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Characteristics of phineas a separate peace
Characteristics of phineas a separate peace
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Character:
FINNY
Throughout the novel A Separate Peace there were two dominant characters. Perhaps the most useful in the reading of the novel was the character of Phineas, also known as Finny who supplies the qualities of a charismatic, athletic, and strong leader. Finny is the best friend of the novel's main character, Gene. By reading into the text and integrating the aspects of symbol and theme the reader is given a clear picture of the novel through the character of Finny.
Phineas is the best friend of Gene . In chapter four of the novel Gene pushes Finny out of a tree and Finny breaks his leg. Subconsciously, Finny knows how the accident occurred but is the type of person who wants to believe that all of life is carefree, he hates to acknowledge that a person could actually hurt another. We see a great deal of this attitude when Finny constantly refers to WWII as something created by old fat men in order to keep young boys from having to much fun. After the accident at the tree Gene attempts to tell Finny that it was him who caused the accident, but Finny refuses to believe Gene. Finny believes their friendship is too and in no way would either of them want to mar it. Because of these feelings the thought that Gene caused the accident is more devastating to Finny, than the actual physical pain. The constant theme of Gene's guilt provides the reasoning for most of the development of the boy's friendship. It seems that soon after the fall the boy's friendship becomes rooted more on unstable lies rather than solid truth. It is this grounding that causes the reader to see the tree transform throughout the novel as a symbol for the boy's friendship.
Aside from being the bearer of incredible emotional and physical pain, Finny also bears the personality that Gene does not. Finny is placed in the novel not only for plot development but to open Gene to a part of himself that is not visible. Finny is an incredible athlete, brave and very humble, this is shown through his breaking of the everlasting school swimming record and not wanting to flaunt is talent. Gene on the other hand is very studious, but not so much an athlete or leader like Finny. Through their friendship as well as the novel Gene finds time for his studies and allows Finny to talk him into jumping out of the tree.
Gene was only a mediocre athlete and is always jealous of Finny. They form a Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session which includes jumping from a tree into a river as its initiation. Eventually, Finny falls from the tree fracturing his leg. This leads to Finny’s death and Gene struggle to find himself. The relationship between these two boys proves my thesis statement; a friend and an enemy can be one in the same.
In the beginning of the novel, Gene, is a clueless individual. He sees the worst in people and lets his evil side take over not only his mind but also his body. During the tree scene, Gene convinces himself that Finny isn’t his friend, tricking himself into thinking that Finny is a conniving foil that wants to sabotage his academic merit. Gene is furthermore deluded that every time Finny invites Gene somewhere it’s to keep him from studying and doing well. Finny has a reputation for being the the best athlete in school, and Gene attempts to counterbalance Finny’s power by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny’s activities, Gene thinks that Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny and his activities, and Gene starts interrupt...
our narrator, the central focus of the novel. Finny is five feet eight and a half inches tall and
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.
The lesser problem was the right of the African Americans to vote the south did not like it but it was the least of their problems that the south had going on. Although it was not the main reason reconstruction ended, The right for voting for African Americans was stil...
After Phineas, also known as Finny, falls from the tree, he slowy begins to change. He begins to lose his innocence, It can be seen in the beginning of the novel that Finny acts very innocent. For example, Finny's game of Blitzball shows his spontaneous style of play, and his innocent child like personality. However after Finny's tragic fall from the tree, he begins to seem less innocent and childish. He begins to reveal secrets to Gene, such as when he tells Gene about trying to enlist in the war. “I've been writing to the Army and the Navy and the Marines and the Canadians and everybody else all winter..”(Knowles 190). War is not an event for innocent little boys. When readers find out that Finny had been trying to enlist in the war all winter it shows that after the fall Finny becomes less and less innocent. He no longer begins to play his childish games, and no longer tries to preform his crazy stunts. Though he is hurt, he does not seem to want to watch or help participate in any of these activies. On the day Finny fell from that tree, he did not just plument down into the river beneath him, but also fell from innocence.
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.
