Mary Fragalla Mrs. Teague Honors American Literature 10 December 2015 Reading Portfolio Assignment Author’s Background and Purpose John Knowles wrote his novel "A Separate Peace" after his memories from his years at the Phillips Exter Academy in New Hampshire. John Knowles grew up in a small town in Fairmont, West Virginia. He came from a wealthy family.
A Better War¬-Part Two In the second half of the book written by Lewis Sorley, “A Better War, The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam” the American soldiers and the American public were in an uproar. The look into the last days of Vietnam for the United States is eye opening. In this review we will look at the affects of war on the American soldiers and a certain offensive.
Gene knows he must head into his future, including war. Through the entire book, Finny seems like he is untouched by evil. This is so because he lived in his small happy bubble and chose not let evil in because he could not handle it. “Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken
The boys in the Butt Room react to Brinker’s accusation as a joke, and playfully accuse Gene of his attempt to purposely hurt Finny and knock him out of the tree. The boys start to question gene of what happened during the time of the fall, and if he was the one who purposely caused Finny to lose his balance. The reason Gene is to play along and make up a story about his attempt to murder Finny was to hide the truth of his actions and to keep them from finding out “ Oh, you know about the tree, I tried to let my face fall guilty, but I felt instead as though it were being dragged toward. Yes, huh, yes there was a small, a little contretemps at the tree” (Knowles 90).
Finny was not fond of how the pressure of the war was making everyone
John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace, uses both character development and setting to support his decision in selecting the title. He uses the main characters of Gene and Phineas (Finny) and their troubled yet deeply bonded friendship as a way to illustrate the separate peace that takes place both within the boys themselves and in the friendship that is built between the two. Knowles also uses the setting of the novel to demonstrate the vast difference between the peaceful Devon School grounds and the war raging outside of the school’s walls. The title, A Separate Peace, as chosen by the author is symbolic of the main characters, Finny and Gene’s, struggle to find peace within themselves and with each other while set in a place that significantly contrasts the events of the real world.
It is sometimes difficult for individuals to settle the discrepancy between truth and illusion, and consequently they drive others away, by shutting down. Mrs. Ross, in The Wars by Timothy Findley, is seen as brittle while she is attending church, and cannot deal with the cruel reality of the war and therefore segregates herself from the truth by blacking it out. As a result, she loses her eyesight, and never gets to solve the clash between her awareness of reality and the actuality of the world. She hides behind a veil, and her glasses to distance herself from reality. Mrs. Davenport has to wheel her around in Rowena’s chair to keep her awake, so she doesn’t harbour up subconscious feeling within her dreams, which she is unable to deal with.
A War of Self In his novel, A Separate Peace, Knowles uses the story of Gene Forrester to examine a dark aspect of human nature. Gene Forrester, the novel’s protagonist, fights an inner battle of jealousy and hatred towards his best friend, Phineas. Phineas, an athlete, charismatic charmer, and fearless boy is someone that Gene wishes he could be. Gene creates an enemy out of Phineas in his mind because of the “competition” that is their friendship.
Emerson states that “Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide”(370).In the novel A separate Peace written by John Knowles which takes place in New hampshire during war. Gene is a Character with jealousy and a person that would always want to be better than anyone. A Separate peace demonstrates how Gene’s envy and imitation of finny affects him, affects his relationship with finny,and achieves his peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of finny affect him. One way gene is affected is that gene cannot be himself so he decides to put on finny clothes.
A Psychoanalysis on The Wars In human history, war has greatly affected the lives of people in an extremely detrimental way which can be understood in Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars through a psychoanalytic approach in character development and their deterioration; the readers are able to identify the loss of innocence intertwined between characters, the search for self-identity in the symbolic and metaphorical aspect, as well as the essence of life. Those that are not able to overcome these mental challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Rape trauma Syndrome, and sadly, some resort to suicide as the last option to escape their insecurities. However, soldiers are not the only ones affected by war; family members also face
Out of anger Finny expresses himself and states“What good are you in a war with a busted leg!” (190) Finny doesn't feel at peace with his new identity that was formed the moment he broke his leg. Going from a gifted and talented athlete who enjoyed leading to becoming someone who can no longer participate in sports is challenging for finny. Phineas feels guilty of no longer being the talented athlete he used to be and causes him to form hatred toward himself for being incompetent to participate in a war. Finny explains why he would say the war wasn't real and states, “Why do you think I kept saying there wasn’t any war all winter?
Chris Hedges, a former war correspondent, has a memory overflowing with the horrors of many battlefields and the helplessness of those trapped within them. He applies this memory to write War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, where he tutors us in the misery of war. To accomplish this goal, Hedges uses impactful imagery, appeals to other dissidents of war and classic writers, and powerful exemplification. Throughout his book, Hedges batters the readers with painful and grotesque, often first-hand, imagery from wars around the globe. He begins the book with his experience in Sarajevo, 1995.
War, something that sounds so cliché yet endeavours a greater meaning; a meaning of finding your true self within yourself, and seeing your natural, brave or mediocre side. The concept of bravery and heroic men is often the label associated with war; however, in Timothy Findley’s The Wars, it is in fact the exact opposite. The Wars is an anachronistic example of what one goes through both physically and mentally. Findley accurately portrays the protagonist, Robert Ross, as a naïve nineteen year old who wishes to escape his excruciating feelings of reality for being held accountable for Rowena’s death by enlisting into war, as well as to adhere to societal norms. Robert is an incompetent young boy that achieves most of his knowledge of war from
War: Its Effects, and Disguises Every person can be a veteran of war at times, even if it is in personal battles rather than literal war. This is the case for the Gene as well as Finny in John Knowles 's A Separate Peace. The significance of the contrast of internal conflict with external conflict highlights Gene 's multiple conflicts with himself as well as Finny, building internal and external conflict through both characters. Ultimately, Gene becomes a veteran in the literal and figurative sense of war, regardless of uniform. Gene 's victory in this war with himself portrays how war can prevail in and out of uniform.
In the novel, Tomorrow When The War Began, by John Marsden is about eight teenagers who confronted a situation that is out of their security and are trying to save their families. Fi, Homer, and Ellie are few of the characters that showed courageousness in the novel; finding out their unknown courage, taking risks, and not giving up to everything that happens. It is some of John Marsden’s message about courage. The characters also demonstrate it while they were in conflict with the soldiers who invaded their town and imprison their families in the Showground. Courage is what Ellie has that she never thought she had.
