The Flames Of Character Development In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

At the beginning of the story, Gene is unconcerned about his actions, but after he has suffered and understands how selfish he was. He was blinded by his jealousy of Finny and eventually his insecurities overwhelmed him. “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it. I could feel myself become unexpectedly excited at that” (30). In this

Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny caused great internal turmoil with himself throughout the story. He went through and identity crisis because he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be. In the story, Gene said, “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (Knowles 117). He always went along with everything Finny proposed or did; this gave him little to no time to discover who he really was. This lack of personal discovery lead him to doubt who he was. This internal conflict within Gene also affected his personal actions. Before Finny’s fall, Gene said, “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles

In A Separate Peace, the author chooses to use conflicts to show the growth of a character. As a conflict happens there is some sort of growth which the character gains as a result. In fact, there are many conflicts throughout the story that shape the characters in unique ways including Genes jealousy of his best friend, Finny doing dangerous things, and Gene trying to live through Finny. Some conflicts result in good ways some result in bad and it changes the way the character is. The book is a good example of what it is like when a conflict happens in real life, by showing growth of a character after a conflict. The decisions made by the characters will either change them in positive or negative ways; that is an important message that the book tells quite well.

In the novel, “A Separate Peace,” by John Knowles, takes place in New England, during World War II. Gene, remembers his experiences at Devon school 15 years ago, when he was 16 years old, to the time when he was a student with his best friend Phineas (Finny). who he both had mixed feelings for of jealousy and admiration. Both Gene and Finny have advantages of their own mainly being, academics and athleticism. But as the story continues as each of their aspects starts to have negative effect and influences upon one another; Gene starts to get jealous and worried that he is not “better” than his best friend based on his best aspects. This causes problems in their friendship, as their trust, and relationship as a whole slowly falls apart. One theme this story suggest is how loyalty and jealousy in close relationships may blind you from the truth

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.

Gene displays, “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. 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 with a sickening, unnatural thud” (60). This quote of Gene’s revenge is important because it was the first sign of his hatred for Finny and it was such a big moment in the book because it showed how he dealt with his problems. His jealousy got in the way of his life and he felt the need to let it out so, he decided to take it out on Finny. After the fall, Gene says, “With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten” (60). His decision of choosing to jump as if nothing happened portrays the evilness within himself and the fact of him almost having this relief that Finny was not there and that all his fear of failing was gone showed that spark of evilness as well. Finny’s fall, caused by Gene, was the loss of his innocence and the beginning of him becoming a different

The competition within the friendship, Gene's inability to share his feelings with Finny, and Gene's paranoia are main factors in the development of the conflict that leads to Gene jouncing the limb. One example of Gene's paranoia is when Finny first forces Gene to jump off the tree, Gene ponders to himself, "Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind

Instead of joining Finny wholeheartedly and honestly speaking through feelings (about studying for exams, for example), Gene suppresses their mixed emotions and becomes the new experience of freedom in other conformity: It was decided to follow Finny's whims without exception or risk losing their friendship. This way of thinking "all or nothing" childlike in its simplicity, leads to Gene Finny to resent and ultimately causes the violent explosion that destroys a

In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, the chapter starts off with Finny criticizing Gene’s clothes and talking about how messy he has made their room. The next day Brinker sprints into their room and is about to open his mouth about the war, but realizes Finny is there and decides it is probably best not to talk. Brinker tries to lighten up the mood in the room and joke about Finny’s injury, “‘You can’t get that cast wet, can you?”’(Knowles 107) Finny does not understand why he is trying to make jokes. It is not like he is disabled or anything. Gene tells Finny that he was planning on enlisting before he got here, but now the situation is different. The two continue to make jokes and laugh about the whole thing. Even though it is a little awkward Gene and Finny get through it, and they figure it all out. When they are walking to their first class, Finny notices the cold winter wind, “What I mean is, I love winter, and when you love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love”’(Knowles 111). Finny is just happy to be back at Devon, however, he most

In the novel, The Separate Peace, by John Knowles, a new character named Brinker Hadley was introduced. Brinker does not seem like most of the people Gene knows, “His face was all straight lines-eyebrows, mouth, nose, everything-and he carried his six feet of height straight as well. He looked but happened not to be athletic, being too busy with politics, arrangements, and offices” (Knowles 87). I was a little surprised that he was not athletic because most of the people Gene know are. Brinker and Gene seem to get along well. I think they get along well because they almost have similar interest and both are not really athletic. Leper is one of Gene’s old friends who he kind of catches up with. He is kind of in his own world and doing his own thing.

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.

Best friends share a special bond. The bond of friendship is a strong bond, and it is often unbreakable. Best friends, by definition, are supportive and loving toward each other no matter the circumstance. What happens, though, when one friend begins to grow jealous of the other? Does the friendship persevere or does the friendship fall apart? In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, two best friends appear to have this unbreakable bond of friendship . Finny and Gene are two boys trying to survive their teenage years at The Devon School. The two are best friends until the unthinkable happens. Gene begins to grow jealous and envious towards Finny. The jealousy and envy take Gene to a dark place he has never imagined.. He does something that he can

A Separate Peace,written by John Knowles,explains Gene's story of transitioning into adulthood. In the beginning of the novel, Gene is still considered an innocent child who hasn't faced the adversities that come with this world. As time passes by Gene begins to mature and develop like any other human being while experiencing the difficulties many people are challenged with already. An initial reading of A Separate Peace suggests that Gene Forrester’s lack of worldly experience leads to Finny’s death; therefore, Gene has lost his innocence and gained experience.

Finny accepts Gene as a friend, but Gene still doesn't want to accept the truth. As they are both about to jump from the tree, Gene jounces the limb and Finny falls to the ground. As he falls, Gene feels no concern for Finny’s well-being when he thinks, “It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make” (Knowles 60). Gene jounces the limb to relieve himself from all of the envy he feels towards Finny. Gene uses his envious character to judge Finny in an inhumane

Right after Finny incident, Gene tries out Finny’s clothes. This symbolizes his desire to be like Finny and becoming part of Finny’s identity. Once he put the clothes on there is a sign of relief for him further expressing his feelings. “I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was… But when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat I had become, no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas, Phineas to the life”(Knowles 62). Since Gene will not accept his own character he plans to take someone else’s which is Finny. He believes that Finny is superior to him so if he becomes Finny he will also be superior. Another conflict in their friendship is when Gene begins to believe that Finny is actually out to disrupt his studies because Finny wants to see him fail. Gene believes that Finny is not his friend but his enemy out to destroy him. Lost in conflict, he expresses his anger through the incident at the tree. Finny proposes the idea of jumping off the limb together with Gene. While Finny is in front, Gene intentionally jounces the limb so that Finny would lose his balance and fall. “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step forward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest”(Knowles 59-60). After