Preview

A Separate Peace Short Essay 3

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
363 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Separate Peace Short Essay 3
Most stories' titles give readers some insight of what the story will be about. This important concept is seen in the novel, A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles. In general the setting is its own separate peace. There are also specific examples of when characters in the novel try to create their own separate peace.
The winter carnival is a good example, which shows the students at the Devon School creating their own separate peace. After being severely maimed, Finny enters his own state of mind, where there is no war occurring. He tries to put this state of mind into the other students' minds. Finny starts a winter carnival during which the boys at Devon feel a degree of freedom in this time of war. At the carnival the boys drink cider and dance on the tables. They all feel that nothing matters anymore but their own fantasy world. Even the boys that were uptight about the war, like Brinker, loosened up and enjoyed the fantasy that Finny created. Finny successfully creates his own separate peace by creating a fantasy world.
Gene and Finny create their own peace after there is a period of guilty tension. After Gene shakes Finny out of the tree, he feels guilt start to fall upon him. He is hesitant to tell Finny the truth about his accident, and as a result his guilt jumps to a higher level. Gene tries to tell him at the hospital that he is responsible for Finny falling out of the tree, but the doctor interrupts them. This tension between them builds until Gene admits to Finny what really happened. After that, Finny forgives him, and they resume their friendship, and their separate peace.
A Separate Peace is shown through many examples in this novel. Just about all the characters in this novel have created their own peace so they can ignore the war, and other bad things that might be going on. A separate peace for all people is what resolves a burden that can have a strong effect on one's life. These are all examples of how the title gives you a preview into

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When reading a book it is very important to read between the lines, to catch the hidden meanings and metaphors that lie within its pages. " A Separate Peace " is no exception as it is filled with metaphors which give the novel a concealed meaning and teach the reader about many things including the immense impact of World War II on people of the era. This essay will identify and explore some of them in order to further understand John Knowles' novel and the message he wanted to get across. Finny's Clothes, The Winter Carnival, Blitzball, and The Tree are all adequate examples of metaphors in this tale as they all have double meanings that bring the reader into a whole new world, one filled with mystery and wonder. Metaphors play an amazingly important role in this novel as they transform it from a plain story into a complex one, where simple things represent a greater, intricate reality.…

    • 996 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gene and Finny’s codependency is ended after Finny’s sudden death. Gene starts to re-examine himself, his thoughts and his emotions. Finally Gene puts things into perspective (Slethaug). Gene’s life from the start of his friendship with Finny has revolved around Finny. Everything he did, felt, thought about regarded Finny. His goal of becoming best in the class, and his envy were the result of Finny. Finny was the column, the foundation that supported and shaped his life. The foundation crumbles away with Finny’s death and Gene’s life comes crashing down. He can no longer depend on Finny to dictate his emotions, his thoughts and to serve as an idol he must surpass. With Finny gone, Gene now sees the foolishness and illusion he had been living in and the reality of life. He realizes that many of the enemies he had seen were the product of his own fear. He knows that Finny was a genuine and true friend who meant the best for him. Gene realizes that fear of everything had led to his seeing enemies in friends and that it was harmful. He sees that his fear had led him to feel threatened by a fearless Finny and his jealousy. His fear had made him feel that everyone was out to get him. Most importantly this fear had led him to seriously cripple Phineas and in the end led to Finny’s death. His guilt at having had a direct role in Finny’s death leads to him seeing the illogicality of fearing the world, the unknown, the imaginary enemy. He has escaped from his fear of the world, and matured into an adult in the process. Only now when he no longer fears anything or anyone, can Gene focus on himself and forge an identity. Only now when he does not see in everyone some quality that he lacks can he truly sees his own strengths and vulnerabilities and take them lightly. Gene can focus on forging his own identity when he other people’s identities no longer interest him. Phineas teaches Gene that in this world…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A Separate Peace is a novel that criticizes society, based on a romantic point of view of human nature. Firstly, Gene's aggressive nature is being nurtured by societies preoccupation with competition, inner-enemies, and power. Contrasting to Gene, Finny has a natural goodness about him that has not been corrupted by society. Lastly, the Devon school is a symbol of rivalry and competitiveness of the world, which has produced a devastating war on a much larger scale.…

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A separate peace

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A Separate Peace is a novel written by John Knowles that takes place in the 1940's. There are several examples of symbolism that are used in A Separate Peace. One is when the character named Leper is called scarecrow or snowman. Other examples that John Knowles uses are the old buildings outside at the Devon School and also the character Finny. Symbolism is a good thing in this story because it gives the readers a larger advantage to reading the story.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "A Separate Piece" Essay

