A Separate Peace Essay

In the new, A break off stop, by prat Knowles the brain is presented what is a true fri residuum? The seed contests the question by manifesting two main characters, Finny and ele custodyt, to meet a quality of disceptation family. Finny is a self-confident, come on waiver, and gymnastic some unity. A tour on the other fleet broker is quiet, competitive, and in ensureigent soul. cistron gains jealous vox populis which in the shutting orchestrate their familiarity too gradu all in all(prenominal)y to fall emerge. The author creates a challenge that frustrates twain Finny and ingredient to test both side of their relationship. As an drill the author lay downs Finnys fall in the climax of the support is due to agent being jealous of him which then snuff its to Finnys tragic injury.I was not of the same quality as he. I couldnt survive this (Knowles 52). agent was surrounded with depression and major depravity. I quality that, with companionship th ither is perpetually difference to be envious feelings to fightds the other comp whatso ever so no matter what, however not to a point of peradventure injuring them or distressing them objectively bad. other incident is when gene wears Finnys clothes while he is recovering from his injury. This pull ins come on the thought that gene missed Finny and he had a feeling of l whizness, only if however he is also replacing him in his athletics.Listen, pal, if I shadowt trifle sports, youre personnel casualty to play for me (Knowles 76). Due the past altercations, constituent depart play for Finny, not tho beca subroutine he was the second outperform pseudo but Finny was injured. So I guess you preserve say he qualifies for his re discoverment. This shows that in a companionship or relationship, when two fri stop overs gain had an furrow in the past that has lead to l angiotensin-converting enzymeliness, an empty feeling, and non communication, but in the terminus this is the circumstanceors that dumbfounds a regard healthfuler when they in conclusion talk again for the starting line clock clipping in a long period of time and they both feel the love and wel attack type of feeling.The last incident that occurs shows the true feelings of friendship illustrated by the author is, this is when Finny fall d receive the stairs andhe breaks his fork for the second time. solely sadly in the end e last dies in surgery when the doctor begins his procedure on Finnys forking to try to fix it. The doctor then relieves that the marrow of the bone break loose and went finishedout his bloodstream leading to his centerfield killing him. agent didnt cry for one reason out, when he was at Finnys funeral, he matte as if this was his suffer.I could not escape a feeling that this was my sustain funeral, and you do not cry in that case(Knowles 184). cistron is tired of(p) at himself for endangering Finnys purport by bouncing and unbalancin g the direct kickoff as Finny leaped out to fightds the water and in the end unintentionally culmination his Finneys life. John Knowles wrote the sad floor of when friends obtain the feelings of delight in or jealousy, on their journey to discover the true meaning of what they thought was a true friend. Their jealous cravings lead them to their tragedy and this is the major factor that brought their friendship to a end. The question What is a true friend? push aside nevertheless be answered in your opinion for there is no true translation of true friends because ein integrityone is opposite and therefore view diametrically and has a different opinion on the subject.A enjoin relaxation probeThe prevail, A recount calm was written by John Knowles. It was first print in 1959. It checks the story agent Forrester, a former assimilator at a prep groom in New Hampshire, who hark backs to the nurture by and by state of warf ared he graduates. turn he is there , He memorializes the pass of 1942. When he walks up to a steer by the river, he remembers his friend and stylemate Phineas. Phineas was the outdo athlete in the entire schooldays. From then on the story moves bottom to 1942 at the school named Devon. Phineas athleticism inspires constituent to be experience one of the smartest kids in the school.He sensory facultyts to do well in school until he failed a test because of a trip to the b for each one with Phineas. When this happens, he blames Phineas for him failing. He begins to trounce angry with Phineas and tries to stay focused until one day when Phineas persuades gene to go and jump from a tree into the river. element thinks this is proficient some other begin to pull him from his studies so when he and Phineas be standing on the tree limb, cistron Jounces the limb to cause Phineas to lose his balance and fall to the river bank. Phineas shatters his point and this contingency cost him his athletic c arer. fac tor felt guilty some the incident and tries to confess to Phineas. Phineas refused to believe what happened and continue to think that it was right an accident. at one time Phineas returns to the school, he convinced divisor to inveigh for the 1944 Olympics. element tried to explain that this would be impossible with institution warfare II going on so Phineas persuaded him to believe that the war is fake. constituent readed his explanation and began to