Tragedy And Naturalism In Knowles A Separate Peace

“It struck me then that I was injuring him again” (75). This quote showcases that over time, Gene treats Phineas differently after he has seen how his jealousy has affected him. Gene always acts like there is a competition between him and his best friend, Phineas. After he and the other characters have suffered throughout the book, he learns to confront his jealousy and to move forward after. Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester matures and learns how to understand his actions and how they impact other characters, and teaches readers that they can move forward if they learn to face their problems.

When he realizes that Finny legitimately cares about him, he feels guilty and strives to develop a more positive outlook on life. At the end of the book, Gene realizes that Finny never thought of anyone as evil and had a true desire to see people succeed.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles carries the theme of the inevitable loss of innocence throughout the entire novel. Several characters in the novel sustain both positive and negative changes, resulting from the change of the peaceful summer sessions at Devon to the reality of World War II. While some characters embrace their development through their loss of innocence, others are at war with themselves trying to preserve that innocence.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles takes place in 1942 New Hampshire at Devon Boarding School. The novel discusses the issues that occur to students at Devon being prepared to leave to the war. Gene who is the protaginist of the story is often contradicting himself and is in a battle with himself. Gene’s best friend Finny is often going through trouble that Gene blames on himself. The idea that gene kills his own innocence is not likely considering his lack of worldly experience, his tendency to martyrdom and the impact that the war has on his charecter.

Perhaps for that reason his accomplishment took root in my mind and grew rapidly in the darkness where I was forced to hide it (3.62).” Finds that Finny will always be better than him and is naturally good at sports. Gene hates Finny because Gene’s not as good as him. “It was a courageous thing to say. Exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon school was the next thing to suicide.

First, Gene admits to being guilty of shaking a tree in order to injure Finny when he visits him at his home, making Finny livid, and temporarily tearing them apart. Gene is envious of Finny’s athletic ability and bravery. One way Finny shows his bravery is by jumping off a tree for fun. Gene is greatly threatened by the bravery, so he decides to strip it from Finny by shaking the tree one day, making him fall and suffer an injury. Consequently, he instantly regrets his decision, but he realizes that the damage is done. Remorsefully, he wants to apologize for his terrible choice, but when he tries to talk about the situation and confess, Finny is in denial and starts to get angry. Finny’s denial is evident when he says “‘I don’t know anything. Go away. I’m tired and you make me sick. Go away’” (Knowles 70). This dialogue shows how Finny did not believe that Gene caused the incident even after the confession. This is because he believes that Gene would not do such an action. The confession tears Finny apart to the point that he lashes out at Gene and wants him to leave his house. If Gene did not commit the notorious action, Finny would not have to feel the pain physically from the injury, and mentally from the idea that Gene would hurt him, and the boys could have a stronger friendship.

The coming-of-age novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is based on the author’s high school years at his prestigious school, the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. The novel is set in the fictional Devon School during World War II. It explores the prep school idyll of two adolescent boys, Gene and Phineas. The novel's main character, Gene Forrester, who is also the narrator of the story, was based on the young Knowles himself, while Finny’s character was modeled after another student from Exeter, David Hackett. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles, uses Phineas’ masculinity to determine the relationship between him and Gene, and to learn the limitations of his masculinity.

The theme suggested in the closing paragraph of the novel A Separate Peace is that people create their own enemy and then they defend themselves laboriously and obsessively against their imaginary enemy. They develop a particular frame of mind to allay the fear that arises while facing their nonexistent enemy. In the novel, the protagonist, Gene, tries to fight a war with his best friend, Finny, not realizing that the enemy he sees is not Finny but is his own insecurity.

Furthermore, Gene feels as if Finny wants to contest his every move. In many of the following chapters, the reader can see Gene’s inner feelings toward Finny. As the book progresses, we see the alternatives Gene takes towards improving his friendship with Finny as opposed to trying to be better than Finny. Finny does not wish to injure Gene in any way and Finny is constantly there for Gene through the entirety he endures. However, Gene

However Gene finds out that's not the case Finny has only good intentions. This creates another conflict in Gene’s head He had only thoughts of a rivalry between them yet Finny didn't all

Gene represents one side of the cultural collision; the other side being Phineas. These characters come to know each other at a boarding school, Devon, located in New England. Gene- being a “southern boy”-is foreign to the aura of the area, which primarily leads to the contrast between Phineas and himself. He highlights this regional difference by hanging up pictures of plantations on his wall, hoping to impress his northern peers with his background. Gene is an extravagant student who outperforms others; he demonstrates this by

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

Gene learns that one of Finny's legs had been "shattered" in the fall; Gene grows very guilty about the accident. At last, Gene is allowed to visit Finny in the infirmary. Gene learns that Finny will no longer be able to play sports; Gene cannot believe the news. Gene gets ready to tell Finny the truth; but, he doesn't get the chance, and soon, Finny is sent home to recuperate.

While recuperating at home, Gene stops by his house on his way back to Devon to tell Finny the truth, that it was his fault. However, Finny wouldn’t hear of it and later tells Gene that he wants him to go to the Olympics in his place. Gene feels an overwhelming sense of pride and exclaims “I lost a part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Finny” (77). Though no one can see it, Finny is faced with his own personal struggle: the bitterness of being a cripple and attempting to live in a world where sports and enlistment in the army are no longer a possibility. Finny undergoes surgery again after breaking the same leg and dies in the process. One may conclude that his death was brought about more by the lack of will to live than anything else.