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A Separate Peace By John Knowles: Character Analysis

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“Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family”, found in Proverbs 18:24. This corresponds to Gene and Finny, because when Finny injured himself Gene stuck by his side regardless as if he was family. In A Separate Peace John Knowles conversed Finny into an Athletic, charismatic, and likeable character. This illustrated that charm and kindness can win you many friends.Phineas was an astounding athlete. His athletic ability and skill gained him much popularity. For instance he saw that no one had broken the swimming record so he went and broke it. “Don't run away from challenges run over them”(Joan Benoit Samuelson). This resembles Finny because he had a competitive spirit that is what everyone had loved about him. Although people loved his athletic skills they fell in love with his charisma even more. Finny was always getting into trouble, but …show more content…

Phineas got along with everyone, was friends with everyone, never had any problems. In fact Gene said, “Finny could shine with everyone he attracted everyone he met”. Throughout the story Gene portrayed Finny as someone who expected everyone to be energetic ,bubbly, carefree. Gene had some strong feelings towards Finny, but he did not pick up on it. He started to compare everything that him and Finny did it was like as if life had became a competition, well at least it was through his eyes. Gene started to express hatred or maybe jealousy ,even he started analyzing life, questioning things. He felt as if Finny controlled him, so he tried to change his ways and stop being so naive. But there was something rare about Finny you could not hate him or be mad at him he was just likeable. Finny lived life in the moment so he really did not do a lot of thinking he thought everything between the two of them was great. Things were not so good but there was nothing Gene could do about it they were

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He thought Finny was attempting to sabotage his grades and saw this as a way of ending all his stress involving his relation to Finny and studying. This was when he snapped from all the stress he has cause himself by thinking that he was in constant competition with Phineas. Point: Finny is like a star because he is constant.

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The friendship Gene and Finny have throughout the story slowly changes to envy that Gene portrays towards Finny as a result of his jealousy. Finny is only one of those sort of gentlemen that is extremely understood and individuals truly like. However, Finny is the kind of individual who is great at everything including sports and talking himself out of trouble. For example, Finny breaking the school swimming recorded lead to Gene being desirous. Gene predicts that Finny is attempting to show off his athletic ability.

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Gene is secretly jealous of the charm that Finny possesses, and he wants something to go wrong for Finny. Throughout the novel he shows a range of emotions toward Finny and this effects their friendship. He is dynamic,

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Finny who is one of those attractive guys who everyone likes and is attracted to because of his good nature other than his rule breaking. Finny happens to be good at almost everything including getting out of trouble and sports. Gene can 't help but envy him.

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Maybe there was once a time when Gene was Finny’s genuine friend, but at some point, a seed of doubt plants itself in Gene’s brain and spreads like a virus tainting his image of Finny in Chapter 2. His true feelings about Finny are seen right after Finny yet again talks his way out of trouble, and Gene says he “. . .felt a sudden stab of disappointment.” (Knowles 28) Instead of being happy that Finny escaped trouble as a genuine friend would be, he was hoping Finny would get in trouble for his shenanigans. As the story progresses, his envy towards Finny grows and grows until eventually, instead of seeing him as a friend, he begins viewing him as an opponent and villainizes his every action (Knowles 52).

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Gene considers Finny to be his best friend. In this type of friendship there is an implied vow of trust, loyalty and sense of forever friendship "Finny could shine with everyone, he attracted everyone he met. I was glad of that too. Naturally. He was my roommate and my best friend" (Knowles 40).

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Once Finny is thoroughly introduced, you begin to gain a better understanding of Gene’s feelings. Finny is perfect on paper he is athletic, naïve, charming, outgoing, the list goes on and on. He is an example of all the things Gene isn’t which makes him “competition”. In chapter 4 Gene says, “We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (54).

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Which makes Gene quite an annoyance. When the doctor tells Gene and FInny that Phineas would never play sports again Gene bursts into tears, whereas Phineas tells Gene “What are you looking so sick about?”(65). Phineas understood what happened to him is horrible but frankly Gene feels worse than he does about the situation. This is because Gene is depressed, and feels completely responsible for the situation that ruined his friend’s goals for the

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(Knowles 70).Gene’s jealousy got the best of him and he made Finny fall out of a tree and injure himself and it made them get into an argument. Gene being so jealous messed up a great relationship. Finny was never in competition but Gene was. “Phineas’ imaginary worlds create peace separate from the world at war, and he invites others, especially Gene into this peaceful sphere” (Alton). This piece of evidence explains how Gene’s envy got in control of him and that Finny never thought of their friendship as a competition.

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Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

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As a result, he forms a false narrative in which Finny has malicious intent, which is detrimental to their relationship. Additionally, Gene realizes that his connection to Phineas is due to envy and imitation, which means that in his maturity, they were not truly friends. Alton states, "However, as Gene matures, he starts to develop his own identity. He recognizes his attraction to deadly things and, more significantly, he writes a narrative about his relationship with Phineas, revealing the flaws in his own character which led to Phineas's death" (Alton). In his mature state, Gene realizes his flawed relationship with Phineas, meaning that they were not really friends, and it was more of an envious imitation.

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“ I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him for that a little, which is perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying your best friend a little” (Knowles 9). Gene had convinced himself that there was no harm in envying Finny, at least a little. Gene failed to recognize that he envied Finny for this far more than a little.

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To start, Gene’s envy and imitation of Phineas affect him in many different ways. One example of this is when Gene decides to play sports for Finny because Finny told him to. After this, Gene explains that he “lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring

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And is trying to stop him from looking good. Gene starts to compete towards Finny but silently. As he starts to think Finny is holding him back from being smart. He sets a goal to be valedictorian, and starts to get violent with Finny. For example, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything.

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The Bolshevik government led by Vladimir Lenin, exploited the political climate by emphasizing the needs and importance of the working class to effectively seize power from the Provisional Government. The Bolshevik government created the slogan “Peace, bread, land” to echo the common concerns of the working-class and announced the decree of peace, land and workers, which promised to give peasants the right to their own land and a fair minimum wage. Lenin established his “April Thesis” which outlined ten demands and announced them on 17 April 1917. Lenin wrote his April Theses traveling back to Russia after being in exile in Switzerland for fifteen years. His theses contributed greatly to the July Days uprising, between the third and seventh

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