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Character Development And Setting In John Knowles A Separate Peace

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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. Gene considers Finny to be his best friend. In this type of friendship there is an implied vow of trust, loyalty and sense of forever friendship "Finny could shine with everyone, he attracted everyone he met. I was glad of that too. Naturally. He was my roommate and my best friend" (Knowles 40). 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 …show more content…

Both of the main characters have inner battles they struggle to make peace with throughout the novel. The boys also must come to terms with how these battles impact their friendship. One boy lets jealousy and resentment guide his decisions and the other is in denial of the reality of the friendship as well as the world around him. Once the walls of the Devon School stop protecting the boys from their personal battles each boy is able to attain some type of peace with whom they have become and the path they chose to reach this

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On page 53, Gene states, “Finny had deliberately set out to ruin my studies.” (Knowles) Gene’s delusions eventually lead him to jounce the limb of the tree Finny was going to jump off of in Chapter 4, ultimately leading to Finny breaking his leg (Knowles 60). This action, along with Gene’s side of his friendship with Finny, covey just how ingenuine Gene truly

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The author, John Knowles, in the novel, “A Separate Peace”, conveys the lesson of friendship, or rather the lack of, with his use of diction. The strategy in which the author phrased certain sections of dialogue between Finny and Gene is there to show that Finny cares for Gene despite Gene’s obvious discontent. The friendship is a one-way street, and the author uses diction to represent this unbalance in the relationship, leading to friendship being a key theme throughout the book. There exist many examples of this diction throughout the novel, one of these is during their illegal beach trip. “I hope you’re having a pretty good time here.

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Since Finny cannot play sports anymore because of his broken leg, he tells Gene that he has to do it for him. Gene realizes that this is his destiny; to become an extension of Phineas. Another way he is affected is that he starts to lose his own ways by copying Finny. When Finny was in the hospital wing of the school, Gene put his clothes on and said “that I would never stumble through the confessions

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Enemies will betray you, backstab you and can be very difficult to deal with. Destroying your enemy will leave guilt in your heart. In the novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles exhibits peace from reality. Gene cannot handle his emotions so he creates three imaginary friends to avoid his real enemies which were his hatred, insecurity, jealousy, enmity and envy. His imaginary enemies were Finny, Leper, and Quackenbush.

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Gene’s outburst in the tree was completely natural. Gene knew everything he could learn from Finny, to leave Finny alone would stand as a testament, in Gene’s mind, to Gene’s shortcomings. Gene had become lost in the past and in the mind of Finny as shown by Knowles with “"It's you, pal," Finny said to me at last, "just you and me." He and I started back across the fields… We were the best of friends at that moment”

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Beware of Desires “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else 's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation,” observed Oscar Wilde. In the fictional novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles two best friends, Gene and Finny, both go to an elite boys ' private school in New Hampshire. Finny is a natural born leader and an athlete that easily succeeds in everything he does. Meanwhile, Gene is a bookworm that tries his best to be as successful as Finny.

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Moreover, his character is such that, “He sees the best in people and overlooks anything that is contrary to that view”(Edelstein). And so, he fears in learning the truth of what caused him to plummet down the tree. Although deep in his mind, he finds reason that Gene caused it, he cannot bear to accept his conscience. Synchronously, as Finny tumbles to the Earth, all his dreams and aspirations plummet with him. No longer can he participate in sports and compete in the Olympics, or enlist in the army, another one of his goals.

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Friendship A Separate Peace has a very unique description of friendship. Throughout the book, Gene is jealous of Finny’s looks and what he is able to do. Gene has a lot of ambivalent feelings toward Finny. He wants to be Finny, but at the same time he is jealous of him.

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Gene’s survival was dependent on Finny’s death. When Gene jounces the limb he shatters Finny’s leg, as well as his heart. Finny knows that Gene purposely caused his fall, but can’t let his “best pal” be exposed. Finny will do anything to save Gene from Leprosy. Finny realizes that Gene “just didn’t know” what he had done, and forgives his sin, which saves Gene.

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Finny stated, “ You want to break something else in me! Is that why you’re here!”(Knowles 184) Their relationship was broken when Finny realized Gene caused his accident at the tree during the trial. When Gene came to see Finny after he fell down the stairs their relationship was destroyed. Finny even burst out in anger at Gene and tried to attack him.

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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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The way I believed that you’re-my-best-friend blabber!” (Knowles 45). Gene comes to the conclusion that Finny is trying to sabotage him and his goals in school and life and that makes Gene really mad. He feels betrayed, even though everything that he is thinking and is angry about is all made up in his head. In reality, Finny was actually jealous of how easily school and confidence in your own self came to Gene, but Gene ended up twisting it around to make Finny the bad guy and his enemy.

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Finny and Gene’s Friendship Friendship is very important in this story. Friendship is very important for a person’s well-being. In this book titled A Separate Peace by John Knowles the reader learns a lot about friendship in this book.

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