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Characterization A Separate Peace

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A Separate Peace, By John Knowles is a novel narrated by Gene Forrester. He returns to the Devon School in New Hampshire, 15 years after being a student there. World War II was just beginning at this time. Gene shifts back to his days with Phineas, or Finny for short who is “best friend”. In this essay I am going to be explaining the ways John Knowles shows characterization through the three following characters; Gene, Finny, and Elwen “Leper” Lepellier. Gene is the narrator, he tells the story in a flashback, reflecting on his days from his adult point of view. He is first introduced in the novel as an adult, who seems to be filled with fears and insecurities. His great worry is that nothing has changed since he had been a student there. Not the school buildings, not even himself. Gene is characterized as a follower. In the novel, he is always following Finny and wanting to do anything to impress him. As the story goes on we find Gene is envious of Finny. Finny is said to be the most athletic guy in the school, so to be equal to him he aimed to be the smartest. He is self conscious because he can never be good enough for himself. He always thinks the world is out to get him. He thought Finny resented him for his …show more content…

Finny is athletic, friendly, and has a great deal of eloquence. Gene was so sure that Finny had a scheme to distract him from focusing on school, but he is really just friendly. Finny didn’t know that Gene’s intelligence didn’t come naturally. He is just always up for an adventure and a fun time. Like spur of the moment beach trips whenever Gene has a test the next morning, or making a “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session” club. Finny somehow is always able to talk himself out of trouble from doing his crazy, adventurous things. He’s always testing the limits with his headmaster's, somehow always ending up

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    The friendship Gene and Finny have throughout the story slowly changes to envy that Gene portrays towards Finny as a result of his jealousy. Finny is only one of those sort of gentlemen that is extremely understood and individuals truly like. However, Finny is the kind of individual who is great at everything including sports and talking himself out of trouble. For example, Finny breaking the school swimming recorded lead to Gene being desirous. Gene predicts that Finny is attempting to show off his athletic ability.

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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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