John Knowles a Separate Peace Essay

Is imitation really the sincerest form of flattery? The novel, “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, illustrates a story of two boys in high school during the time of WWII. One of these boys is Gene, who is a talented student who often experiences paranoia, which, as a result, makes him jealous of others. The title, “A Separate Peace”, lies the character Gene, whose jealousy and envy affects himself and his relationship with Finny. First, Gene’s obsession with Finny leads him to transform

human beings are capable of revealing a darker side of them-a side that almost everyone is afraid to show. No one will admit to having a dark side in them, until nature forces them to face it. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Separate Peace by John Knowles are two books that emphasize man’s savagery through their characters, themes, and plots. At first, all men have hidden savagery, then something triggers the savagery within them, and they complete the transformation. The human race holds

The Hostility Between Gene and Finny in A Separate Peace by John Knowles Gene feels increasing hostility toward Finny before his fall from the tree. In the novel A SEPARATE PEACE by John Knowles, the hostility between Gene and Finny increase because of the competition inside of them both to be better then one another. It is about the increasing competition between Gene and Finny and the hostility it brings. The hostility finally burst inside Gene and for one instant it takes over. It

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

counterpart characters are known as doppelgangers. A doppelganger is an alter ego of one's charisma. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the characters Ralph/Jack and Gene/Finny represent doppelgangers, explaining how they complement each other and maintain supremacy. One significant pair of characters who separate is Ralph and Jack. Their dual natures cause differences among themselves due to various reasons. From a physical standpoint, Jack is described as

The real world is a scary place, but can be amazing and beautiful if you are able to understand it. In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the characters, Gene and Finny, have perspectives on life that are very different from each other. When it comes down to an answer, Gene is the one who understands and is better suited to live in the real world than Finny. In the novel, through Gene’s description of Finny, there is a full perception of who Finny really is. He’s charismatic, naturally skilled, pure-hearted

What is an enemy? An enemy is someone who is actively opposed or hostile to someone orsomething. Enemies happen in many ways, some start with friendship. In a separate peacewrittenby John Knowles there are two boys, one named Finny, and the other one is Gene. Theystarted off as strangers, then friends, then best friends and then they became enemies. How doesthat work you may ask? Well here is their story.Gene Forrester a new student at Devon High School started off as quiet, shy and smart. He gotput

In the beginning of the novel, when Gene comes back to Devon he revisits his museum which contains the most important moments from his past. In the museum of Gene there might be “exhibits” for events such as blitzball, the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session, Phineas falling out of the tree, Gene visiting Phineas’s house in Boston, Phineas’s return to Devon, the investigation of Phineas’s accident, Phineas falling down the stairs, Phineas dying, Leper going crazy, Gene training for the Olympics

A description of the tree is, “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river.” (Knowles 14) Adding on to the description the author says, “Its soaring black trunk was set with rough wooden pegs leading up to a substantial limb which extended farther out into the water.” (Knowles 15) Gene had problems with jealousy because he always wants to do what Finny does, but if he is injured then it gives Gene a chance to be better than

friend Phineas jokingly admits that Gene becoming valedictorian would make him jealous and Gene reacts by thinking, “Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies” (Knowles, 53).