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The Theme Of Friendship In 'A Separate Peace' By John Knowles

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Friendship~ in A Separate Peace by John knowles One cannot be friends with someone who they see as a competition or a threat to their success. The story A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a coming of age realistic fiction novel. It is set in 1842 during World War II at an all boys academy; Devon School. The boys there are trained to join the army. Once they reach the age of 18, they are recruited into the army and have to fight for the country. The story displays the negative aspects of friendship and what it can do to individuals. Gene and Finny are two “friends” who attend Devon that struggle to have a true friendship. At the beginning, Gene starts to develop jealousy and envy for his new friend Finny. At first he thinks that there is no harm in envying your best friend. That is until he realizes that jealousy is not an easy thing to handle and sometimes, it can be the biggest harm in a friendship. Gene’s jealousy starts off with a tiny bit of envy and gradually moves on to making him want to get rid of his own identity. In the end, Gene has to face the consequences of jealousy between him and Finny. To start off, Gene is not aware of the amount of effort he puts into his relationship in order to be friends with Finny. Gene wants to better than Finny …show more content…

Gene believes Finny is better than him because he is carefree and gets along with almost everyone. Gene starts getting jealous and wants to be better than him. Gene finally realises that jealousy is not a friendship trait after seeing what it caused him to do. Friendship is an important piece of the story A Separate Peace because it can have a huge impact on one’s life whether it is good or bad. Looking at Gene and Finny’s friendship experience, equality should not be overlooked at between two friends. Lastly, one should not be friends with someone whom they see as a competition or threat to their

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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.

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“A Separate Peace” portrays how Gene’s envy and imitation affects himself, his relationship with Finny, and how he finds his peace, or lack thereof, at the end of the book. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him in many ways. He starts to believe he was meant to become a part of Finny. After Finny broke his leg from falling out of a tree, he tells Gene that he must play sports for him. Gene then thinks to himself “and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas,” (Knowles 85).

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He still encourages Gene to do the things that Finny no longer can because he wants to see someone else flourish, and most importantly: his friend. After Finny’s death, Gene even declares that “nothing … had broken [Finny’s] harmonious and natural unity” (Knowles 203). Since Gene exclaims this, the reader understands that Finny

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Gene and Finny are the main characters in this story, they teach you a lot about their friendship. Finny and Gene’s friendship can be described by their rivalry and loyalty, betrayal and guilt, and confession and forgiveness. The first stage of Finny and Gene’s friendship is loyalty and rivalry. Gene usually does what Finny wants to do.

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“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 is so hurt because he cannot believe that Gene would deliberately hurt him. Finny tells Gene that he understands that Gene acted without really thinking, and Finny forgives Gene. This shows the reader the true personality of Finny. He is kind, carefree, reckless, real, and loves unconditionally. He cannot accept that anyone close to

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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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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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