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How Does A Separate Peace Relate To High School Students

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Throughout the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, there are many important things portrayed that coincide with the fact that the book is a wonderful literary piece and should be a required book to be read by many students. The main characters Phineas or Finny, an athletic and caring young man, and Gene Forrester, an intelligent student at Devon with an undying hatred within himself, are very similar to a vast majority of high school students. A Separate Peace is an absolutely amazing novel and should be a required book read by every high school student because of the following: it relates to High School students, it demonstrates how hatred can turn into something very evil, and it teaches people how to forgive someone despite previous …show more content…

“Like all old, good schools, Devon did not stand isolated behind walls and gates but emerged naturally from the town which had produced it” (Knowles 11). This quote shows how Devon has been just like all old, good schools, so it can relate to many other high schools because of the clear fact that the students attending Devon were nearly the same as the students attending high schools in real life. In addition to the school itself, the characters in A Separate Peace relate to a lot of high school students because they deal with a lot of school work and get distracted quite easily, “He got carried away by things; for example, he was so fascinated by the tilting planes of solid geometry that he did almost as badly in trigonometry as I did myself” (Knowles 54). The previously listed quote explains how Chet Douglass, an intelligent character, almost got too distracted with geometry that he nearly did as bad as Gene Forrester did in trigonometry (Knowles 54). In light of the evidence above, it is clearly obvious that the characters and setting in A Separate Peace closely relate to the students and setting of high schools in real …show more content…

Phineas, after being tormented by Gene’s actions, still finds forgiveness in his heart. Shortly after Gene visits Phineas in the infirmary, Gene tells Phineas how it was he who purposely jounced the limb (Knowles 191). Phineas, in response to Gene’s great remorse, says, “Something just seized you. It wasn’t anything you really felt against me, it wasn’t some kind of hate you’ve felt all along. It wasn’t anything personal” (Knowles 191). Phineas understands that Gene had something deep within his heart that Gene himself could not physically control. Directly after Gene agrees that it was not anything personal, Phineas says, “I believe you. It’s okay because I understand and I believe you. You’ve already shown me and I believe you” (Knowles 191). Despite the fact that Gene’s actions tragically affected Phineas and eventually led to Phineas’s death, Phineas still shows great forgiveness for Gene. This forgiveness shown by Phineas at the end of the novel teaches the reader that, although someone may have hurt another person, always be open to forgive the person who had

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307 Words | 2 Pages

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man. Fifteen years after attending Devon, an elite military preparatory school located in New Hampshire, the narrator, Gene Forrester, returned to reflect upon how fearful he was during the time he spent training and studying for World War II. He then decides to visit the places or symbols on the campus that were closely associated with his fear; a marble staircase and a tree placed near the bank of the river. As Gene visits these key symbols of fear, he flashes back upon his time at Devon. He remembers his best friend, Phineas or Finny, as a very superior athlete and charming young man.

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340 Words | 2 Pages

A person’s coming of age journey involves growing despite the internal and external impediments, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Cullen Thomas’ prison experience written by himself in Brother One Cell, as well as “Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?” an article by Alana Semuels about poverty-stricken children, all touch on overcoming struggles and growing into an adult from that. Gene Forrester from A Separate Peace is a young high schooler at a fictional school called Devon. Gene does not have many external struggles, but rather, he creates hindrances for himself most of which include his close friend Phineas. Gene’s coming of age is him overcoming this internal battle he created inside of himself with Finny and, dealing with the guilt of causing

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1176 Words | 5 Pages

In a world of many people, conflicts arise within those people. The novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, tells a story about two boys, their coming of age story and the conflicts that arise with their coming of age. In the novel, both boys try to stay true to who they are as people. But only one of those boys stays true to who they are. Overall, the way each boy responds to events that occur shows who they really are inside and how different the boys are.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

Which makes Gene quite an annoyance. When the doctor tells Gene and FInny that Phineas would never play sports again Gene bursts into tears, whereas Phineas tells Gene “What are you looking so sick about?”(65). Phineas understood what happened to him is horrible but frankly Gene feels worse than he does about the situation. This is because Gene is depressed, and feels completely responsible for the situation that ruined his friend’s goals for the

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700 Words | 3 Pages

Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

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979 Words | 4 Pages

Gene first begins with a simple jealousy for his friend. That jealousy leads him to yearn to become like Finny, which in Gene’s eyes is considered godlike. Later, Gene’s desire becomes so strong that he ruins Finny’s life in order to take his identity, but at the end realizes, that he destroyed Finny’s life for nothing. Therefore, beware of desires, since they could lead to catastrophic events that might change the life of everyone

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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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1701 Words | 7 Pages

Without forgiveness, Gene would still be living in fear and hate, buried by his burden. Gene learns tremendously from his experiences. All his enemies were imagined, there was no need for “Maginot Lines” to protect himself from an enemy that didn’t exist. After Finny’s funeral Gene becomes “Phineas-filled” and his “war is over before it ever begins.” Gene realizes, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it.

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772 Words | 4 Pages

In Gene’s case, disloyalty and cowardice appears through his metaphorical bad heart. Gene’s insecurities got in the way of his friendship with Phineas. He was jealous that Finny could never get in trouble, and that he appeared to be perfect in almost every way. When Gene began to believe that Phineas wanted to surpass him academically, he felt threatened. This mixed with his jealousy, and caused him to impulsively shake the tree limb that Phineas was standing on, making him fall and shatter his leg.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of the novel, Gene returns to Devon to understand what happened in 1942. This is important because Gene seeks to console the guilt he has faced. Furthermore, Gene shows his shame after Finny was jounced off the tree. Remorse over Finny's injury ate Gene up, causing Gene to not participate in sports. Gene feels disgrace while in the infirmary thinking, "If Phineas had been sitting here in this pool of guilt...what would he have done?"

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1008 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene returns to his school when he is an adult and narrates the story of his life at Devon school. When he returns to school he remembers the tree that is the reason Finny’s leg gets broken, and the hard marble stairs. Gene is a charismatic and talented in sports, while Gene is book smart. Beccause Gene is not better at sports than Finny he feels the need to compete with him at everything.

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1268 Words | 6 Pages

Gene comes of age through his understanding of the difficult challenges in his youth. Gene’s jealousy towards Finny’s perfect personality causes him to have childish emotions, such as resentment. Gene Forrester constantly battles within himself clashing emotions, specifically, hate and envy, towards Phineas. Since he strives to be like Finny, Gene does everything in his power to shove down his feelings of hatred and jealousy. After Finny beat the school swimming record, Gene suspiciously asks himself why Finny did not want him to share the news with anyone else.

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109 Words | 1 Pages

Three of the most predominant themes throughout the novel are warfare, identity, and jealousy. A Separate Peace focuses on the friendship between two sixteen-year-old boys, ... Jealousy is just one of a slew of negative emotions in A Separate Peace, among ... Fear abounds on multiple levels in A Separate Peace, accompanying the various. That you can always go back to get memories.

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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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522 Words | 3 Pages

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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