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Good Vs. Evil In A Separate Peace

506 Words3 Pages

“Our minds are a battle ground between good and bad ideas; we are whatever side wins the battle” Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom. The struggle between good and evil is found universally. In the novel A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester struggles between his own inner good and evil. Gene's actions often reflect his feelings, leading him to trouble, giving the illusion that Gene is filled with more evil than good. However, Gene's goodness can be found even through dark times. Inherent evil does not lie in Gene Forrester because he desires to be the best he can be, he feels guilt, and matures from adolescence to adulthood. Gene strives to be the best he can be. For example, he wants to become class valedictorian. "You want to be head of the class, valedictorian, so you can make a speech on Graduation Day..." (A …show more content…

In the beginning of the novel, Gene returns to Devon to understand what happened in 1942. This is important because Gene seeks to console the guilt he has faced. Furthermore, Gene shows his shame after Finny was jounced off the tree. Remorse over Finny's injury ate Gene up, causing Gene to not participate in sports. Gene feels disgrace while in the infirmary thinking, "If Phineas had been sitting here in this pool of guilt...what would he have done?" (A Separate Peace, 31). Feelings of guilt prove Gene's goodness. Someone who is truly evil would not feel guilty of their wrongdoings. Lastly, Gene's goodness is evident through his maturity as he ends the battle against himself. In Gene's younger days, he is carefree and thinks only of himself. Maturity becomes more prominent when Gene confesses his evil against Finny. By the end of the novel, Gene overcomes the battle of good vs evil within and observes, "...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." (A Separate Peace, 110). Gene realizes evil had been within

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Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

498 Words | 2 Pages

Growth can only come from hardships and struggle. John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace, uses conflict to shape Gene Forrester into an adult. In the beginning of the novel, Gene illustrates an envious and spiteful character. But as the story progresses, he transforms into a confident, and restored person. Eventually, Gene’s innocence is lost through a self-inflicted battle, which conveys him to adulthood.

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Internal Conflict In A Separate Peace

700 Words | 3 Pages

Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

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A Separate Peace Strengths And Weaknesses

791 Words | 4 Pages

Strength develops in someone through their experiences which have the ability to make them an emotionally stronger person. A quote by Ernest Hemingway presents that “the world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.” Even those who suffer the most will have the ability to bounce back at a stronger state. This theme reveals its relevance in A Separate Peace by John Knowles as we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters, Finny and Gene. Although some may insist that Finny’s emotional state fits the mold of a weak character, I have confidence that Finny has the most inner strength out of the two boys given his description and actions throughout the novel.

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A Separate Peace Character Analysis Essay

769 Words | 4 Pages

A loving friend turns murderer after his retched jealousness and overanalyzing pushes him to new lows. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the true character of Gene Forrester is shown as he narrates his point of view of the story. Gene Forrester is a relatable ever changing, humanistic, and someone who is always in contention. Although at points Gene seems mentally unstable, he is a round, dynamic character that adapts and is generally mentally sound. Gene being the narrator of his own story shows from his perspective just how he views people and their interactions.

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Gene's Jealousy In John Knowles A Separate Peace

741 Words | 3 Pages

“Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time of school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was taken place at Devon High in the mid 1940’s, in the New England area during WWII. The main character, Gene, is a very smart, but envious and imitative kid that returns back to his school later in life to find peace within himself and past conflicts. Gene’s envious and imitative actions have had many affects within himself, others, and his future, but has found peace throughout everything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him a lot throughout the novel.

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Finny's Jealousy In A Separate Peace

534 Words | 3 Pages

Finny’s presence satisfies Gene and drives him towards the final steps till Finny’s defeat, his death. At the time of Finny’s demise, Gene “stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground” and “could not escape a feeling” that it is his own funeral (Knowles 194). This marks the end of their ongoing battle and proves Finny’s defeat because Gene receives what he desires, becoming Finny now that he is dead. Gene’s action of establishing the conflict without Finny’s presence signifies Gene’s success since he directs the events without Finny’s approval or attentive mind, proving those who construct their own battles are more prone to triumph. On the contrary, Leper a once observant and carefree character, loses his mind and personality in the depths of the war and begins hallucinating, declared mentally insane.

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Gene's Rivalry In John Knolls A Separate Peace

197 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knolls Gene's and Finny's friendship with one another brings out each character's virtue or true self. Gene is the smartest kid at the Devon school , and Finny is very athletic. Finny's athletic ability is what leads to the rivalry because Gene wants to be able to achieve an athletic ability like Finny. This novel tells the story in Gene's point of view of how he has grown into adulthood during World War II. The author John Knolls does not give a very good view of Finny because the story is through Gene's eyes where Gene envy's Finny.

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Jealousy In A Separate Peace

1024 Words | 5 Pages

Charles Kuralt once said, “ The love of family and the admirations of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.” This quote shows how jealousy and popularity aren’t as important as relationships in your life. In the book, A Separate Peace, Gene has different priorities than relationships. Gene, a young boy who attends Devon boarding school, goes through many different trials along his grade school journey. He faces problems with friends and school life during the time of World War two and the draft being in full swing.

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A Separate Peace Guilt Analysis

623 Words | 3 Pages

Dismissive and harmful effects of guilt are all around Gene. These effects caused Gene to lose confidence, and lose his ability to grow as a person. Furthermore, the theme guilt is crippling is shown throughout the entirety of the novel. This is mainly shown when Gene feels guilty about Finny, since Gene broke his leg. The first time Gene feels guilty about what he did is when Phineas first put in the hospital after Gene jounced the limb.

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Examples Of Innocence In A Separate Peace

718 Words | 3 Pages

“Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you” -PravineeHurbungs. It is still undecided weather Finny realized this about Gene or not but, even withWWII going on, the cruelest enemy was right next to him. A Separate Peace is a novel by JohnKnowles, based in New Hampshire, 1942. The novel showcases, coming-of-age, jealousy , andloss of innocence through the main character Gene. Gene and Finny became roommates at the prestige Devon School for boys.

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Symbolism In John Knowles A Separate Peace

1701 Words | 7 Pages

Without forgiveness, Gene would still be living in fear and hate, buried by his burden. Gene learns tremendously from his experiences. All his enemies were imagined, there was no need for “Maginot Lines” to protect himself from an enemy that didn’t exist. After Finny’s funeral Gene becomes “Phineas-filled” and his “war is over before it ever begins.” Gene realizes, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it.

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Quotes From A Separate Peace

522 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Character Analysis Of Gene In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

507 Words | 3 Pages

Before the injury, Gene would scream at Finny,but now he feels like he owes Finny his kindness. This passive and emotional Gene is probably the greatest evidence to show that Gene is a dynamic character. Before the injury when Finny would try to explain anything Gene would reply in annoyed tone, “‘Oh, for God sake.’ I slammed close the french book”(57). After the injury however Gene felt like he constantly had a space to fill to make Phineas feel better.

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Examples Of Friendship In A Separate Peace

1239 Words | 5 Pages

They are supposed to be best friends, but Gene envies him and thinks he is trying to make him look bad. After Finny’s accident, Gene struggled with guilt and his life was changed because of it. “I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was. One evening when I was dressing for dinner in this numbed frame of mind, an idea occurred to me, the first with any energy behind it since Finny fell from the tree. I decided to put on his clothes” (Knowles 29).

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A Separate Peace: Character Analysis

870 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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