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Essay On 'A Separate Peace By John Knowles' Thought Over Truth

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Thought Over Truth How do you know the whole story if you were only told from one perspective? A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles told during World War II, from the perspective of Gene Forrester, an intelligent, but not athletic student. Gene tells his memory of his senior year at Devon School, a school which only boys attend, but is his memory the whole truth? Gene has shown us that he is misleading and biased. He has failed to tell the reader the important details that would make a difference in the novel. To start off, Gene explains to the reader what happened at the time when Finny lost his balance on the tree and fell and shattered his leg. He explains that “[he] took a step toward him, and then [bent his knees] and [he] jounced the limb” (Knowles 59-60). According to Witness For the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory On Trial, “everything we learn is permanently stored in the mind, although sometimes particular details are not accessible” (Loftus and Ketcham 12). Gene fails to tell the reader his thoughts as he took the jump from the tree. He may not remember what he was thinking during the incident but the reader knows that Gene is …show more content…

Gene states “but what did go on in his mind? If I was the head of the class and won that prize, then we would be even…” (Knowles 52). Finny tells Gene that he does not need to be the head of the class in order to graduate. This makes Gene think that Finny doesn’t want him to be head of the class because that would make him better. Gene allows his opinion to interfere with the truth. According to Honesty and Not Telling The Truth “it is sometimes difficult to tell the truth” (Monkeyshines on Health and Science 17). Gene was so hooked on the fact that Finny was jealous of him that he told the reader but was not able to prove

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