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A Separate Peace Identity Analysis

1329 Words6 Pages

According to “Authenticity and Identity” by the author, Bob Edelstein, he interprets an identity is classified as values that reflect who a person is. A person having a lack of understanding what their own values are called the term “identity crisis” which is explained by Susan Krauss Whitbourne in the article “Are You Having an Identity Crisis?”. According to Shahram Heshmat, the author of “Basic of Identity”, “Lack of a coherent sense of identity will lead to uncertainty about what one wants to do in the life” (1). This states that if a person has this lack of understanding about their values, can’t fulfil their own qualities. This relates to the characters of A Separate Peace. Within the novel, the characters question who they are and …show more content…

This questioning of their identity builds up when their own perception of success, personal fears, and jealousies spiral out of control. The character Gene in A Separate Peace written by John Knowles, is conflicted with his feelings towards his best friend, Finny, since Gene is envious of Finny’s charisma as well as athletic talent. Therefore, Gene attempts to impersonate Finny because Gene lacks in seeing his own potential. The people who have this issue as stated in the article by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, “People low in identity commitment have an uncertain sense of …show more content…

The whole meaning of identity is altered into the the change in one’s personal quality in order to fit everyone else's perception of who they should be. Overall, their identity was never situated by the fact that the characters lacked the understanding of being their own person with their gifted qualities. The reality of the war is a key factor to why the society, school, and families caused the characters to change themselves. They felt the need to fit in because they saw everyone else doing so and that was what they were taught to do by the school’s main goal. A Separate Peace demonstrated the characters struggle of dealing with the change of themselves and how they had this confusion of who they really are. Gene, Finny, Leper, and Brinker didn’t even have to enlist in the war since all along, the war was the conflict about

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342 Words | 2 Pages

A Separate Peace Gene and Finny are Psychological aspects of the same person. Because some things gene says make it seem like they are the same person. Gene and Finny are the same person just have different sides of that one person. Gene is the sarcastic, anxious, and jealous side of him, and Finny is the fun, loving, peaceful, energetic, brave side. Then Leper could be the crazy psycho path side of Gene after he goes to war.

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307 Words | 2 Pages

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man. Fifteen years after attending Devon, an elite military preparatory school located in New Hampshire, the narrator, Gene Forrester, returned to reflect upon how fearful he was during the time he spent training and studying for World War II. He then decides to visit the places or symbols on the campus that were closely associated with his fear; a marble staircase and a tree placed near the bank of the river. As Gene visits these key symbols of fear, he flashes back upon his time at Devon. He remembers his best friend, Phineas or Finny, as a very superior athlete and charming young man.

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1176 Words | 5 Pages

In a world of many people, conflicts arise within those people. The novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, tells a story about two boys, their coming of age story and the conflicts that arise with their coming of age. In the novel, both boys try to stay true to who they are as people. But only one of those boys stays true to who they are. Overall, the way each boy responds to events that occur shows who they really are inside and how different the boys are.

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979 Words | 4 Pages

Beware of Desires “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else 's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation,” observed Oscar Wilde. In the fictional novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles two best friends, Gene and Finny, both go to an elite boys ' private school in New Hampshire. Finny is a natural born leader and an athlete that easily succeeds in everything he does. Meanwhile, Gene is a bookworm that tries his best to be as successful as Finny.

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1239 Words | 5 Pages

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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1911 Words | 8 Pages

In John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, three main characters each suggest in their actions a different way to grow and develop into a more mature person and their growth manifests good or bad given the circumstances. Gene, Leper, and Phineas all mature or develop in different ways despite being close, as their lives intertwine they all have personal struggles to overcome and learn from Gene Forrester is one of John Knowles’ extremely complex characters. Gene is described as an intellectual, extremely gifted in academics. Gene may have the brains but this does not stop him from comparing himself to his best friend’s intellectually savvy personality and natural athletic ability. As Gene reflects on the summer of 1942 he states his distaste with his younger self’s affinity for sarcasm and

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1458 Words | 6 Pages

the protagonist gains maturity gradually and with difficulty. Usually, the plot depicts a conflict between the protagonist and the values of society... A Separate Peace matches this definition. It is a bildungsroman because the protagonist, Gene, is describing his story in flashback about how much he has changed now than when he was in school, Gene becomes worried about getting older because he will have to go into the approaching war, and he loses innocence throughout the story.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

“Our minds are a battle ground between good and bad ideas; we are whatever side wins the battle” Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom. The struggle between good and evil is found universally. In the novel A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester struggles between his own inner good and evil. Gene's actions often reflect his feelings, leading him to trouble, giving the illusion that Gene is filled with more evil than good. However, Gene's goodness can be found even through dark times.

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741 Words | 3 Pages

“Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time of school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was taken place at Devon High in the mid 1940’s, in the New England area during WWII. The main character, Gene, is a very smart, but envious and imitative kid that returns back to his school later in life to find peace within himself and past conflicts. Gene’s envious and imitative actions have had many affects within himself, others, and his future, but has found peace throughout everything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him a lot throughout the novel.

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1335 Words | 6 Pages

Identity is who an individual thinks they are to themselves and to others. Identity is such a complex topic, so this struggle with finding identity can happen. In the novel Indian Horse the main character, Saul, struggles to find his true self. This is due to the fact that he fails to fulfill all the requirements that Maslow’s hierarchy proposes. Maslow’s hierarchy states that there are requirements that must be fulfilled to reach self actualization or in this case true identity.

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout literature the constant theme of identity has been explored, with Northrop Frye even suggesting “the story of the loss and regaining of identity is, I think, the framework for all literature.” For characters, true identity isn’t always apparent, it needs to be searched for. Sometimes the inner struggle for identity stems from ones need for belonging. Whether one finds their sense of identity within friends, family, or in a physical “home”. It’s not always a place that defines identity.

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1268 Words | 6 Pages

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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769 Words | 4 Pages

A loving friend turns murderer after his retched jealousness and overanalyzing pushes him to new lows. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the true character of Gene Forrester is shown as he narrates his point of view of the story. Gene Forrester is a relatable ever changing, humanistic, and someone who is always in contention. Although at points Gene seems mentally unstable, he is a round, dynamic character that adapts and is generally mentally sound. Gene being the narrator of his own story shows from his perspective just how he views people and their interactions.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

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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522 Words | 3 Pages

On page 201-202 of A Separate Peace Gene narrates “I myself had often been happy at Devon, but such times it seemed to me that afternoon were over now.” This quote shows how Gene was changed from a carefree student to a worried soon-to-be solider. The troops only add to the feelings of sadness because of Finny's death since Gene sees what the future holds. Overall, John Knowles’ fictional book A Separate Peace has many themes.

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