A Separate Peace: Jealousy Character Analysis

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.

Sonny 's Blues is a short story that was written by James Baldwin. The story has a number of conflicts but the main conflict that is explained in the story is communication between Sonny and his brother who is not named in the story and finding means to understand each other. The two brothers have different passion where playing jazz was Sonny 's passion and teaching algebra was his brother ‘s passion. The two brothers are separated by a number of factors such as their environments, cultural issues not forgetting the emotional detachment that existed between them. This paper will analyze the conflict and whether it was resolved at the end of the story (Baldwin, 2010).

Surviving Alone The ‘Rite of Passage’ by Richard Wright has a preeminent place in the literary world because this book teaches a lesson of survival, white power, and influence. Wright is an American author who wrote novels, poems, and short stories. He is best known for his book ‘Black Boy’ and ‘Native Son’. The book ‘Rite of Passage’ written by Richard Wright is about a 15 year old boy who has straight A’s in school and the people he has lived with all his life is not really his family, which leads to his debacle journey. As Johnny goes through this difficult stage in life he decides to run away not thinking about where he’s going to stay or how he’s going to get food.

Finny has a natural talent for sports, is extremely likable, and has exquisite social skills. Gene is very intelligent and diligent in school. However, he still has a profusion of envy towards Finny regarding his social skills and athletic talents. This envy is unconsciously warping all of Gene’s thoughts. When Gene jounces the limb on a tree he and Finny were jumping off of, Finny gets seriously hurt, ending his sports career forever.

Art has to look for ways to ensure every second he spends with his father enables him to learn something new about the Holocaust. Art wants to spend the least amount of time with his father because of the bad relationship between them that was caused by the death of his mother. However, in the Great Gatsby, the central conflict is between a man and himself. Gatsby thinks that Daisy will be attracted to him because of the great wealth that he has acquired over the years. But Daisy requires more proof that Gatsby is a changed man and he no longer possesses his past character.

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.

A seventeen-year-old boy’s superficial discontent towards his disabled father’s return from the hospital draws attention towards what is supposed to be the strongest bond: a father-son relationship. Throughout Athol Fugard’s play “Master Harold” … and the boys, Hally tries to suppress his mixed feelings after each call from his mother, who intends to bring his father home. Athol captures Hally’s true sentiments towards his father through two phone calls, initially provoking irrational anger and uncontrollable emotions, but eventually leading to a defeated reveal of truth. The first phone call from Hally’s mother introduces the boy’s bipolar attitude towards his father. He initially seems concerned, asking about his father’s state and condition, but his distress quickly turns into hostility.

The real meaning of A Separate Peace lies in the title, it also goes along with Emerson’s quote “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” A Separate Peace was written by John Knowles in 1960. The novel is about two young boys that were best friends, but their friendship went downhill because of envy and imitation. One of the main characters and narrator of the novel is gene, he’s having a flashback about his days at Devon School and how they led to the present day. Throughout the book Gene is struggling to be find his own identity as he depends on his best friend (Finny) for everything. A Separate Peace demonstrates Gene’s easily detectable envy and imitation of Finny and how it affects their friendship.

On page 201-202 of A Separate Peace Gene narrates “I myself had often been happy at Devon, but such times it seemed to me that afternoon were over now.” This quote shows how Gene was changed from a carefree student to a worried soon-to-be solider. The troops only add to the feelings of sadness because of Finny's death since Gene sees what the future holds. Overall, John Knowles’ fictional book A Separate Peace has many themes. One of the prevailing themes is that of the imminent war and enlistment. The war encroaches and finally dominates the boys lives at Devon.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that, “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” (370). John Knowles’ A Separate Peace is set during World War I at Devon School, a boarding school for boys. The book centers on Gene Forrester, a student at Devon, who could be described as an intelligent, but jealous, conformist. A Separate Peace illustrates Gene’s envy and imitation of his friend, Finny, and how it affects himself and his relationship with Finny, and also how Gene eventually finds peace. To start, Gene’s envy and imitation of Phineas affect him in many different ways.