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A Separate Peace Envy Analysis

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Envy can cause betrayal. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, teenage feelings of envy, friendship, and betrayal bubble up at Devon, an all-boys boarding school in New England. Two boys, Gene and Finny are the opposite of each other: Gene is a studious, diligent student, while Finny is fun-loving and athletic. Knowles juxtaposes the pureness of Finny to portray the “savage” side of Gene (Knowles 145). The boys’ differences do not keep them apart, however, for they are roommates and Phineas considers Gene his “best pal” (48). In the real world, World War II is occurring while Finny secretly tries to enlist in the military, although with his broken leg he will not be able to participate. Gene feels an enormous amount of sorrow for jouncing the limb of a tree when Finny and him were on it, causing Finny to fall. Gene cannot face his sense of responsibility and get rid of his guilt. Gene is not a bad person, he has a conscience, and feels remorse, but he cannot face the part of himself deep down inside that …show more content…

Gene and Finny are best pals since the day they met at Devon, but betrayal of one another destroys their friendship. "It's you, pal," Finny said to me at last, "just you and me." (18). Finny and Gene were suppose to be the best of friends, however betrayal consumes them. Finny did forgive Gene for jouncing the limb and not being there for him when he fell down the staircase in Devon like a good friend would have. Gene would grieve for a long time without getting Finny’s forgiveness, for he felt very guilty. He got Finny’s remission before he passed away sadly. “Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us” (59). Gene realizes that the accusations in his mind about Finny trying to sabotage him were false. Gene has accepted both his own guilt and the gift of Finny's friendship. This experience has helped him to grow into an insightful young

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A Separate Peace, Unit Test Hamza Eldohiri The story “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, was written at the time and takes place during World War II when battles and conflicts amongst nations were evident. Each nation involved struggled and fought their hardest in order to satisfy the good of their nation. Not only is the setting in the story taking place during this time of quarrel, the story also demonstrates areas of self-conflict and an internal battle throughout. The characters in “A Separate Peace”, are described as experiencing this self-conflicting, internal battle. Gene (also the narrator) is specifically depicted as he goes through his battle in life.

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Gene’s outburst in the tree was completely natural. Gene knew everything he could learn from Finny, to leave Finny alone would stand as a testament, in Gene’s mind, to Gene’s shortcomings. Gene had become lost in the past and in the mind of Finny as shown by Knowles with “"It's you, pal," Finny said to me at last, "just you and me." He and I started back across the fields… We were the best of friends at that moment”

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But then he drops it and apologizes for ever thinking about it. Gene is still in guilt over the accident. This is not consistent with Finny’s personality because throughout the book, Finny has shown to be not one to accuse and to mistrust his friends. Gene tries to tell Finny the truth and is unable to bring himself to say it. In addition, Gene becomes defensive on the part of Finny and still feels guilty.

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Friendship A Separate Peace has a very unique description of friendship. Throughout the book, Gene is jealous of Finny’s looks and what he is able to do. Gene has a lot of ambivalent feelings toward Finny. He wants to be Finny, but at the same time he is jealous of him.

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Without forgiveness, Gene would still be living in fear and hate, buried by his burden. Gene learns tremendously from his experiences. All his enemies were imagined, there was no need for “Maginot Lines” to protect himself from an enemy that didn’t exist. After Finny’s funeral Gene becomes “Phineas-filled” and his “war is over before it ever begins.” Gene realizes, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it.

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Gene wanted Finny to get in trouble for what Finny had did, which had worn his tie as a belt. He hated that Finny got away with almost anything that he did wrong and wanted to go down someday. Another way their relationship is affected is through Gene’s lack of self-finding and liking. Gene hated that he never was like Finny, so he started to acting and do things that Finny did. That caused a lot of jealousy, guilt, and self-destruction from throughout the relationship that Gene and Finny had.

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He still encourages Gene to do the things that Finny no longer can because he wants to see someone else flourish, and most importantly: his friend. After Finny’s death, Gene even declares that “nothing … had broken [Finny’s] harmonious and natural unity” (Knowles 203). Since Gene exclaims this, the reader understands that Finny

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Guilt is a funny concept, that has a different affects on different people. Guilt can cause some to confess and it releases the burden, but for those who take long to confess, it can turn into a negative reaction that can cripple your emotions. A Separate Peace is set in a boarding school in New England. Gene, a main character, is an incisive introvert whose best friend, Phineas, is a handsome athlete. When an accident occurs over the Summer, that leaves Gene and Finny hurt in some way, what comes next could take a toll on their friendship.

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In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, the main character, Gene Forrester, undergoes a traumatic journey to develop the aspects necessary for coping through adulthood. This novel is a flashback to the year of 1942, when Gene attends his final year at Devon High School, in New Hampshire. Although Gene appears to be Finny’s best friend, he follows in Finny’s steps so that his personality clones to be like Finny’s. Finny exposes new experiences that provoke Gene’s development into adulthood. As Gene engages in new experiences, he soon realizes that he envies Finny’s abilities.

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“Then a second realization broke as clearly and bleakly as dawn at the beach. Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies.” (24) Gene thinks this after going to the beach with Finny and ruining his grade because of the lack of studying due to his time spent having fun. This is just one example of how Gene thinks there's some sort of ongoing competition between themselves, causing Gene to be extremely jealous, self concerning and over analyzing about every situation instead of just enjoying the fun the two have as Finny does. Even though Gene acts like this he is still very friendly and a good person.

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Emerson states that “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide” (370). Famous author John Knowles wrote A Separate Peace during the events of World War II at his prep school Devon. He writes about a boy similar to himself who struggles with accepting his progress towards adulthood. Gene, the boy in question, finds himself escaping this issue through his best friend Phineas. A Separate Peace demonstrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect his relationship with Finny, and Gene’s lack of peace.

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In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace Identity is shown as what defines us and makes us be placed in other peoples perspectives. An author can use identity to place characters in the readers mind to portray them a certain way, just as John Knowles did in A Separate peace. An identity can be defined as who a person is inside and out.

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(Knowles, 100) Gene felt guilty for betraying Finny. Whether it was purposefully, subconsciously, or accidentally, Gene had sabotaged his friend and broke his leg. His guilt constantly ate at him, culminating in multiple attempts to absolve him of it. He seeked reprieve despite being the one who had betrayed Finny. Gene’s attempts at getting rid of his guilt only made his relationship with Finny worse.

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Finny and Gene’s Friendship Friendship is very important in this story. Friendship is very important for a person’s well-being. In this book titled A Separate Peace by John Knowles the reader learns a lot about friendship in this book.

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Finny not being able to play sports anymore that meant Gene was next in line for the top athlete at Devon. In addition, this incident leads to Finny having several health issues and dying towards the end of the novel. Gene knew that Finny had no admirations towards him and that made him angered. Gene was hurt when Finn died but he still didn’t change once he went to war or when he came back to visit Devon in his elder years. “He had never been jealous of me for a second.

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