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Growing Up In John Knowles A Separate Peace

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“He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural way. So at last I had” (John Knowles A Separate Peace). In his novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles explores the importance of growing up and the danger of trying to stay forever young. John Knowles shares with his readers the importance of growing up, and that trying to stay forever young can be destructive to everyone around you. In his novel one of the main characters Phineas is a child at heart. He sees the world as a cruel place and decides he never wants to grow up. He does this through many actions during …show more content…

Gene knows this is a childish activity, but goes along since Finny is his best friend! This one act stems to the creation of a secret society completely made up by Finny, called “The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. The society is to meet every night and the meeting is to start out with Finny and Gene jumping out of the dreadful tree, Gene starts to see this as tiring and he gets bored with it, He would rather stay in his room and study so he can become the head of the class like he has always dreamed! One night he decides to tell Finny he is not coming, but when Finny does not put up a fight Gene tags right along knowing he is his best friend. This night things change for the best and the worst. The boys jump side by side on this very small branch, but Finny is not so lucky. He falls off the branch, hitting a bank, and breaking his leg. Gene comes down with major guilt because it was his fault, but his best pal refuses to think so, Finny tells him in his home to sit down and shut up before he punches him! Finny here is in denial and being yet again a

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953 Words | 4 Pages

To touch on the subject again, at the end of chapter two, Gene and Finny were on the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session tree and when Gene turned around to retort something back to Phineas, Gene lost balance, and would have almost fallen and died if it wasn’t for Finny. And as previously said, Gene felt thankful but on the other hand, he blamed Phineas for almost falling off the tree, because it was Phineas that coaxed him to the tree. Skipping to the end of chapter five, Gene and Finny are both on the tree again. Finny, wanting to jump out, side by side into the lake like they did previous chapters, ventured out to the wooden rungs and held onto a thin branch. Gene – feeling bitter because he realized that “Phineas had never been jealous of me for a second...

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Then later that night, Gene and Finny are pulled from bed by a group of several other boys from Devon and are questioned about what really happened before Finny fell out of the tree. Even Leper is questioned. When Leper begins to say that Gene purposely shook the branch, Finny stands up and shouts about how he doesn’t care either way, before running away, falling down the stairs, and breaking his leg a second time. Later, Gene sneaks into the infirmary where Finny is staying but he is absolutely furious, and makes him leave. The next morning he tries to visit Finny again, and they both agree that his actions on the tree was not on purpose.

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350 Words | 2 Pages

The boys in the Butt Room react to Brinker’s accusation as a joke, and playfully accuse Gene of his attempt to purposely hurt Finny and knock him out of the tree. The boys start to question gene of what happened during the time of the fall, and if he was the one who purposely caused Finny to lose his balance. The reason Gene is to play along and make up a story about his attempt to murder Finny was to hide the truth of his actions and to keep them from finding out “ Oh, you know about the tree, I tried to let my face fall guilty, but I felt instead as though it were being dragged toward. Yes, huh, yes there was a small, a little contretemps at the tree” (Knowles 90).

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871 Words | 4 Pages

Gene breaks that vow when he causes Finny's fall that results in life altering injuries “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the

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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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This makes gene frightened and even more envious of Finny. On the same day that Gene realizes that Phineas is actually a good-hearted person, Finny suggests that he and Gene do a double jump out of the tree and into the river. Finny jumps down and gene doesn’t causing Finny to fall and “shatter” his leg and ultimately end his athletic career forever. When Gene goes to visit Phineas in the hospital he’s scared – but Finny doesn’t notice. Phineas believes he fell out of the tree, but Gene thinks he could’ve pushed him.

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711 Words | 3 Pages

“A Separate Peace” portrays how Gene’s envy and imitation affects himself, his relationship with Finny, and how he finds his peace, or lack thereof, at the end of the book. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him in many ways. He starts to believe he was meant to become a part of Finny. After Finny broke his leg from falling out of a tree, he tells Gene that he must play sports for him. Gene then thinks to himself “and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas,” (Knowles 85).

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This causes many avoidable issues with Gene, which soon leads him to assume Finny has the same mutual rivalry with him. Finny continues to show honesty and loyalty to Gene under competitive circumstances, leaving him victim to the tree incident. Gene realizes his own insecure mistakes caused him to end his best friend's life, which he knew he could not cry over. Reflectance is present in Gene after many tragic events, leading him to accept and forgive himself. Gene evolves in many ways throughout this book and grows internally from certain dire events.

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When he tries to explain this to his permanently injured companion, Finny brushes it off and denies it (57). Later, Brinker hosts a trial to deem whether or not Gene’s evil instincts could have hurt Finny (157). Finny once again denies that Gene caused the fall, except Brinker pushes the limits. He continues to argue that Gene was in the tree and has Leper testify against Gene until Finny can’t take it anymore- he marches out of the room and fatally falls down a set of marble stairs (168).

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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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Gene believes that Finny and he hate each other, until he realizes Finny’s pureness, which Gene can not stand. At first, Gene believes that Finny wants to exceed him, and that the two are rivals. Everyone at Devon likes Finny. The teachers adore him, the students look up to him, the athletes aspire

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In Chapter One of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster points out that almost every trip in literature is a quest. The five elements to a quest are: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and the real reason to go. Gene is the quester in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. He visited the Devon School, where he had been a student fifteen years before, to see two “fearful sites,” (Knowles 10). While at the school, he noticed that it looked new, which he found slightly unsettling, for “...it made the school look like a museum...”

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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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Since Gene was the one to jounce the limb of the tree and put Finny off balance he takes the responsibility for the accident. This proves that gene has the identity for being the worrier and the responsible one. Each time something bad happens Gene feels like he is responsible and doesn't want anyone to know that he is. Since he is known to be the nerd he doesn't want his identity to his friends to become worse.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

Charles Kuralt once said, “ The love of family and the admirations of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.” This quote shows how jealousy and popularity aren’t as important as relationships in your life. In the book, A Separate Peace, Gene has different priorities than relationships. Gene, a young boy who attends Devon boarding school, goes through many different trials along his grade school journey. He faces problems with friends and school life during the time of World War two and the draft being in full swing.

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