Internal vs External Conflict in A Separate Peace
Friends don’t just jostle friends out of tall trees, but in A Separate Peace by John Knowles the main character, Gene, does just that. This is a consequence of Gene repressing the feelings of hatred and envy that he had towards his pal Phineas. The novel takes place during the Second World War and revolves around the life of Gene and his friends. The young men are seventeen years old and are soon expected to go off and fight in the war. At the end of the novel, Gene said “ I never developed an intense hatred for the enemy...I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” (Knowles, 204). In his book, John Knowles builds up that Gene’s enemy is his habit of repressing internal
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His retelling starts out innocently enough, with a group of adolescents goofing around in the summer before they have to go off to war. However, as the story transitions into the winter months, the reader soon begins to see that Gene is developing new feelings regarding his friend Phineas. Phineas is a popular, athletic, well liked student with an ability to get away with almost anything he wants, and is very unlike Gene, who is reserved, studious, and often blends into the background, and these differences will contribute to the rift between these friends. Gene admits he is in fact jealous of Phineas after Phineas pulls a particularly impressive stunt that involved wearing a pink shirt out in public, saying “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (Knowles 18). Gene does not pay much attention to his envy, not able to believe that this envy of his friend will lead to any conflict at this time, but not long after this realization does he begin to fabricate a rivalry between Phineas and