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Gene's Character Finny In 'A Separate Peace'

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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. There were many jobs within the U.S. Army and the war effort he could have done. It could have been possible to be a war doctor, or a navy dockworker, just not a soldier on the frontlines. He could have worked from inside the base, launching missiles or even a battle strategist. He just wasn’t physically able to be a soldier. What really shocked me was that he was writing to Russia and Japan and all these countries, some of which weren’t even part of the American Alliance. This seemed …show more content…

One being the person who pushes Gene over the edge. Leper went to war, and came back broken. He wasn’t the same person. He showed Gene that war is a terrible thing, and that is what caused Gene to tell Finny he wasn’t suited for war. IF, Finny came back from the war, IF, he managed to live through however long it would be, he would be broken, like Leper. The living through the war, and Gene ever seeing Finny again is a huge if. Another role Leper plays in the book is sort of fake in my eyes. He is shown to be an artist. This peaceful, serene person who just wants to look at beaver dams. There are two times this happens in the book. Knowles piles on the opposite of that character’s end result. One is with Finny, piling on his beautiful walk, his athleticism, and his good spirit, only to have that destroyed later. And Leper, artistic, and peaceful, only to become a young man who is insane and broken. This is one of the worst thing that happens in the book: destroying …show more content…

Not Finny’s, but Gene’s. Leper was questioned about what really happened that day with the tree. Because he didn’t know any better he said he saw an engine, one piston went up, the other down. It would soon have been figured out that Gene went up. Finny did not give them a chance, because he stormed out and fell again, but later they would have found out it was Gene. They would have bullied and beat up Gene for hurting Finny. They were Gene’s only friends, and with Finny gone he would have been alone. Gene might have committed suicide, therefore Leper being Gene’s Grim Reaper, or Gene would have gone back to who he was in the beginning of the book: lonely and

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142 Words | 1 Pages

Although he lives, Gene is ultimately the one truly destroyed by his envy. Gene has many theories that Finny is trying to trick or misguide him, sending him into a jealous rage. Thinking Finny was against him, Gene started to uncover Finny’s real intentions. ”That way he, the great athlete, would be ahead of me. It

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380 Words | 2 Pages

(Explanation 2) By being hesitant to share his suspicion and feeling sorry for having it, Finny rises way above Gene in nobility which irritates Gene and instigates him to admit. Gene wants to be even with Finny if not better. Later that summer, (Point 2) when Gene visits Finny in his home in Boston he confesses what actually happened at the tree. (Evidence 2) Finny says: “Of course, you didn’t do it.

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471 Words | 2 Pages

The confusion on the fall prevented the characters of Finny and Gene from growing as individuals. In order to become adults, they needed to stop avoiding the truth. Leper, who had been to the war, a place of harsh reality and truth, was the one to reveal the truth about Finny’s fall. It made sense for Leper, the bearer of reality, to introduce this truth to Finny and Gene. He took away the perfect world they were living in and opened them up to a whole new stage of life.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

Gene from John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, a dynamic character changes in accordance to the events of the story. Gene is a very intelligent student. Throughout the novel we see Gene almost become persuaded by the actions of his friend Phineas. Phineas is a bouncy character who loves sports and doesn’t see the value of studying like Gene. Gene frequently tries to balance his academic and social life, but he gets sick of this balancing act when he backlashes at Phineas for interrupting him from his schoolwork, “Okay, we go.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

He is basically, through rhetorical questions, saying that he does not want to do what Finny does, but it’s like he cannot help it. This is affecting who Gene is as a person because he is not thinking for himself. Is Gene really even himself if Finny is doing the thinking for him? If he is not thinking for himself, he is not being true to himself. Another way that Gene is affected is that he allows his imitation of Finny get in the way of his schooling.

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1701 Words | 7 Pages

Gene’s survival was dependent on Finny’s death. When Gene jounces the limb he shatters Finny’s leg, as well as his heart. Finny knows that Gene purposely caused his fall, but can’t let his “best pal” be exposed. Finny will do anything to save Gene from Leprosy. Finny realizes that Gene “just didn’t know” what he had done, and forgives his sin, which saves Gene.

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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

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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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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1510 Words | 7 Pages

This all just goes to show that Gene looks at Finny like an enemy, but the feelings are not quite reciprocated, even after Gene purposely hurts Finny. Gene not only hurts Finny with his emotions and his words, but also with his actions, which is why Gene believes that he killed his enemy, which is Finny,

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623 Words | 3 Pages

Once the doctor came out and explain Finny's condition to Gene, he says Finny wants to talk to Gene. Gene then thinks, “Finny would say nothing behind my back, he would accuse me face to face.” (64) Gene knew that Finny would be mad at him after the tree incident. He expected this because he knew that it was true what he did. Gene doesn't doubt that Finny

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769 Words | 4 Pages

At Devon, Leper is an outcast who Gene befriends again because no one else seems to understand him but gene. This shows how although Gene has swayed emotions, underneath all he is a good person who doesn't mind taking another friend even if it means he is viewed differently for being around Leper. Along with that after braking Finny’s leg and finding out Finny will never play sports again, Gene wishes he had been the one to break his leg. Further showing how at heart Gene is a good friend. Gene’s widespread personality lead to him acquiring a diverse description, including jealousy, self preservation, over analysing, but friendly

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Gene finally fully confessed when Finny was in the hospital after falling down the steps. Gene told Finny he tried to tell him a couple times before when the story states “ Finny, I tried to tell you before, I tried to tell you when I came to Boston -” (145). Finny already knew Gene did it but he was not ready to hear it completely yet. Finny forgave Gene after he said he believed that it was a blind impulse.

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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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502 Words | 3 Pages

In David Barno’s , “A New Moral Compact,” he stresses about our countries current military situation, which is all-volunteer. Barno has also served time in the military himself as a lieutenant general. He claims that the countries current dependence on the all-volunteer military, allows us to rush into war without thinking about the consequences first. Barno proposes the idea, “that every use of military force over 60 days would automatically trigger an annual draft lottery to call up 10,000 men and women” (p.20).This solution is useful but it is not useful enough because it targets sympathy from the people while he needs to target the president because the president can initiate a war without consent of the people or Congress.

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