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Compare And Contrast A Separate Peace And Dead Poets Society

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Recommended: A separate peace analysis essay

Oh Captain, My Captain John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is a moving story about a young man and his friends at a preparatory school in the midst of World War II. World War II puts a lot of stress on the boys, while the main character, Gene, is also struggling with internal conflict. Knowles’ beautifully crafts the story around Gene’s inner struggle. This story is much like the movie Dead Poets Society, which is about boys at a preparatory school during the 1950’s who are challenged by their teacher to go against the flow of society. Todd Anderson, the main character in this story, is trying to live up to his brother’s expectation. Henceforth, Todd is facing an internal struggle as well. Dead Poets Society and A Separate Peace are similar in a multitude of ways, including congruences in the characters, setting, and overall theme. …show more content…

In A Separate Peace, Gene, the quiet kid who is striving for excellence in school, is rooming with Finny, a boy who is followed by a crowd and looked up to by everyone. This really stretches Gene to try new things and come out of his comfort zone. Moreover, in Dead Poets Society, Todd is the quiet kid who is just trying to pass school. His roommate, Neil, already has a group of friends and pushes the limits on all the school rules and policies. As you can see, Gene is much like Todd because they both are shy and most overcome internal conflict. Likewise, Finny and Neil are parallel characters because they cross the line on school limitations and dare others to try new things. Cameron, a boy who no one really likes, is let into the club, but in the end he rats out the boys. In the same way, Leper in A Separate Peace is an outcast and not accepted by

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Dead Poets Society and A Separate Peace had many similarities and a few differences, there were secret societies that were not welcomed at Devon and Welton academies. Phineas and Neil both died from tragic deaths. The Dead Poets in DPS and were not given many options, same situation with the Suiciders in A Separate Peace. The few differences between the two; the purposes of the secret societies, the reasoning of deaths of the Finny and Neal, and in Dead Poets Society it wasn't all about the boys.

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In the beginning of A Separate Peace, Gene attempts to be equal to Finny in sports. Then when he realizes that's unattainable he switches to competing for being the valedictorian with himself edging out the competition just barely. Next with the return of Finny, he is convinced by the now crippled former all star athlete of the school to begin training for the upcoming olympics. Lastly Gene turns fully to academics when Finny finally realizes the war is real and there won't be a 1944 olympics. This ties into the main story because of how as his focus changes so does his mood towards himself and others, mostly Finny.

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During the late 1930’s and early to mid1940’s, Allies were fighting the axis powers in WW2. Along with the high tensions amongst countries, there was also high tension amongst civilian lives. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace clearly shows the tension within a friendship similar to that of Britain’s and Germany’s relationship. Through Allegory, John Knowles shows the tension within two friends that eventually leads to their inevitable demise. The symbolic items in the book are: Gene, the main character, Finny, the deuteragonist, and Finny’s pink shirt.

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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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The Sadness Saga Dead Poets Society, and A Separate Peace have many similarities to each other, despite having such different storylines. The two share similar ideas about character development and how to break a heart through words. Some specific similarities are that the main character has some sort of mental illness, characters learn something from someone close to them dying, and that they both have someone who they meet who changes their life forever. Each of these things brings the two stories even closer together.

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The pressures of getting an education can be very stressful. Trying to consistently maintain good grades, please your parents, and in the meantime try to hang out with your friends, can become very overwhelming. The Super Suicide Society from A Separate Peace and Dead Poets Society from The Dead Poets Society were both essentially formed in an effort to make their schooling less stressful. Both the Super Suicide Society and the Dead Poets Society provided an outlet from the pressures of their education and helped the members to conquer their fears. First of all, these two secret societies provided an outlet from the pressures of their schooling.

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Gene and Todd are both shy, reserved, and try to keep to themselves, whereas Neil and Finny are much more outgoing and are the risk takers. Neil and Finny both initiate the friendship in both texts and both Gene and Todd accept, feeling better about themselves. Neil and Finny both interact in actions that eventually hurt them. Both of these characters are the ones we feel bad for and hope that the ending will change somehow.

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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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In A Separate Peace, the reader can see that Finny’s death was part of a chain reaction caused by Gene. His death shows that a person not knowing their identity and who they are could affect other people and not just themselves. Although Gene didn’t directly kill Phineas, we can see how Gene being so overly obsessed with trying to be someone he’s not affected several people. He lost his identity and it cost someone else’s life rather than his own.

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“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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A Separate Peace: Homoerotic Theory and Hidden Love John Knowles was a very well known American author for his most popular novel, A Separate Peace, published in 2003. Knowles does not hold back when writing descriptions of characters or their emotions. This is very important for the novel because it lets readers visualize the emotions the characters feel and how they view each other. Knowles describes his own use of this literary technique in A Separate Peace by using the two main characters, Gene and Finny, and the setting of the novel, an all boys school named Devon Prep.

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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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In the novel A Separate Peace, there are multiple themes running through the story. The theme that affected the plot of this story the most was coming of age. All throughout the story Gene is seen growing and maturing. He makes the transition from his childhood into his adult life. This is important because it shows how his attitude and actions are affected by growing up which in turn changes and molds the plot and overall resolve and resolution of the novel.

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A difference between the two stories is that A Separate Peace took place during the war in 1942 and Dead Poets Society took place in 1959 where there was the Vietnam war and it did not really affect the United States and everything was just dandy.

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a fictional book about Gene Forrester, a student at Devon Private Boarding School. This story takes place during the 1940s when World War II was becoming more and more a part of daily life at Devon. The war encroaches and finally dominates the lives of the boys at Devon. Starting with the boys shoveling snow off of the train tracks, then their friend, Leper, enlists, and finally troops get permanently stationed at Devon.

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