Throughout human history, war has stood as a universal reaction to various conflicts between diverse peoples. War can embed itself into a culture over generations of fighting. It can generate cultures that base themselves around the concept of war, creating hostile and bellicose peoples. At times, war may not even have grounds, but the aggressive nature of the people often cause it to proceed without justification. These wars often proceed due to perceptions conceived within the depths of peoples’ imaginations. Irrational assumptions, fears of the unknown, and the development of nonexistent threats allow the justification of these wars within the individuals. In A Separate Peace, wars such as these are seen between the characters and within the characters of Gene and Phineas. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace reveals Gene’s perceived war with Phineas and Phineas’ internal conflict with World War II to be intertwined with each other through Gene’s misunderstanding of Phineas and Phineas’ dependency on Gene to escape the realization of war itself. Phineas is an individual who is unable to accept the war, and in retaliation to the war, attempts to avoid it altogether. Phineas describes to Gene that “there isn’t any war” and that there are “fat old men” who create the war just to keep “people who were young… in their places” (Knowles 115). In this moment, Phineas explicitly denies that the war exists. His direct denial of the war’s existence suggests that he cannot cope with his fears about the war and, in his fear, takes steps to separate himself from the war through denial. Phineas possesses anti-war ideals that push him to take this stance. Gene unveils these ideals when he tries to explain to him that if he were to go to war, h... ... middle of paper ... ...o avoid conversations about Leper and the war. Phineas’ avoidance of the war is then compounded by emphasis on Gene’s Olympic training, as it serves to distract Phineas from the war. While Gene’s war with Phineas is driven by an ignorance of the enemy he perceives, Phineas’ war with World War II is driven by an inability to come to terms with the reality of the war and an inability to define the enemy. Unfortunately, these wars become intertwined through Gene’s misconceptions about Phineas and Gene’s role as Phineas’ codependent. While World War II has tangible justification, the youth, lack of life experiences, weakness of character, and fear in Phineas and Gene act to drive their wars, but ultimately, their wars are caused “by something ignorant in the human heart” (201). Works Cited Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
The theme “rite of passage” was used in the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This moving from innocence to adulthood was contained within three sets of interconnected symbols: summer and winter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war. These symbols served as a backdrop upon which the novel was developed. The loss if Gene Forrester’s innocence was examined through these motifs.
Friendship is a necessity throughout life whether it is during elementary school or during adulthood. Some friendships may last a while and some may last for a year; it depends on the strength of the bond and trust between the two people. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters, Gene and Finny, did not have a pure friendship because it was driven by envy and jealousy, they did not feel the same way towards each other and they did not accurately understand each other.
The title of this novel, “The Wars” is illusory. Upon first glance, it makes one expect a protagonist who goes to an actual war, uses physical strength to fight on the battlefield and becomes a war hero.While part of that is true, there are also other significances of the war associated with this title. This novel recounts the journey of the protagonist, Robert Ross as he starts out as a shy, introvert and an inexperienced person before he goes to war; he experiences a change in himself as a result of the people and the battle(s) that he fights with the factors in his surroundings. Therefore, “The Wars” doesn’t necessarily mean the war with the enemy but it includes the wars at home, wars against nature and wars of relationships. Which
The American Library Association defines a challenge to a book as, “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based on the objections of a person or group” (“About Banned). A Separate Peace by John Knowles was one of the many challenged books of its time; it was ranked sixty-seventh on the American Literature Association’s list of most challenged classic novels The book continues to be challenged all over the country and in 2013 it is ranked thirty-fifth on the summer of banned books list .(ALA). A Separate Peace chronicles the life of a boy named Gene Forrester, a student of the prestigious Devon School in New Hampshire. In Gene’s first year at Devon. He becomes close friends with his daredevil of a roommate Finny. Secretly Gene somewhat
Phineas is a daring young individual that lives for the thrill of these such actions. His intention is not to sabotage his friend, because all he wants is to have an exceptional time. Gene uses this opportunity to let his conscience get the best of him and causes his friend to fall out of the tree. Phineas ventures out on the limb first, and when Gene steps out, his knees bend and he jostles the limb, causing Finny to lose his balance and fall onto the river bank below, shattering his leg. He feels remorse and regret after he causes this to happen, as Finny is not allowed to participate in sports anymore.
