A Separate Peace Critical Analysis Essay

His “first mistake” lead to many more. He reflects, “In a position of moral leadership, of course, compromise begets only more compromise” (p.169). Hundert continues to ignore his own “code of morals” when Sedgewick cheats during the “Mr. Julius Ceaser” competition, the Headmaster even intimidates him to remain silent. Hundert describes his act as a “soldier following his captain’s orders.” Hundert reflects, “What had happened was that instead of enforcing my own code of morals, I had allowed Sedgewick Bell to sweep me summarily into his” (p. 172).

He lived the rest of his life in nightmares and fears which denounced his actions. He realized how unscrupulous his actions were and his souls is long huanted by it. After the murder, he does not dare to put the dagger back. We could see, from this point, The warrior and Duncan’s “worthiest cousin” (1.4.15) is so terrified by his own action that a sound would scare him. While he is haunted by guilt, Macbeth has to secure his throne by murdering Banquo and Fleance.

Gene is freed of the hatred and jealously that plagued him when Finny was alive. With his new viewpoint on life Gene states, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it. My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever” (Knowles 203). This quote supports the idea that with the death of Finny, Gene was able to think and act without enmity.

Months later, Finny finds out that Gene purposely jounced the limb. He is fuming with anger as he sprints out of the room. He then falls down the stairs and breaks his leg, leading to his death a few days later. Though Gene has the impression that his envy for Finny is going to be beneficial in some way, it limits him in all aspects of life. He is not capable of always living to the fullest and having gratitude for what gifts he has, such as academics.

Ralph Emerson once said,” Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide” (370). In the novel, A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles readers are taken on a journey about a young boy named Gene Forrester who struggles finding himself. Gene faces these obstacles because he is determined to be his best friend, Finny in every aspect. The novel demonstrates how Gene finds that there is no separate peace after a challenging period at Devon, where he grows from a boy to a young man ready for war. In the novel readers see countless times where Gene conforms for Finny and by doing this Gene starts envying and imitating Finny.

Shelley’s novel encompasses the unknown and how ambition drove Victor’s passions, ultimately leading him to the tragic end with many other bumps in the road along the way. As Victor had been in the study of life and its cause, the death of his mother had catalyzed a movement of grief which had started, “…depriv[ing him]self of rest and health. [Which he] had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation…” (Shelley 35). Even though he knew that he had been raiding graveyards, Victor believed that he created the body with the ‘finest body parts’ available. However, upon realizing had created an abomination as he finished, he flees, “…now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35).

Additionally, Inspector Goole states that "If men do not learn their lesson, they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish." The terms "fire," "blood" and "anguish" connotes aspects of hell and war, this statement is dramatic irony because, during the time of the play, society has undergone two world wars, implying that society has failed to "learn their lesson" and create a united community. Furthermore, Inspector Goole states that "Millions and millions of Eva Smith's and John Smith's still left with us." The repetition of the word "Million" exaggerates the uncountable amounts of "Eva Smiths and John Smiths" living within

The transformation of Jim’s character is so great. Jim’s emptiness and hollowness of his character has been completely bombarded from what he has witnessed and felt. Although the wider message of ‘Fly away peter’ is a story of how Jim’s innocence was stolen from him in a deadly manner it is also a message of how the main protagonist Jim, changes his way of living for his development and survival. “Jim saw that he had been living, till he came here (pre-war), in a state of dangerous innocence… He had been blind.” (pg. 103).

The first reason why Gene finds peace is because he realizes that Phineas was not the enemy and that the real enemy was himself. He describes the realization by saying, “All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy who they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way--if he was indeed the enemy.” (Knowles 204). At this point, in the end of the story, Gene recognizes that he was fighting a battle against someone who was not fighting back, and that the person he thought was the enemy was not actually the enemy. Next, Gene also gains peace because he finds his own identity after Phineas dies. The author of An Overview of “A Separate Peace” says that, “he reaches this atmosphere only after separating himself from Phineas and finding his own identity,” (Alton).

Marlin recognizes that there is a difference between overprotective and being an excellent parent. He transformed from an easily frightened clown fish to a fish that is able to go out and do whatever it takes to protect his son Nemo. Marlin also learns that Nemo must learn some life lessons on his own. When the movie had just begun, Marlin did not trust his son and always made decisions for him. Now that he has a more open mind regarding the big decisions in his Nemo’s life they will now have a stronger and everlasting relationship.