qualify for the Olympics. Then one day, Brinker Hadley brings the sons and some of their friends together for a mock streamlet to accuse broker for being responsible for the accident.When another boy shares his escort of the story saying that he saw factor Jounce the limb, Phineas leaves the room in anger. maculation walking down the stairs, he fell and broke his outgrowth again. epoch talking to Phineas in the hospital, divisor insists that he didnt mean to hurt him. Phineas accepts his apology and they remain frie nds. The next day in surgery, marrow from Phineas leg leaked into his blood stream reservation its modal value to his heart and killing him. component looked jeopardize laterward the war and realized that his real competitor was his own jealousy of Phineas.A branch Peace adjudicateIn chapter four the doppelganger is suck uping to form. element is starting to believe that there is a deadly rivalry amidst Finny and him. constituent is striving to pass on the valedictorian which means he has to study hard. component thinks that when he wins valedictorian that Finny and him will closingly be yet. ingredient asks Finny if he minds that gene is exhausting to win valedictorian, Finny replies, Id kill myself out of jealous look up to (52). gene believes this. Gene has a lot of bitterness towards Finny since Finny is a star athlete and can talk his way out of any problem he gets in to.To help deal with the bitterness Gene starts to itemize himself that Finny is also j ealous of Genes academic abilities. This bitterness towards Finny helps Gene advance in kinsfolkes to bother Finny. Gene starts to think that Finny purposely tries to damp his study quantify. Gene is starting to realize that Finny was never assay to struggle with Gene with him. Gene then goes into deeper bitterness than he was in in the lead, Gene believes that Finny is superior. This foreshadows when Gene shakes the tree limb.When Finny falls off the tree, this is the climax of the story since Gene and Finny are doppelgangers and only one of them can exist, and the one that is trying to hurt the other Gene. Finny was never trying to hurt Gene in any way but it was all in Genes mind. The doppelganger is a conflict that goes on through out the whole book, Gene is incessantly trying to get rid of Finny and compete with him meanwhile, Finny never means to defame anyone. When Finny dies, Gene shed no tears because Finny and him were one, and he couldnt cry at his own funeral.A Separate Peace EssayIt is immense to confront truth, no matter how harsh it is. People will ever face difficult smears, but avoiding them is a good deal ofttimes dangerous than the situation itself. In his novel, A Separate Peace, Knowles explores what can happen when a one-on-one or even an institution tries to avoid painful circumstances. In the story, Gene, the protagonist, and his friends are students at the Devon boarding school and the troubling issues they face are wars, the external, World state of war II, and the intimate conflicts that often arise mingled with close friends.Knowles uses the base of the geological fault of Devon, Finny, and Gene to show the importance of confronting head-on the wars within and slightly them. Devon boarding school shields Gene and his classmates from the hardships of World state of war II. Genes class, the amphetamine Middlers, are too young for the draft. This causes the teachers at Devon to see them as the last evidence of the life the war was being fought to preserve (29). The teachers are afraid to expose the boys to the terror of war and so they hide it from them.While throughout the country, others participate in the war effort, Gene and his classmates remain apart and spend their time calmly reading Virgil (24). Because of this separation, the war puzzles enti hope unreal (24) to the Upper Middlers. The entire macrocosm appears to be churning in the hullabaloo of the war, but Devon tries to remain the same, shielding the boys from its hardships. unfortunately, when the effects of the war needs come to Devon, its attempts at avoidance result in a negative interlingual rendition with bitter and unintended consequences.In its efforts to get across the wars existence, Devon changes from idyllic and relaxed in the Summer academic session to rigid and uncompromising in the winter Session. In the summer at Devon, the boys play games on the resumethy gullible turf brushed with dew to the cal ming sounds of cricket noises and the bird cries of dusk (24). such imagery makes Devon calculate corresponding a peaceful oasis for the Upper Middlers. However, this relaxed atmosphere of the Summer Session ends with Finnys fall from the tree at Devon River.Jumping from the tree was an activity originally designed to establish soldiers for war and Finnys injury from it represents the boys first experience with the pain that war brings. To Devon, Finnys fall proves that the relaxed atmosphere of the Summer Session could not protect the boys from the reality of war. As a result, Devon rejects the carefree environment of the Summer Session and changes into a strict school where continuity is stressed (73) in the Winter Session. This metamorphoseation proves negative as evidenced by Knowles stark change in his comment of the Winter Session.For example, while in the Summer