had ever believed in.” (Knowles, 152)When Gene returns from Leper’s house, all he wants to do is see

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.

John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, reveals the many dangers and hardships of adolescence. The main characters, Gene, and Finny, spend their summer together at a boarding school called Devon. The two boys, do everything together, until Gene, the main character, develops a resentful hatred toward his friend Finny. Gene becomes extremely jealous and envious of Finny, which fuels this resentment, and eventually turns deadly. Knowles presents a look at the darker side of adolescence, showing jealousy’s disastrous effects. Gene’s envious thoughts and jealous nature, create an internal enemy, that he must fight. A liberal humanistic critique reveals that Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, has a self contained meaning, expresses the

However , Gene emulates Phineas by joining him for tree climbing and jumping into the river. Forester notes, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”(Knowles 5). Knowles emphasizes the crisis on Genes mind which leads to him becoming more envious and

John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” takes place at a boarding school during World War II. Best friends Gene and Finny have been inseparable during their time at the Devon School. This is until reality hits Gene, and he slowly starts to realize that he is inferior to his best friend. Through the unbalanced friendship between two teenagers in “A Separate Peace,” Knowles illustrates that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power.

Although Phineas clearly had a negative relationship with Gene, some people argue that he was an acceptable friend because he was able to forgive Gene for making Phineas fall off the limb. When Gene visited Finny in the hospital after he learned that Gene jounced the limb, at first, Finny felt betrayed, however, after he saw the guilt on Gene’s face, he realized that, “it was just some kind of impulse decision… [Gene] didn’t know what [he] was doing” (Knowles 191). Then Finny knew that he didn’t do it because Gene despised him, he jolted the branch because he had no time to think about what he was

In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character, Gene Forrester lives in times of war with his best friend; Phineas. Gene is confronted by decisions and events that molded his life, mostly involving Phineas. This shaped him to become a better person and be more mature. He faced a battle against his “enemy” which he won by killing it. Even so, it is never clear who or what the enemy really was.