What characteristics do leaders embody? In today’s society, leaders convey strength and kindness with no attention paid to their downfalls. In A Separate Peace, Phineas is a leader with flaws, despite his high standing amongst others. John Knowles characterizes Phineas as a naive and daring static character in his novel A “Separate Peace” by employing dialogue, action, and Gene’s descriptions and feelings towards him. John Knowles implies Phineas’s naivete through the implementation of dialogue. Phineas confesses to Gene that “[he] hope[s] [Gene is] having a pretty good time here… you can’t come by yourself, and at this teenage-period in life the proper person is your best pal” (48). The boys live in a masculine society, which places an emphasis …show more content…
To expose one’s feelings to someone else is “social suicide.” Therefore, Gene takes advantage of Phineas’s naivete by not responding to his declaration of friendship. Phineas also asserts that “when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love” (111). Phineas’s philosophy centers around a world of youth of peace and, thus, he always attempts to find the best in everyone. This naive attitude contrasts with the cruel nature of the world, where wars and competitions are common occurrences. At Gene’s trial for Phineas’s fall, Phineas asks Gene if “[he] was down at the bottom” in a concerned, friendly tone (170). Phineas fears of Gene’s betrayal; he cannot believe that his friend would have the urge to push him out the tree. In order to protect his high opinion of Gene, he alters the past in his mind to avoid facing the truth. Correspondingly, this emphasizes his naiveté as the true events do not align with what Phineas …show more content…
To commemorate the bombing of Central Europe, Phineas wears a pink shirt as an emblem with “no one else in the school could have done so without some risk of having it torn from his back” (25). Pink is a feminine color, contrasting with the masculine society the boys live in. In spite of what others may think of him, Phineas is daring enough to wear a pink shirt.. Phineas “made a good jump” from the tree, establishing the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session (31). The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session is a club Gene and Phineas created that involves jumping out of the tree by the Devon River. With each jump holds a risk because of the number of possibilities that could occur if one were to slip or have a dangerous fall. This stresses Phineas’s daring personality, as he is willing to take the risk of jumping out of the tree each club session. One day, Phineas proposes to Gene that they go to the beach which is “forbidden” and “completely out of all bounds” (46). The Devon School forbids going to the beach, but Phineas ignores this, transgressing the rules in order to satisfy his desires. Ergo, Phineas’s proposition of going to the beach is daring as he goes against the conformist rules of the Devon
Before Gene and Finny went to perform a double jump off the tree, Gene again starts contemplating ways that Finny is jealous of him. Gene states, “The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. You did hate him for breaking that school swimming record, but so what? He hated you for getting an A in every course but one last term. You would have had an A in that one except for him. Except for him” (Knowles 53) . Gene knew that he had an immense amount of jealousy towards Finny, so instead of trying to remove it, he comes up with a plethora of ideas to try and justify it. Gene thinks of these ideas right before he jounces the tree limb. Gene narrates, “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb(Knowles, 60). Gene’s differing feelings are expressed in a small gesture which demolishes Finny’s life. Seeing Finny fail briefly relieved Gene’s anger and jealousy. Gene says, “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, 60). This is the first time that Gene jumps off the tree with complete confidence. The failure of his lethal rival allows Gene to behave as Finny, and ultimately become
In John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace, Finny acts like a leader by being persuasive, caring, and creative. Finny tends to show creativeness in a situation that needs it which creates him as a leader image. He can be caught caring for others a lot which allows him to be called a leader. Both a leader and Finny can often be found to possess the trait of persuasiveness.
On page 49, Gene says, “Studying! I snarled. Studying! You know, books. Work. Examinations.” Gene in this quote portrays himself to Finny as a caring student that wants to study to achieve success and better his future. He tells Finny that everytime he attends one of their “meetings” he gets a bad grade. Gene’s persona hides the true reason he works so hard in school. On page 48, Gene says, “I didn't want Finny to understand me as I understood him. And also I didn't want to let him excel me in this, even though I knew it didn't matter whether he showed me up at the tree or not.” Gene’s central reason for working so hard on his academics is to conquer his envy toward Finny and prove to himself and his peers that he is better than him. He knows that Finny will never be at his academic level and uses that as an advantage to further his ego. Gene uses his persona to portray himself as a “straight-laced” guy to cover the dark truths of his shadow. Gene’s shadow is a jealous, psychotic person whose low self esteem forces him to compete against and kill his best friend out of
Gene Forrester, the narrator of the story, visited his previous school where he studied 15 years ago during the World War II. He wandered around the Devon school in New Hampshire and noticed that everything there seems to be coated with varnish and is well preserved. As he walks through the places in the school, he remembered the memories from his childhood, and he was reminded of how fearful they were. Then there, he decided to visit the places which he most closely associates with fear. The first one is the marble staircase which shows little sign of wear over the years. And the second one is the river where a specific tree is located.