The older generation had an artificial illusion of what war is and although Paul's generation, the soldiers, loved their country, they were forced to distinguish reality from illusion. Because of this disti...
The quote, “Ignorance is bliss,” by Thomas Gray is a seemingly adequate description of the lives of Gene, Finny, and Leper until they are all roughly jolted out of their fantasy world and brought back to reality. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles does an acceptable job of showing how disillusionment can greatly impact and, thus, change the lives of people. The book showcases the cycle of disillusionment and the ramifications it implies. Throughout the book, we see Gene, Leper, and Finny’s views on the world change. This all culminates in Gene being elevated to a higher level of understanding of the world and seeing the truth about Devon and the war. The illusions created by Finny and Leper are also taken on by Gene, and he, in turn, shares in their disillusionment. Overall, disillusionment is a part of life and often serves as a tool to help many people grow and learn from the past.
As one can see, in the book A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles, dives into the lives of teenagers growing up during the war. One of which, Gene, struggles to find his own identity and peace during this time. He had to overcome many obstacles, to get to his peace but he eventually did and went on to live a pretty decent life as a soldier. Thus, envy and imitation can be a tragic thing even if it is just among
Dealing with enemies has been a problem since the beginning of time. “I never killed anybody,” Gene had commented later in his life, “And I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform, I was on active duty all my time at Devon; I killed my enemy there.” In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the value of dealing with enemies is shown by Gene, who was dealing with few human enemies, but his emotions created far greater rivals than any human could ever posses.
It has not only been a trend, but almost a necessity, for novelists who depict wars to depict humanity. Wars are largely, if not totally, alienating; it alienates humans from who they are—or at least whom they think they are—to fighting machines programmed exclusively for mass destruction and ruthless killing. Romantic love and strong sentiment seem to be incompatible with the nature of wars and are rarely found in wars as well. However, in Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier shows us the reshaping of humanity and personality of the male protagonist Inman during the war; he conveys an idea of rebirth in the war—a process of gradually discovering and finally adopting a new, more introspective self-identity; and this journey to rebirth is led by love, courage, and the desire for freedom.
This war involves a human side, including the admission of fear and scenes of domestic life, not in a sentimentalized version. This more complete and responsible depiction shows that there's not one single center to the war, just as there's not one single god for the Greeks.
The development of the war occurs with the maturing of Gene and most of his fellow students. The negative diction associated with the war revealed how Gene feared and even hated just the idea of war. In the end, however, he realized his own involvement in the war included no real warfare. As the war continues, Gene gives up on childlike activities like games and instead joins the war efforts. Through the setting of the Devon School, Knowles shows how war can reach even the most sheltered places. War molds our youth and thus molds our
Power, the perception of superiority over another human, is the source of many conflicts between people. Feeling inferior causes people to act beyond their normal personality. John Knowles strongly demonstrates this point in his work, A Separate Peace. In the relationship between Finny and Gene, Gene sets himself up to be inferior in the balance of power which motivates him to act irrationally to take power back from Finny.
A persona is a mask shown to the outside world developed in relation to consciousness, to hide the darkest aspects of a psyche, known as a shadow, behind it. Shadows contrast personas by holding undesirable and unwanted memories and behaviors, but the dark side of an individual must be accepted for the individual to fully understand oneself. In the coming of age novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, narrator Gene Forrester returns to New Hampshire to visit Devon School, where he studied fifteen years ago just as World War II had begun to unfold. The narrative shifts back fifteen years ago to Gene’s days at Devon School with his best friend, Phineas, also known as Finny, as he recalls memorable events from his past. Gene’s persona and shadow
Earnest Hemmingway once said "Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." (Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference) War is a gruesome and tragic thing and affects people differently. Both Vonnegut and Hemmingway discus this idea in their novels A Farewell to Arms and Slaughterhouse Five. Both of the novels deal not only with war stories but other genres, be it a science fiction story in Vonnegut’s case or a love story in Hemingway’s. Despite all the similarities there are also very big differences in the depiction of war and the way the two characters cope with their shocking and different experiences. It is the way someone deals with these tragedies that is the true story. This essay will evaluate how the main characters in both novels deal with their experiences in different ways.