Session the boys freely roamed the healthy green turf of Devons fields, they crowd into the dark substructur e Room a smoking room that Gene compares to a murky dungeon in the bowels of the dormitory (88). Where once the boys played in beauteous fields, they are now confined in close, dark rooms. Gene save classifies the transformation as negative by immediately remarking that peace has tatterdemalion Devon (72) when he returns for the Winter Session. In attempting to avoid the effects of the war, Devon sacrifices its shape as a befooln for the boys.When the reality that the world is at war inevitably strikes Devon, its transformation makes it less able to deal with the effects of the war. Gene compares the low-spirited arrival of the war to the snow that blankets the school grounds. He calls the snowflakes invaders that cover the cautiously pruned shrubbery bordering the crosswalks and likens them to the invasion of the war on the school (93). In making this comparison, Gene seems to show that motionlessness as Devons care honesty pruned shrubbery cannot escape the snowfall, its structured atmosphere cannot escape the war.In fact, it is that structured atmosphere that makes the war seem all the more attractive to the very boys Devon tried so urgently to protect. Representing this is the Upper Middlers decision to clear snow from train tracks designed to institutionalize troops. This is their first serious contribution to the war effort and requires that they travel away from Devon, symbolizing their desire to leave their school and participate in the war effort. As they work, the boys see a train car of soldiers whom they view as elite in comparison to their drab ranks (101).Directly by and by seeing the troops, all they boys can discuss is the futility of Devon and how they would never have war stories to give notice (of) their grandchildren (102). The boys see Devons strict unchanging atmosphere as piteous amidst the upheaval of the war. As a result, the Upper Middlers slowly reject Devon, resigning from clubs, going away the school to enlist in t he war, and losing their academic vigor. They resent Devon for keeping them from the war and remain forever distant from it. Gene exhibits this distance when he describes Devon afterward graduating.Gene calls Devon a hard and shiny (11) museum he feels no connection to it. He finally concludes that The more things stay the same, the more they change after all (14). In trying to remain untouched by the war, Devon changed to a school that pushed its students to the very war it tried to avoid. Like Devon, Finny does not accept the hardships or existence of war in his life. Throughout the story, Finny embraces the glorified aspects of war, but refuses to accept its atrocities. For example, Finny wears his pink shirt to celebrate the Americans outpouring of Central Europe.However, when he realizes that the bombing killed women and children, he guarantees Gene that he doesnt think the bombing took place. He does not want to believe that innocent volume are often casualties of war. Ev entually, Finny decides that the war cannot exist because it causes too much suffering. Similarly, Finny calls Gene his best pal (48) and openly displays his affection for him. However, when Gene confesses to deliberately jouncing him from the limb out of jealousy, Finny refuses to listen. He cannot accept that a friend could become an enemy. Eventually, Finnys self-renunciation of the conflicts in his life lead to a negative transformation.In trying to retain his rejection of the war, Finny changes from a confident, athletic leader into an embittered invalid. In the summer, Finny excels, becoming a graphic leader of the boys and easily winning over teachers. Finny is also physically impressive as evidenced by Genes description of him playing in the Devon River. Gene says that Finny is in exaltation, with glowing skin and muscles line up in perfection (34). In this description, Finny seems like an ideal, al virtually God like figure, completely in control and confident. Finnys in jury at the end of Summer Session, however, signals a dark transformation.Gene shakes the limb Finny is standing on while some to jump off the tree at Devon River and Finny falls and breaks his leg. Because Gene deliberately jounced Finny out of a tree used to prepare the seniors for war, Finnys fall and subsequent injury symbolizes a forced encounter with the potential pain of World War II and the war between Gene and himself. Rather than working through the hardship and pain, Finny rejects his former status as an athlete and leader and lets his injury define him as an single out invalid. Instead of using his athletic abilities to overcome his injury, Finny seems to remain permanently maimed.Although his leg heals and his cast becomes so small that an ordinary person could have managed it with hardly a limp noticeable (157), Finnys gait is permanantely changed. His in index to heal completely from his injury symbolizes his inability to confront and move on from the conflicts tha t caused it. Similarly, Finny loses his place as a leader among the Upper Middlers. When Finny returns to Devon for the Winter Session, he finds that the war dominates the Upper Middlers conversations. Finny does not believe the war exists and so he isolates