A Separate Peace Envy Analysis

Although it may seem like the seventh man should not forgive himself because it was his decision to go down to the beach while the storm was still going on, ultimately, he should forgive himself because he had good intentions, he tried to shout out to K to save his life, and he also regretted it enough until he was a middle aged man. The seventh man never really grew close to someone after the death of his best friend K. A lesson learned from the seventh man could be never hold your regrets because if you feel this pain for such a long time things in your life could disappear in a matter of

Gene cannot forgive himself even though Finny forgave him. Another reason readers know Gene has no peace after Finny’s death is that he visits the two places Finny fell Fifteen years later. The older Gene says, “Both were fearful sites, and that was why I wanted to see them… Long white marble flight of stairs… The tree” (Knowles 10-14). Even after all the time he still cannot forgive himself. The envy, took over Gene and Gene realizes later that all of the incidents with Finny could have been avoided.

At the same time Finny lost some of his innocence when he comes to realize that Gene caused his accident. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone.” (Page 204) Gene, allowing himself to act on his jealousy, ultimately resulted in the death of his best friend Finny “By the end of the novel, Gene has accepted both his own guilt and the gift of Finny’s friendship. The experience has helped him to grow into an insightful, responsible, and compassionate

In the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Stacey’s perspective of friendship with T.J. and Jeremy is unique and this affects the decisions he makes in Chapter 7. Stacey allows T.J. to do almost anything around him, even though T.J. is rude and naughty. But, T.J. is still Stacey’s best friend. Stacey is pretty rude to Jeremy even though Jeremy is super nice to the Logans and T.J.’s family. Stacey’s friendship with these two boys are very different.

The short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst elucidates the theme “selfish people aren’t the ones that suffer their selfishness: it's those around them, in which it harms”. The story is about a boy who received a brother after six years of being an only child, but because of an unfortunate disease, his brother wasn’t expected to live long. He unexpectedly lived far longer that anticipated, so his parents finally named him: William Armstrong. Because William wasn’t “all there”, his brother had plans to kill him with a pillow, but his plan was corrupted when his brother smiled at him, showing that he was “all there”. The narrator (who is also William’s big brother) renamed his brother Doodle.

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.

In one instance, Adam and Charles give their father a gift for his birthday, however their father appreciates Adams gift more. This allusion to the Bible recreates the hurt Cain felt when God rejected his gift, however just as Abel did, Adam sacrifices much of his time and money to get his father a gift. Although, Adam did sacrifice much of what he had for the gift, it was for the wrong reasons. This situation conveys that Adam values what his father thinks, but it does not lead to his happiness because it was done selfishly. As he grows older Adam joins the military, as his father wants him to, but he gives up what he wants for his future.

Introduction: Gene is a 16 year old boy attending the Devon boarding school in the year 1942. He is an introvert who is trying to find himself throughout the book, A Separate Peace. Gene befriends a boy named Phineas, or Finny. Finny is the exact opposite of Gene, he is an extrovert who likes adventure and breaking rules. The two boys become close friends, but throughout their friendship Gene is jealous of Finny.

They doubted if the machines would be successful because “ The machines were new and it was [they] who were to prove them” (208). Nick liked the boy who was wounded the first day on the front “because perhaps he would not have turned out to be a hawk either” which made Nick feel better about the uncertainty of his own bravery (208). The uncertainty of life was shown to the major when his wife dies even though “no one expected her to die”

On another note, Siddhartha's loss wounds his heart. Not from Kamala, but from his son. He truly loved his son. Siddhartha knew letting his son go was the right thing to do, yet he was miserable. In chapter 10, Siddhartha admitted to this misery, “He felt deep love for the runaway boy, like a wound, and yet felt at the same time that this wound was not intended to fester in him, but that it should heal.” (Hesse 126).