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Theme Of Competition In A Separate Piece By John Knowles

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Competition plays principal role in A Separate Piece by John Knowles, especially between the two main characters Gene and Finny. In the novel, there are many situations where Gene compares to Finny and expresses how he would like to be him in some situations. Throughout the first couple chapters, it is clear that, at times, Gene envies Phineas for the fact that he is courageous, charming, and athletic. A phenomenal example of competition in A Separate Piece is when the two main characters and a couple of their friends visited a tree next to a body of water. The idea that they should jump off of the tree into the body of water adjacent to the three. First, Finny jumped without hesitation, then Gene was pressured into jumping with hesitation. After, one of their friends comments, “I think that was better than Finny’s” (Knowles 17). …show more content…

Yet another example of competition is when Finny gets in trouble in two different situations. After a little bit of explaining and discussion, Finny was able to get himself out of trouble without punishment. When Gene witnesses this occur he thinks to himself, “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment” (Knowles 28). He continous to think about why Finny got away with what he got away with, stops wishing the outcome was different and is grateful that he is his friend. Gene acknowledging that he is grateful to have Finny as his friend is important because it shows how the competition between the two friends is so far healthy

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A Separate Piece, by John Knowles, is a coming of age novel that follows the development of the main character, Gene Forester, a junior at an exclusive boy’s school in New England. This extract focuses on Gene moving on from Devon and moving on from Phineas. As Gene looks back on his days at Devon, he begins to accept the mistake he made. Not the mistake of pushing Finny off the tree, but the mistake of misunderstanding their friendship. By the end of the novel, Gene has discovered himself.

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Events had turned around and now it felt like the guilt Gene had in him after the jounce made him do what Finny was asking for. Finny had been a role model to Gene. Gene learned a lot from Finny, persistence, determination, wisdom, and having no doubt about anything. Finny showed maturity and the state he

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From the very start, Gene’s insecurities have fueled his inner war. These insecurities were illustrated when Gene made up a rivalry between him and Finny. Gene was talking about running for class president, and asked Finny if he would mind if he won. Finny responds by saying “I would kill myself over jealousy envy” (Knowles 52) in a joking manner. However, Gene misreads this as a threat and comes to the conclusion that “The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (Knowles 54).

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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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Jealousy shatters Gene’s and Finny’s peace as they view each other as the enemies. “I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are already. You are even in enmity.”

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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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“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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While there are a plethora of themes in John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, one of the most significant themes is friendship. The World English Dictionary defines a friend as "a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty. " A Separate Peace explores conflicts between two close friends, Gene Forrester and Phineas. Gene is a studious, hardworking boy, while Phineas, or Finny, is an adept, natural athlete.

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  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” This goes a long with the jealousy Gene had for Finny and what his envy caused him to do. He has to live with the fact that he let jealousy overcome him and kill his best

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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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One way Gene’s jealousy and imitation is an effect on his relationship with Finny is that it caused lots of jealousy towards Finny because of his abilities, appearance, and actions. An example of this is when Gene stated “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment. That was because I just wanted to see some more excitement; that must have been it. " (Knowles).

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Because Finny refused to tell anyone, but Gene, about his record-breaking achievement, Gene is baffled as to why Finny would not want to. It seems as though Gene is imagining himself in Finny’s shoes as he mentions, “Was he trying to impress me or something? Not tell anybody? When he had broken a school record without a day of practice? I

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They both had lost trust in each other and started questioning each other’s friendship, although Finny is still reassuring Gene that their friendship still exists. After Finny finally realized that it was Gene that jumped on the branch causing him to fall, Gene starts to feel bad about what he did and starts to feel pity and says, “Well, I know, and I’ll tell you what it is. It’s finny. You pity him. And if you don’t watch out he’s going to start pitying himself.”

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If Finny wants to jump out of a tree, Gene will jump out of a tree. If Finny wants to go to a beach, Gene goes to the beach. Finny is very good at talking around people and getting out of trouble. He does not ever get into much trouble. Their rivalry started when Gene thought that Finny was trying to sabotage his grades and his studies.

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Finny not being able to play sports anymore that meant Gene was next in line for the top athlete at Devon. In addition, this incident leads to Finny having several health issues and dying towards the end of the novel. Gene knew that Finny had no admirations towards him and that made him angered. Gene was hurt when Finn died but he still didn’t change once he went to war or when he came back to visit Devon in his elder years. “He had never been jealous of me for a second.

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