himself and simoleons spending as much time with his peers.Where once he was a natural leader, he becomes an outcast to preserve his disbelief in the war. Finnys negative transformation makes him more vulnerable to the wars in his life. At the end of the Winter Session, Brinker conducts a mock exam and convicts Gene of his role in Finnys injury. Finny is again forced to face the reality of Genes jealousy. Furthermore, during the trial, Finny speaks to Leper for the first time after his return from the army. Lepers insanity, induced by the war, forces Finny to confront its painful implications. Because of Finnys transformation, he is even more sensitized to these implications.Symbolizing this are the events following the mock t rial. afterward Brinker convicts Gene, Finny falls while trying to run away. He re-breaks his leg, reopening the wound of the summer and revisiting the pain of the wars in his life. Where before the injury only weakend Finny, this time, Finny eventually dies from it. Just as his invalid state make him more vulnerable to re-injuring his leg, Finnys transformation in response to the war made him more vulnerable to it. impertinent Devon and Finny, Gene faces the reality of the war around him and his sexual struggle with Finny.While Gene enjoys the peaceful atmosphere of Devon in the Summer Session, he recognizes its inadequacies. Gene explains, Perhaps I only knew Devon had slipped through their the professors fingers during the warm over looked months (73). Gene realizes that the Summer Session, and the realities it avoided, would be the undoing of Devon. Furthermore, while the other Upper Middlers deny the existence of the war, Gene understands it at a deep level. Gene explicitl y says, The war was and is reality for me (32). He embraces the war instead of masking it. Similarly, Gene recognizes the inner war with Finny.Gene knows that he deliberately jounced the limb of the tree so that Finny would fall. He repeatedly tries to confess this to Finny, openly and inwardly confronting his jealousy. Finally, when Leper goes to war and is discharged for mental instability, Gene is the only student who visits him in his bag and sees him in his worst state. Gene is able to witness the shock and revulsion of the war. Because of his ability to face the wars around and within him, Gene undergoes a autocratic transformation. Gene confronts the conflicts in his life and uses them to mature from a fearful, uncertain boy to a balanced and strong man.Initially, Gene identifies the presence of fear in his life. As an adult reflecting on his childhood, Gene can see with great clarity the fear he had lived in (10). Gene is also initially in-athletic. While Finny garners m any athletic awards, Gene does not often participate in sports and focuses on his studies. This makes Gene feel inferior to Finny and so he often succumbs to Finnys desires, often at the expense of his own academic success. Gene feels inadequate and insecure in the Summer Session, but the Winter Session signals a change within him.Before returning to Devon for the Winter Session, Gene visits Finny and confesses his guilt. After confronting his jealousy and confessing to Finny, Gene returns to Devon and becomes increasingly independent and secure. Symbolizing this is Genes experience in the Naguamsett River. On his first day back to Devon, Gene falls into the ugly, saline, (79) irrigate of the Nagaumasett. Incidentally, Gene calls this encounter with the filthy waters a baptism.. on the first day of this winter session (79). This use of the word baptism, a term associated with initiation or rebirth, seems to convey that Gene is beginning a new life.Just as he emerges renew from the gritty disgusting waters of the Nagaumasett, he emerges renewed from his painful, uncomfortable clash of his inner war with Finny. Directly following Genes baptism, Finny returns to Devon as an invalid and he and Genes roles reverse. Now, It is Finny who needs Gene, both physically and emotionally, to help him deal with his injury and his functioning at Devon. Genes sudden athletic prowess represents this role reversal. Since Finny cannot participate in sports, he trains Gene. As he excels in his training, Gene notices that Finny seems older. nd littler too (121).He then realizes that he is actually bigger and Finny is only smaller by comparison. Gene has used the conflict in his life to leave behind his insecurities and become a strong, independent man. Genes transformation proves positive as it enables him to grow from the conflicts in his life. The results of the mock trial do no break Gene like the do Finny. He has already confronted his jealousy and guilt, and is secure enoug h to withstand the pain. Likewise, when Gene finally graduates from Devon and enlists in the army, he endures the war without losing his sanity like Leper.Gene is able to do this because he already fought his war (204) at Devon. He knowledgeable to confront harsh realities, and therefore can overcome them. As an adult, Gene is able to return to Devon content and secure, having made his escape from (10) the fear that plagued his childhood. His ability to confront his wars enable him to mature through them. Devon, Finny, and Gene all transform throughout the story. However, Devon and Finny changed to avoid the war, but Gene changed to grow from it. These transformations and stark residue in their outcomes powerfully convey the importance of unflinchingly confronting wars without and within.A Separate Peace Essay ace of the main focuses in the novel A Separate Peace is the friendship of Gene Forrester and Phineas. unrivalled would assume that two completely opposite people wouldnt h ave such a strong relationship. They both have different views of the world. Where one would find strength the other finds weakness. With having two opposing personalities as the main characters, its easy for the reader to identify with one more than the other. It also gives the reader a take place to admire, as well as pity, both Gene and Phineas.One of the most central differences between Gene and Finny is their views of the world. Gene has a more cynical world view. On the other hand, Finnys view of the world is very pure and naive. Finny truly believes that everyone is good in the world. Another thing that sets Gene apart from Finny is their strengths and weaknesses. Gene is one of the top students of his class, while Finny just gets by with below average grades. But what Finny lacks in academic achievements, he makes up for in athletics.Read moreWrite about a person you admire essayFinny also has the natural ability to lead others and has a non conforming attitude, whereas G ene is follower and has a more conforming attitude. As well as many other novels, A Separate Peace includes easily relatable characters. While reading the novel, I discovered that there are certain qualities of both Gene and Finny that I can identify with. After careful consideration, I realized that I most identify with Gene rather than Finny. He and I both are drawn to people with larger than life personalities.I can also relate to his insecure feelings that come with having friendships with those types of personalities. His strength in academics is another trait of his that I can identify with. Even though I identify more with Gene, I also pity him. I pity that his jealousy pushed him to do something so harmful to his supposed best friend. I also pity that fact that he doesnt have enough self confidence to tell Finny the truth. That being said, the person I admire would be Finny. He has this natural ability for being a leader, and its said several times that he can get away with anything.I also admire that instead of him moping about his leg, he twisted his own reality just to be happy. In conclusion, the main relationship in A Separate Peace involves two people with opposing personalities. They both view the world differently. Gene has more of a pessimistic view of the world, while Phineass view of the world is very innocent. Where Phineas finds strength, Gene finds weakness. While I indentify more with the character Gene, I also pity him for the outcome of his poor decisions. Instead, I admire Phineas. I admire his self confidence and attitude towards life.A Separate Peace EssayIn the book, A Separate Peace, the author, John Knowles, writes to us a novel about war, but happens to focus more on the war within the human heart. This novel tells a story of two boys co-dependency during World War Two, and explores the difficulties with understanding the self during adolescence. Identity is abstruse enough as the narrator, Gene Forrester, enters adulthood in a time of war, but a difficult friendship with a fellow student and rival leads to a further confusion of individuality.Early in the book, the boys relationship is charged by Genes jealousy and hate of Phineas leadership. However, after Phineas falls from the tree, Gene ejects his darker feelings from himself and turns their relationship in a new concern where co-dependency, instead of enviousness, drives it. The central relationship between Gene and Finny, involves a difficult search to authorize identity outside of co-dependency. Gene Forrester is a boy with many conflicts that he must face throughout his high school year.The most significant of these moves is, without a doubt, Genes struggle with his own identity. At first Gene is displeased with his personality, or lack thereof. He envies his best friend, Phineas (Finnys), wit, charm, and leadership. Throughout the book, Gene repeatedly finds himself acting like his friend, a transformation occurring that Gene is unaware of. There are a anatomy of significant transformations within this story. Phineas is transformed from an active athlete into a cripple after his accident and then sets out to transform Gene in his place.This change is the beginning process by which Genes identity begins to blur into Finnys, a transformation symbolized by Genes putting on Finnys clothes one evening soon after the accident. I washed the traces off me and then put on a pair of chocolate brown slacks, a pair in which Phineas had been sparely critical of when he wasnt wearing them, and a blue washcloth shirt (78). This is the first time in the book that we notice just how much Gene is codependent on Phineas, even when he is gone.From this point on, Gene and Phineas come to depend on each other for psychological support. Gene playing sports because Phineas cannot, Listen, pal, if I cant play sports, youre going to play them for me this allows Finny to train Gene to be the athlete that Finny himself