Insidiously and pervasively, Gene's original doubt creeps into his mind while at the beach, when Finny confesses that Gene is his best pal, yet Gene's hesitation holds him back, stating that “perhaps [he] was stopped by the level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth” (50). By pondering his motivations, Gene reveals that he truly does not believe that Finny considers him his best friend; Gene doubts Finny because he believes that hate forms the cornerstone of the relationship, which in turn leaves no room for love. Instead, Gene believes the confession of friendship serves the purpose of disillusioning him, that, as a conniver, Finny wants Gene to falsely trust him. Through a lack of communication, neither boy truly knows where they stand as a friendship based on trust and mutual affection fosters no home for envy, and yet Gene believes that Finny is his adversary. Finally, Gene ponders how he “might have asked, 'Who are you then?'” while realizing that Finny cares more about him than the fake rivalry; as Finny's personality seems to suddenly veer away from competitive, Gene feels he “was facing a total stranger” (50). Because Finny fears destroying the friendship by addressing its problems, he never empathizes with Gene and therefore does not see Gene's deluded misinterpretation of the association or the hatred that he fosters towards Phineas. Finny throws Gene off guard as he expressed his true feelings because, fed by doubt, Gene does not believe that Finny truly cares for him. Again, Gene's fears escape his mind as he exclaims “to drag me down too!” (57) when Finny talks of how he could have reached out to Gene in the moments before his fall. In his mind, Gene molds Phineas into a resentful person, so he automatically assumes the worst with Finny's intentions. Like an animal of prey, Gene retreats suddenly when
In the early pages of the novel, Finny confesses that Gene is his best friend. This is considered a courageous act as the students at Devon rarely show any emotion. And rather than coming back with similar affection, Gene holds back and says nothing. Gene simply cannot handle the fact that Finny is so compassionate, so athletic, so ingenuitive, so perfect. As he put it, "Phineas could get away with anything." (p. 18) In order to protect himself from accepting Finny's compassion and risking emotional suffering, Gene creates a silent rivalry with Finny, and convinced himself that Finny is deliberately attempting to ruin his schoolwork. Gene decides he and Finny are jealous of each other, and reduces their friendship to cold trickery and hostility. Gene becomes disgusted with himself after weeks of the silent rivalry. He finally discovers the truth, that Finny only wants the best for Gene, and had no hidden evil intentions. This creates a conflict for Gene as he is not able to deal with Finny's purity and his own dark emotions. On this very day Finny wants to jump off of the tree branch into the Devon river at the same time as Gene, a "double jump" (p. 51), he says, as a way of bonding. It was this decision, caused by Finny's affection for Gene and outgoing ways that resulted in drastic change for the rest of his life.
Marilyn Monroe was considered a popular sex symbol during the 50s. First having success as a model, and then actress, and singer, she was able to do it all in a talented way. She was able to overcome a difficult childhood without her parents, and eventually become the star she is known as today. In a short time Marilyn was able to live her life to the fullest, having the fame, and enough love affairs to last a century. However, she couldn’t completely get away from her past, getting involved with drugs, and having a mental breakdown. This leaded to her apparent downfall, and eventually her early death.
...lie make decisions in her life. Nettie's letters embrace and strengthen Celie's own identity, by showing her the world outside of Georgia, and this opens many possibilities for Celie (Bracks 87). Although she has all of these characteristics, Nettie is very lonely, because she has no one to talk to while in Africa, and no sister to be around to listen to her stories. Nettie's letters show that the oppression of men on women is universal, even in Africa. The imperial, racial, and cultural conflict and oppression Nettie encounters in Africa parallel the smaller-scale abuses and hardships that Celie experiences in Georgia. With these many influences and characteristics to observe, it is easy to see how this one novel, The Color Purple, stirred up enough conflict and interest, to become one of the most famous novels depicting the struggles of a black women's lifestyle.
“ I knew I belong to the public and to the world not because I was talented or even beautiful but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.” Marilyn knew what her life was when she gave up her life for her career. Following this will be the real life of Marilyn Monroe, what she went through in her childhood and her professional life, her career, her affair, her death, and her legacy.
The Color Purple depicts the struggle within the life of the female protagonist, Celie. Celie, a clear victim of abuse, narrates the story through a collection of writings that starts with her confession of “Dear God.” Celie’s story encompasses around her life and the characters that breaks the common gender depiction. The story heavily addresses the subject of social and behavioral standards for either men and women. It raises an issues on traditional marital subjects, family patriarchy, and social topics. In a traditional take of the family structure, the man often exhibits the dominant male figure head with the final say. The father provides the money and security for the wife and children as well as claim authority over the family. He becomes very work oriented and cares for the children only in times of need. On the other hand, the woman acts to be passive and pleases her husband. She plays a major role in raising and educating the children in every way possible. Often times, the woman takes a small part in maintaining a profession; although, she holds responsibility for all house work. The societal perspective of the patriarchal family system relies so heavily on gender roles that it becomes an expectation and the regulated norm. The Color Purple disrupts this gender norm by introducing characters that faces marital issues due to being the opposite of the typical gender role. Because they embody the opposite gender’s likely attributes, it becomes a questioning issue that leads to striving to live up to social norms or dealing with society disapproval. Within the progression of the novel, the women possess a sense of empowerment while as the men accept how things are in the world. The introducti...
In the book “The Color Purple” the writer Alice Walker illustrates a story of bravery, struggle and oppression. The main character in the book, Celie, is shown as a submissive women with no intention of changing. Celie turns into a strong independent women at the end of the novel, but first she faces some very large obstacles. Walker, from the beginning illustrates what the story will contain, “ You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.” (1). This quote shows that Celie in a state of oppression due to her outer influences. Her current situation is not sustainable, Celie must find a way out or she will perish in her own misery. Walker makes this point with the quote above, she
In 1982, Walker published her most controversial and famous book, ‘The Color Purple’. It is written in the form of epistolary (letter), the novel included vivid descriptions of rape, incest, bisexuality, lesbianism, and “black- on – black” violence and abuse. It recounted the tragic but ultimately triumphant life story of Celie, a young victimized black woman. A year later it appeared it got Pulitzer Prize in fiction and National Book Award, and in 1985 it was adapted as motion picture. Walker’s longtime best- seller transcended black and gender