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Symbolism Of War In A Separate Peace

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“The condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.” Thomas Hobbs. The paragraph will explain the theme of war in A Separate Peace. In the novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles explores the theme that people can’t escape war and explore characterization of Gene, Gene hurting Finny mentally and physically, and the symbolism of war.

My first topic has that Gene hurts Finny both mentally and physically. First, Gene jounced the limb. “Holding firmly to the trunk I took a step toward him and then my knees bent and I jounce the limb”. This hurt Finny by breaking his leg after he fell. Second, Gene tried to enlist. “He needed me, I was the least trustworthy person he had ever met” (45). People trying to enlist hurt people by ripping families and friends apart from each other. Third, Gene told Finny pushed him out of the tree “ I jounced the limb” (62). This hurt Finny by showing Gene is not trustworthy. Gene hurt Finny mentally and physically. …show more content…

First, the fight outside against other people. “The class above seniors draft bait practically soldiers” (27). The fight we have against other people when we get looked down upon. Secondly the fight within ourselves. “The war would be deadly all right. But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly in things that lurking in anything I wanted anything I loved”(115). Most people don’t think about the true enemy the one inside each one of us that hurts people the most. Third the war we have with other countries. “Bombs in central Europe were completely unreal to us here no because we couldn’t imagine (...] but because our place here was too fair for us to accept something that.” (44). War has destructive properties that rips people apart or bring them together. All these examples show the symbolism of

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Gene visits Finny in Boston after he broke his leg from the first time, unable to control his guilt. Gene realizes he has to tell him what happened when he sees him lying helpless in his bed. Gene explains “[he] jounced the limb. [He] caused it. [He] deliberately jounced the limb so Finny would fall off”(70).

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For example “ and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb.” Gene narrates this before as he cause Finny to fall and break his Leg. Explanation: Before Breaking Finny’s leg, Gene got into a huge argument with himself concerning what to do about his relation with Finny.

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I was not of the same quality as he.” (Knowles 51) After that thought, Gene shakes the limb if the tree and allows Finny to fall and break his leg. This shows that, like Britain, Gene contemplates his friendship with Finny/Germany. The act of betrayal shown by Gene is similar to the declaration of war to Germany by Britain.

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This argument claims that because Gene envied Finny’s athletic abilities, he jounced the limb. Maybe it is true that Gene envied Finny a little, which is perfectly normal. However, a little envy is surely not enough to drive Gene to jounce the limb, causing Finny to fall. Surely this innocent, young boy could not have gathered the feelings to cause harm to his closest friend. In the story it states, “We were best friends at the moment (5)”.

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On page 53, Gene states, “Finny had deliberately set out to ruin my studies.” (Knowles) Gene’s delusions eventually lead him to jounce the limb of the tree Finny was going to jump off of in Chapter 4, ultimately leading to Finny breaking his leg (Knowles 60). This action, along with Gene’s side of his friendship with Finny, covey just how ingenuine Gene truly

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This also shows that Gene isn 't good at telling people exactly what he wants to do and this doesn 't help him later on. We see that one of Gene’s struggles is to do what other people want and not what he does but when Gene does do what he wants to do then it doesn 't end well, while Finny on the other hand says exactly what he wants to say. An example of Finny’s weakness is, Finny has certain moralities that he lives by and his weakness is that he would never believe that one of his best friend’s broke one of his morals, we see this when Gene and Finny are talking they say, “‘I jounced the limb. I caused it’

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This is why even when Gene admits to purposefully making him fall from the tree, Finny refuses to believe him. Gene tells Finny, “I deliberately jounced the limb so you could fall’” (page 70). Even with the truth staring FInny in the face, he responds, “‘Of course you didn’t’” (page 70).

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After this hefinally realized he would not be able to enlist like everyone else and Gene snaps on him stating,“Phineas, you wouldn’t be any good in the war, even if nothing had happened to your leg. ”(12.190) This leading into a blowout and Finny coming to senses with what Gene actually did tohim. That was the last conversation they

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Like a raindrop can foretell a storm, any object, action, or event can have a deeper meaning. A Separate Peace tells the story of boys at a boarding school under the backdrop of World War Two. John Knowles, the author, uses descriptive language to give power to the troubles that Gene, Phineas, and their classmates/friends go through, whether it be the effects of war, identity struggles, or friendship. The main conflict, Gene’s love/hate relationship with Phineas, ends with Phineas’s accidental death and Gene’s newfound mature awareness. John Knowles uses symbolism in many instances to strengthen his storytelling.

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Gene trained with Finny every day, and their friendship got stronger. While this was occuring, Gene was soon blamed for breaking Finny’s leg. No one knew the truth behind

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Gene has many different emotions about Finny, it is conveyed that he is extremely envious and jealous of him. These negative emotions are the leading factors for some of the problems the two of them have later on. For example, Gene’s jealousy sparked something in him to “jounce” the limb. Gene’s feelings got in the way of their friendship. Gene was planning on enlisting, but when Gene walked in and Finny was there, he changed his mind completely and acted as if he never wanted to in the first place; “Enlist!

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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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Originally, Finny is ready and waiting to either enlist or become drafted into the military, until Gene indirectly breaks his leg by pushing him out

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The story opens up with the writers first encounter of someone fearing him in public. And although it is purely off of race, his vivid description of himself portrays why she sadly felt that way, as stated “To her, the youngish black man – a broad six feet wo inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket – seemed menacingly close.” (Staples 188). He then goes on to describe his manner which is nothing like the stereotypical young black male, “As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken – let alone hone to a person’s throat…” (Staples 189).

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Although Finny does not directly say he believes Gene jounced the limb, readers can infer Finny is implying Gene must have purposefully jounced the limb. Instead of Finny explaining his feelings, he decides to completely forget what he feels because he can not grasp the fact that his friend would do such a thing. However, when Finny is in the butt room with Brinker and is asked about his recollection of the accident, Finny can not recall what happens at the tree. When Brinker first asks Finny about the accident, Finny questions himself trying to recall what happened and his response to Brinker is he “‘kind of forgot’” (Knowles 171).

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