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Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles the protagonist, Gene, has a psychological moment where he is coming of age and becomes mature at the moment of when he jostles the limb causing Finny to fall. In the novel the author made Gene jealous of Finny since he was very athletic and also was able to get good grades without trying. While Gene on the other hand had to study every night in order to get good grades. Soon Gene wishes he could be as good as Finny in sports which is causing Gene to be jealous of Finny. The text states, “...but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again.” (62) This statement from the narrator, Gene, was saying that when he had on Finny’s pink shirt that he felt exactly like Finny and had the thought that this is what he was set out to be. …show more content…

Then one night Gene was studying really hard and Finny had said let's all have some fun, let's go to the river and jump! Gene thought, no I need to study. Soon Gene decided to go with Finny and Leper to jump. Finny gave the idea of double jumping off the limb. The text states, “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance had gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with an extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make…” (59-60) The fall had happened because of

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468 Words | 2 Pages

That something deep down, some deep feeling made him do it, made him jounce the limb. Finny denies that Gene would ever do such a thing. Gene persistently tells him the truth which angers Finny and calls Gene a “damn fool”, still denying that it was his fault. Gene admits he jounced the limb which caused Finny to fall, and therefore, he blames himself for Finny's

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298 Words | 2 Pages

Later in the book finny would realize that is a big mistake when he is pushed in the river and breaks a bone .This is the downfall of finny's sports career. Gene is bitter character that is not good at sports like

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572 Words | 3 Pages

In A Separate Peace By: John Knowles, The beginning of the story begins with Gene returning to the school when he is older. In the beginning of the story, Gene has a flashback which he then recalls all of his memories of his times at Devon. Like when Gene and Finny were best friends, but both Finny and Gene have their difference from time to time throughout the story. Gene and Finny differ from each other in sports, their goals, and throughout the book, Finny always seems to be pushing Gene to do something he doesn’t want to do or he doesn’t feel comfortable doing. First of all, Sports come easier to Finny than they do with Gene.

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599 Words | 3 Pages

Knowles, in A Separate Peace, displays competition through Gene, Finny, and Brinker both physically and mentally. Gene is very competitive on the academic side, striving to be the best of the best. Stress develops Gene and he begins to compare himself to Finny. Gene confirms that they are equally balanced

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92 Words | 1 Pages

Dr. Stanpole, the school’s physician, has proclaimed Finny’s leg to be “shattered” (Knowles 61), and no one is allowed to see Finny. Even though no one suspects Gene of any crime, he asks himself whether he made Finny fall on purpose. Quotes: Literary Devices Personal Insight:

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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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1225 Words | 5 Pages

At a club meeting, Finny wanted to do a cool jump with Gene. As Finny gets ready to jump, Gene jounced the limb and Finny falls and breaks his leg also ending his athletic career. Gene tries telling Finny that he shook the limb, but Finny didn’t believe it. At the end of the novel, Finny takes off running and falls down the marble stairs and re-breaks the bone. Finny’s bone marrow went into the bloodstream causing him to

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810 Words | 4 Pages

“There is time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide…” (Emerson p. 372-372). That’s exactly how Gene was in A Separate Peace by John Knowles in the setting of New Hampshire at Daven High School. Gene is jealous of his friend Finny and it affect him and his relationship with Finny. Peace is hard to get in this world

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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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1076 Words | 5 Pages

Gene struggles with keeping a positive relationship with Finny which symbolizes the loss of childhood. “I was Phineas, Phineas to the life. I even had his humorous expression in my face, his sharp, optimistic awareness. I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again”(Knowles 54). Wearing the image of childhood, Gene feels comfortable.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide” (Emerson). The character Gene learns of this not until after many trials and a great tragedy. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the idea of self-reliance is greatly stressed. The novel A Separate Peace conveys how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affect him, how Gene’s envy and imitation affect their relationship with Finny, and Gene’s achievement of peace. The envy towards and imitation of Funny greatly affect Gene.

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877 Words | 4 Pages

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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1701 Words | 7 Pages

Finny’s pink shirt can’t make Gene’s problems go away, Gene must confront them himself. He needs to move on with his life, after living in fear for 15 years. Upon Gene’s return, he notices several differences. The tree seems to have “withered

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791 Words | 4 Pages

Strength develops in someone through their experiences which have the ability to make them an emotionally stronger person. A quote by Ernest Hemingway presents that “the world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.” Even those who suffer the most will have the ability to bounce back at a stronger state. This theme reveals its relevance in A Separate Peace by John Knowles as we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters, Finny and Gene. Although some may insist that Finny’s emotional state fits the mold of a weak character, I have confidence that Finny has the most inner strength out of the two boys given his description and actions throughout the novel.

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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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