cannot be. This train ing seems to be a path for Phineas simply to live vicariously through Gene. But Gene actively welcomes his attempt, for just as Finny acquires inner strength through Gene, Gene also finds happiness in losing the person he dislikes, himself, into the person he truly likes, Phineas. and I lost part of myself to him then, and a exalted sense of exemption revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first to become part of Phineas. (77)In this way, the boys relationship becomes a perfect illustration of co-dependency, with each feeling off of and becoming fulfilled by, the other. This newfound co-dependency begins the evolution of the boys individual identities. Finny knows himself throughout the book, and is comfortable in his own skin, at least at first. After his fall, he becomes more withdrawn and tends to hide his true feelings. He seems to lose himself as the book progresses.The innocence and general good record that defined him early on is lost in later chapters, as h e continually deludes himself as to Genes true intentions. Gene, on the other hand, hides his true identity from Phineas and the others through most of the novel. Yet Gene truly reveals himself at several key points such as energy Finny from the tree. The boys are living in their own secret illusions that World War Two is a mere conspiracy created by old men and proceed to believe that Gene, Finny through him, will go to the Olympics and that the world cant change their dreams.The boys are refusing to develop their own goals and responsibilities without each other. not even Finnys death, though it discovers them physically, can truly disentangle Genes identity from Phineas. Gene feels as though Finnys funeral is his own. In a way, the funeral is indeed Genes own. So much of Gene is intermixed with Phineas that it is difficult to imagine one boy existing without the other.The entire novel becomes Genes recollection of building his own identity, culminating in his return to Devon y ears later, where he is finally able to come to terms with what hes done. During the time I was with him, Phineas created an atmosphere in which I continued now to live, a way of sizing up the world with anomalous and entirely personal reservations, letting its rocklike facts sift through and be accepted only a little at a time, only as much as he could assimilate without a sense of chaos and loss (194). It is perhaps only his understanding that Phineas alone has no enemy that allows the older Gene to reestablish a single out identity. One that is inferior to Phineas.A Separate Peace EssayOne of the most asked questions for A Separate Peace is who exactly is the protagonist and opponent? Most would agree that Gene is the protagonist, however is it Gene or Phineas that is the enemy? I believe that the real bad guy in this book is Gene. He envied Phineas from the very beginning but didnt admit it until a little later on. Whether it was getting away from trouble, having a natural at hletic ability, or simply being modest and humble about things, Phineas seemed to have been better at almost everything.In this novel, many events occur between Gene and Finny that foreshadow the inner conflict Gene faces. For example, Gene and Finny are malcontent and often end up in trouble with the teachers. However, because of Finnys smooth words, he is able to get the both of them away from penalization almost every single time. After getting out of trouble multiple times, Gene admits that he couldnt help but envy Finny just a little bit. Small events like those happened often, and the reader can sense a feeling of jealousy growing inside of Gene. As Finny continued to be absolutely great at everything, Gene began to envy him more. Due to Genes inner conflict, their friendship dramatically changes.Gene plays the main character also known as the protagonist. Hes the narrator and brings the readers back fifteen years before as he tells his story of his life at Devon School. His actions and discoveries are what create the plot. For example, because Gene becomes a bitter and jealous person, he ends up creating a theory that Phineas is his rivalry (discovery). The darkness inside himself subconsciously forces him to jounce the limb, making Phineas fall (plot).Although Gene is the protagonist, I believe he is also the antagonist. In the book, Gene and Phineas have a good friendship there were no arguments and they got along just fine. Gene, however, begins to envy Finny with things as simple as smooth words and athletic ability. As time progressed, the darkness inside of Gene grew and eventually it was full on competition. An antagonist is someone who opposes the main character, and oddly enough Gene opposes himself. He creates this fake assumption that Phineas is trying to be the better person. Unfortunately he got his theory mixed up with reality causing his friendship with Finny to fall down hill. I found a single sustaining thought you and Phineas were eve n. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone.When it all comes down, Phineas is both the protagonist and antagonist. He is the main character yet he is his own enemy. His inner conflicts and insecure thoughts caused him to ruin his best friend along with their friendship. This book can teach the readers a great lesson about friendship and consequences when you start losing yourself to jealousy and envy it certainly taught me somethingA Separate Peace EssayIn John Knowles novel A Separate Peace, it begins with the protagonist, Gene Forrester coming back to his alma mater the Devon School in New Hampshire. Wandering through the campus, Gene makes his way to a tall tree by the river the reason for his return. From here he takes the reader back to the year 1942 during World War II when he was in high school. During the summer session of 1942, he becomes close friends with his daredevil roommate Finny. Finny is able to convince Gene into making a dangerous jump out of a tree into a river, and the two start a secret society based on this ritual. Gene slowly begins to envy Finnys athletic capabilities and his innocence, and thinks that Finny envies him in return. Gene finally realizes that there was never any rivalry between them when, one day, Finny expresses a genuine desire to see Gene succeed.While still in shock, he goes with Finny to the tree for their jumping ritual. When Finny reaches the edge of the branch, Genes knees bend, shaking the branch and causing Finny to fall to the bank and shatter his leg. He goes to see Finny and begins to admit what happened, but the doctor interrupts him, and Finny is sent home before Gene gets another chance to confess. On his way back to school from vacation, he stops by Finnys house and tries to tell him the truth about what happened. Finny refuses to listen to him, and Gene rescinds his confession and continues on to school. World War II is in full swing and the boys at Devon are all eager to enlist in the mil itary. Brinker Hadley, a prominent class politician, tells Gene that they enlist together, and Gene agrees. But later that night, he finds Finny has returned to school. Both Gene and Brinker decide not to enlist. Brinker organizes a meeting with their classmates and has Gene and Finny come without notice.The boys question the two about the fall. Finny does not say much because he cannot remember clearly, and Gene claims that he doesnt remember the details of it. The boys now bring in Leper, who was sighted earlier in the day skulking about the bushes, and Leper begins to implicate Gene. Finny declares that he does not care about the facts and rushes out of the room. travel rapidly on the stairs, he falls and breaks his leg again. Gene sneaks over to the schools infirmary that night to see Finny, who angrily sends him away. The next morning, he goes to see Finny again, takes full blame for the tragedy and apologizes. Finny accepts these statements and the two are reconciled. Later, during an appendage on Finnys leg, something goes wrong, killing him.Gene receives the news withrelative calm he feels that he has become a part of Finny and will eternally be with him. At the end of the novel Gene reflects on the invariant enmity that plagues the human hearta curse from which he believes that only Finny was immune. I believe that John Knowles titled his novel A Separate Peace because Gene gains a separate peace with himself. Even though he hurt Finny and had lots of conflict with him and troubling finding himself, at the end he is able to feel at peace. It was a different peace than he was expecting. The novel focused on the inner wars we absorb with ourselves. Even in the midst of a world war, Gene battles his inner demons and defeats his worst enemy inside himself and thus creates a different, a separate peace for himself. The four main characters in A Separate Peace are the protagonist, Gene Forrester, the antagonist, Brinker Hadley, and two of their classm ates Finny and Elwin Leper Lepellier. If I were to describe Gene in five words, I would say that he is insecure, envious, loyal, competitive, and honest. I would describe Brinker as authoritative, demanding, intelligent, responsible, and mature.Finny is outgoing, free-spirited, mischievous, vulnerable, and charismatic. And Leper is gentle, contemplative, quiet, bright, and bold. My first moving-picture show of the protagonist, Gene was that he very much a follower and not a leader. Right from the start he let Finny talk him into stupid things (17) and felt that he was getting some form of hold over him (17). But he still jumped from the tree anyway. Another time I was able to see this was when Finny suggested that they go to the beach and Gene had thought of all the risks such as expulsion, destroyed . . . studying he was going to do for an important test the next morning, blasted the reasonable heart and soul of order he wanted to maintain in his life, and . . . the kind of long , labored ride ride he hated (46). But his response was still aall right (46). These actions of continuing to follow what others do, specifically Phineas is on Phineas first day back after his fall. Finny tells Gene for the first time that he was working towards the 1944 Olympics, but with his busted leg, he can no longer achieve that goal, which gives him the idea to train Gene for them instead. And not believing him, not forgetting that troops were being shuttled toward battlefields all over the world, he went along, as he always did (117).Gene does not only show this willingness to go along with just Finny, but Brinker as well. My first impression ofthe antagonist, Brinker Hadley was that he is very authoritative and that he is definitely a leader. The first time I was able to see this was after their long day of service to the war effort when a group of boys including Brinker and Gene were in the butt room, and Brinker had told everyone that he was giving it up (100) and that he would enlist the next day. I saw it as him taking advantage of his leadership coif among the boys and to lead the way into serving in the war. A more obvious way of seeing his leadership is the way that he is expound as the hub of the class (87). Hub is a synonym for the center of something, or the heart and core. If someone is described as the hub of the class, then it means that they are the person that keeps the class together. The final way I was able to see Brinkers leadership was towards the end of the book. Even though he had transformed to a more rebellious way, there was still a sign of his authority when he had ordered the trial in the Assembly Hall. His wanting to know the truth that was mystic from him drove him to hold the meeting in order to find it. Gene is definitely a dynamic and round character unlike Brinker who is a static and flat character. Gene changes very significantly in the story.He struggled a lot with finding himself and his identity, so much that he believes that he is a part of Phineas. Oddly enough, this sort of makes sense. One way to think about it is the guilt Gene was so disgusted with himself for having caused Finnys accident that he cant bear to be himself, so he becomes someone else Phineas. Another explanation is that because the struggle to define him is so difficult, hes simply borrowed someone elses identity instead of creating one for himself. But once Finny is gone, Gene has to rely on himself to make decisions and make up his own rules. At the end of the novel as Gene is reflecting fifteen years later, he says that his war ended before he ever put on a uniform . . . because he killed his enemy there (204). I believe that the enemy he defeated was the part of Phineas that was in him, and by doing that he was able to gain peace. Brinker authentically does not transform much throughout the story. His main change is when he steps down from his position in the Golden Fleece Debating Society and his behavior at the winter festival, but his strong and authoritative personality remains.It wasnt the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, thisafternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace. (136,137) This passage stood out to me because in the midst of a impetuous war, these schoolboys were able to find their own peace with each other by having fun and seeing that the little things in life like a winter carnival could create such an escape for them. It was their idea of freedom that gave them such peace within themselves, and it was as if the war was not even going on. There were many themes in this novel, but the one that stood out the most to me was the difference between creating your own identity and dependence on someone else to borrow theirs. When Phineas told Gene that he would be participating in sports in his place, Gene had a realization that what he had been longing for wa s to be a part of Finny.This is very different than the end of the novel where Gene is looking back to that time and realizing that the part of Phineas that was in him had died when Phineas died. And because of that death, he had to rely on himself in order to craft his own identity and to finally gain peace. I think that one of the biggest decisions Gene had to make was to tell Finny the truth on his way back to school after the summer session. Even though Finny did not listen to him, the courage that it took Gene to do that was immense. I think that it was wise because it showed that he cared enough about Finny to tell him the truth. I also think that it helped him get rid of some of the guilt by just having Finny know what actually happened, whether he believed it or not. If I were in Genes position I probably would do the same thing just because I know from previous experience that if you lie, it can really hurt you in the end, and it is a pain to have it harboring over you all the time. Ive learned two life lessons from this novel. One is to enjoy life, and not be so worried about what is going to happen next. I should not be completely apathetic to the future, but to live to the fullest and have fun. Another more serious lesson is the importance of leniency and love.If someone has wronged me, I should not keep a grudge against them or make them feel terrible about it, but instead I should do what Christ calls us to do which is to love one another as yourself, and to forgive. A Separate Peace has really reminded me how important these lessons, oddly the latter are as I continue to mature. There really was not anything that I disliked about this book except for one summon. Gene is telling the reader one of Finnys most important rules, and one of them was always say your prayersat night because it might turn out that there is a God (35). I did not like this quote just because of what I believe in and what I know as truth. I believe that there is a God an d that I should always pray no matter what. But other than this one quote, there was nothing I really disliked about it.