The Protagonists In Ellen Foster And A Separate Peace

In the books Ellen Foster and A Separate Peace the protagonists both go through turmoil and develop who they are as individuals. The narrator, Ellen, from Ellen Foster shows herself as a strong individual that has some baggage that she doesn't let stop her from achieving her ultimate goal, happiness. In A Separate Peace, the protagonist, Gene, was jealous of his friend and did something regrettable that changes Gene’s life and his friend’s forever. How these characters interact with others in the books shows the readers a lot about the identity of the protagonists. Ellen Foster is a book that paints a picture of a damaged girl in a damaged home and her journey to find the perfect family. Ellen is a character that likes to have some type of control in a situation so she burdens herself with taking care of her father’s needs despite his physical, sexual and psychological abuse. She realizes her situation is not ideal by any means, compared to others but she does not complain, showing her strength. In the beginning of Ellen Foster, Elle’s mother dies from a drug overdose and she is left

Gene is a character that is insecure, he wants to be like his friend so much that he is willing to lose himself in the process. He was jealous of Finny so much that it made him feel better to think that Finny was jealous his academic achievements and that there was this underlying feud in their relationship. Their friendship at the beginning was shown as ideal and perfect but as the book goes on the reader can see that it is anything but. Gene’s envy for Finny’s athletic capabilities comes from his own insecurities and need to be perfect at everything he takes part in. This drives him to a point where he wants to “become equal” with Finny and he purposefully injures his friend and took away any future Finny had in his