traits earn him respect on campus and, most importantly, the friendship of Phineas, whom Gene
Gene Forrester and Phineas formed an illusion of a great companionship, which was sincere when they jumped from the “forbidden” tree. “We were the best of friends at that moment,” said Forrester when he remembered the instant (Knowles 10). Forrester “looked deeper” into his relationship with Phineas and became jealous of his talents, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying that a little, which was perfectly normal” (18). A “silent rivalry” was developed between Forrester and in his mind Phineas. Forrester attempted to become “better” than Phineas by studying more and maintaining a highe...
When reflecting on his memories of the man he knew as Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway recalls the unique individual’s finest quality: “It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again” (Fitzgerald 2). Although Gatsby occasionally stepped off the straight and narrow, he never lost sight of his ultimate goal: Daisy’s love. Even when it seemed as though everything was working against him and that he would never regain his lost love, Gatsby kept going, knowing that the strength of his hope would see him through. His childlike determination, while ultimately his downfall, was what made Gatsby truly “great.”
Similarly, a friend and I were studying for a chemistry test. As we studied I noticed he was hardly looking at his notes and seemed to only pay attention to his phone, I warned that if he didn’t look at his notes that he would fail the exam but of course he didn’t listen. After we got our test grades, he revealed that he had scored higher than me. I was happy for him but at the same time, I was jealous. It didn’t seem fair that he didn’t study yet made a good grade. Gene and I both experienced flashes of jealousy for a friend. In a situation where I could have been happy that my friend got a good grade, I instead chose to envy him as did Gene with Finny. The difference between Gene and I is that I immediately realized that my jealousy was irrational. “Was he trying to impress me? Not tell anybody?”(Knowles44). In this quote, Gene can’t seem to accept that Finny is pure and good. He tries to find an ulterior motive of some kind. Gene’s jealousy evolved into a raw odium for Phineas’s personality. Which leads to Gene discovering his own savagery against Phineas. This later leads to one of the climaxes in the novel where Gene jiggles the tree limb and causes Phineas to fall off the
Simon Klinek discusses about how as well as why respectable leaders are leaders the reasons behind why they do what they do and the reactions these leader’s actions cause to those surrounding them. The fact in which a person becomes a leader is a matter of choice, and a willingness to put another person before one’s self the idea of getting the fall so that another is able to triumph and succeed. Simon utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in an effective manner during his presentation examples are as follows.
expressing individualism is elicited by Gene and Finny actions. Some ways the characters are forced to conform are by peer pressure, as evident in the excerpt,. In this citation, conformity is shown through Gene’s decision of complying with what Finny orders, due to peer pressure of jump off the tree, therefore nearly injuring himself. Furthermore, he realizes it wasn’t his culpability of being in that position, due to if Finny wasn't there none of this would have occurred. Even more, this led to Gene feeling a desire to assert his individualism, due to he feels that Finny has surpassed him in every way, and cause his failure, such as in his academics. As well, Phineas
Deception involving the accident of Phineas falling out of the tree was because of Gene and what he would or would not say about the event that took place up in the tree. “I couldn’t make the last confession” (Knowles 162), is what Gene said close to the end of the novel. Gene deceived Phineas about the accident every time it was brought up by not telling him the truth about how he really fell. Gene was very deceptive which caused his relationship with Phineas very difficult in Genes mind.
Analysis: This quote is based on the theme of envy. It is clear that Gene feels that Phineas can get away with anything. The reader can tell that Gene hate him because of this.
Gene is a well-educated, athletic individual. He takes his school work seriously and keeps to himself, meaning he doesn’t favor standing out or being in the spotlight. He is a follower, especially when it comes to his best friend, Phineas. Throughout the book, he often compares himself to Phineas and talks about how perfect Finny is.
“Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known” (Fitzgerald 64). Eventually, Carraway’s point-of-view bestows heroism upon Gatsby’s pitiable life. “They’re a rotten crowd,” Carraway tells Gatsby, a romantic fool whose simple, Midwestern belief in love is corrupted by the Eastern obsession with vacuous wealth into which the likes of Tom and Daisy Buchanan escape responsibility. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” Ever torn in his assessments, Carraway claims, “I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave [Gatsby], because I disapproved of him from beginning to end” (Fitzgerald
As Yukl (2010) indicates, such factors (e.g. personality, values and capacities) attributed to a leader. Normally it is widespread acknowledged that someone is born to be a lead...