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Lastly, Brinker holds a mock trial to help ease innocence onto Gene, but his plan backfires. Gene actually tells Finny the truth about his envious feelings toward him, and Finny can’t accept this. “He…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    | Since Devon students are merely kids, they cannot even begin to imagine what war truly is, for they are innocent. Children live life carelessly and wildly without fears nor understanding of consequences. Boys of sixteen such as Gene, Brinker, Finny and Leper are full of life and think about the present rather than the future.…

    • 6349 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    4. What does Finny say to Gene at the end of Chapter 3? “I hope you’re having a pretty good time here. I know I kind of dragged you away at the point of a gun, but after all, you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life, the proper person is your best pal. Which is what you are.” (Chapter 3, page 40.)…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Separate Peace

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Even though I identify more with Gene, I also pity him. I pity that his jealousy pushed him to do something so harmful to his supposed best friend. I also pity that fact that he…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the story A Separate Peace, Gene’s change is due to his obsession over Phineas. Because Finny saves Gene’s life, he developed special feelings for him. After that, Gene tries extra hard to be like Finny. Although Gene feels as if he has complete and utter control over Finny, he doesn’t. But by the end of the story, Gene’s feelings toward Finny reverse themselves. Gene’s obsession with Phineas takes a toll on him to the point that he can no longer handle it.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Separate Peace Book

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I was very interested in the story’s beauty. You gave me a more detailed view on the fact that you can find a friendship in anyone, and it's very important to understand the solidarity and the very magnitude of a good friend. Also, I was very attracted to your use of symbolism from different objects to represent the relations to the characters. The quote, "He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn’t stand this... Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud. It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten" (Knowles 153), signifies the climax of the novel. Gene finally does something to potentially hurt Finny. However, what he realizes is that Finny was never trying to compete with him, that what he truly always wanted was a friendship, nothing more, nothing less. Also, the quote explains that it is Gene's first clumsy action, which makes him seem superior to Finny, but actually isn’t. I believe that this proves that Gene feels extremely lower than Finny, which probably caused him to jounce the limb and…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace, Knowles describes a life-changing sequence of events, as seen by Gene Forrester, which takes place at Devon Boarding School. Gene constantly finds himself struggling to find the truth about his relationship with Finny. Peter Wolfe states that the novel, “cries to be read in the context of original sin,” and Novels for Students references that, “the real struggle is fought in the hearts of the characters, not on the battlefield.” Both the sin and struggle come together when Gene places himself in a competition with Finny, which can only end with one definite winner. Many different factors contribute to the theme of competition including: the physical abilities of each boy, the internal characteristics of each boy, and Gene’s jealousy and envy of Finny.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In high school, students often face challenges that force them to grow up. From their first break up to peer pressure, they slowly begin losing their innocence. Similarity, in A Separate Peace two boys are exposed to hatred and violence in a military academy. During World War II, Gene and Phineas begin with a normal friendship, but throughout time they both face new conflicts. Through jealousy and paranoia, they change from friends to rivals. When challenges come face to face with Gene he attempts to get rid of them in the worst ways possible, which eventually leads him to a loss of innocence. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene lives in his own world, but through his friendship with Phineas, he learns he has to face reality.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Separate Peace

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages

    his stay at Devon, Phineas wins several awards in all the sports he plays in.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Separate Peace Analysis

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although this is true, he was not recognized for his brilliance until his adulthood. Many critics agree, "the best novel written by Knowles was his first, A Separate Peace" (Higgins). The novel tells the story of a boy named Gene, who is based off of Knowles, and his friends at a boarding school during WWII, based off of his time at Philip Exeter Academy. Knowles' deep affinity towards this book and its anomalous take on friendship may be a reason why it has done so well. He has written other novels and short stories but, the only other novel that is still printed is A Separate Peace's companion novel titled Peace Breaks Out ("John Knowles"). This novel returns to the setting of Devon School, the fictional Philip Exeter Academy, after WWII and talks about a new teacher and the relationships he sees in his…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anil's Ghost Sparknotes

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages

    For example, Anil has a conflict being viewed differently being in America and Europe. In America she wanted to be a swimmer, but in Sri Lanka she is being viewed different. She just wants to be viewed the same regardless what’s different to others. Being said, this novel is written with the idea of peace and an important theme to this is its war and effects such as its the effects on families, individuals, most importantly the society. Michael focuses on Anil’s way to help bring justice which is being said and meant throughout the novel.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays