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Coming Of Age In John Knowles A Separate Piece

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A Separate Piece, by John Knowles, is a coming of age novel that follows the development of the main character, Gene Forester, a junior at an exclusive boy’s school in New England. This extract focuses on Gene moving on from Devon and moving on from Phineas. As Gene looks back on his days at Devon, he begins to accept the mistake he made. Not the mistake of pushing Finny off the tree, but the mistake of misunderstanding their friendship. By the end of the novel, Gene has discovered himself. He discovers that he has his own identity. He no longer will live his life as Finny did. He is ready for war. “I was ready for war…” Gene becomes ready for war after leaving Devon behind. When he left Devon behind, he felt like he was leaving Finny behind too. Gene knows he must head into his future, including war. Through the entire book, Finny seems like he is untouched by evil. This is so because he lived in his small happy bubble and chose not let evil in because he could not handle it. “Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken …show more content…

Maginot Lines are lines of defense. The line of defense between Gene and Finny was finally understood. “… all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines… this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all…” Because of Gene’s jealousy of Finny, he saw Finny as an enemy, but at the end he realized that Finny was an ally. The Maginot Line was really just a conflict he had with himself, not with Finny. Throughout the novel, the war keeps showing its face. Sometimes when the war is discussed in this book, it is actually about World War II, but other times, the war is a metaphor representing the relationship between Gene and Finny. This extract is telling us about Gene’s transition to war and him moving on from Finny and Devon. Gene accepts that he must look into his future rather than his past life at

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231 Words | 1 Pages

In John Knowles, fictional novel, A Separate Peace, he uses internal conflict to ensure the reader’s understanding of a true friendship. Gene brings Finny’s suitcase to the infirmary, and the boys finally talk about the accident. Finny is an emotional mess and begins to cry. He asks Gene, “It was just some blind impulse you had in the tree there, you didn’t know what you were doing. Was that it” (191)?

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683 Words | 3 Pages

2. Gene says that Finny is not suited for war. Do you disagree or agree with this statement? I disagree with Gene’s statement that Finny is not suited for war. Finny was mentally prepared and seemed to want to enlist in some of the earlier parts of the book.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

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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692 Words | 3 Pages

The author, John Knowles, in the novel, “A Separate Peace”, conveys the lesson of friendship, or rather the lack of, with his use of diction. The strategy in which the author phrased certain sections of dialogue between Finny and Gene is there to show that Finny cares for Gene despite Gene’s obvious discontent. The friendship is a one-way street, and the author uses diction to represent this unbalance in the relationship, leading to friendship being a key theme throughout the book. There exist many examples of this diction throughout the novel, one of these is during their illegal beach trip. “I hope you’re having a pretty good time here.

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700 Words | 3 Pages

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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870 Words | 4 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that, “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” (370). John Knowles’ A Separate Peace is set during World War I at Devon School, a boarding school for boys. The book centers on Gene Forrester, a student at Devon, who could be described as an intelligent, but jealous, conformist. A Separate Peace illustrates Gene’s envy and imitation of his friend, Finny, and how it affects himself and his relationship with Finny, and also how Gene eventually finds peace.

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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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1701 Words | 7 Pages

My fury was gone… Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever” (195). Gene fights his “war” with himself, not Finny. Although Gene alone was responsible for his death, Finny forgives him and makes Gene ready for the war, now that his hatred has left. Gene returns to Devon to confront his problems and cleanse himself.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

In Gene's younger days, he is carefree and thinks only of himself. Maturity becomes more prominent when Gene confesses his evil against Finny. By the end of the novel, Gene overcomes the battle of good vs evil within and observes, "... my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there." (A Separate Peace, 110).

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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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791 Words | 4 Pages

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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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

Overall Gene is known to be the character that has worries and lets emotional situations get the best of him. Continuously throughout the story Gene allows what happens to Finny and the world around him slowly bring him down. The war acts as another filler for disaster in society and can get the best of the boys who are preparing to fight in it. Therefore Gene’s identity in A Separate Peace defines him as the weaker one the one who is sensitive.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

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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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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