A Separate Peace: Movie Analysis

Author Simon Mawer once said, “The speed of the human mind is remarkable. So is its inability to face the obvious.” The words of this well-renowned author connect to John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace. Main characters Gene Forrester and Phineas [also known as Finny] were both high school students at the Devon school in Massachusetts that struggled to live with their everyday choices and the repercussions they produced.

In John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, three main characters each suggest in their actions a different way to grow and develop into a more mature person and their growth manifests good or bad given the circumstances. Gene, Leper, and Phineas all mature or develop in different ways despite being close, as their lives intertwine they all have personal struggles to overcome and learn from Gene Forrester is one of John Knowles’ extremely complex characters. Gene is described as an intellectual, extremely gifted in academics. Gene may have the brains but this does not stop him from comparing himself to his best friend’s intellectually savvy personality and natural athletic ability. As Gene reflects on the summer of 1942 he states his distaste with his younger self’s affinity for sarcasm and

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.

A Separate Peace, Unit Test Hamza Eldohiri The story “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, was written at the time and takes place during World War II when battles and conflicts amongst nations were evident. Each nation involved struggled and fought their hardest in order to satisfy the good of their nation. Not only is the setting in the story taking place during this time of quarrel, the story also demonstrates areas of self-conflict and an internal battle throughout. The characters in “A Separate Peace”, are described as experiencing this self-conflicting, internal battle. Gene (also the narrator) is specifically depicted as he goes through his battle in life.

“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).

Have you ever had one of those friends that you feel like you’re always in competition with? In the book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters, Gene and Phineas, or Finny, appear to be best friends. However, in Gene’s mind, they are always in competition with each other. Rather than friends, they are foes. Gene is a very complicated character in the sense that he has a lot of feelings and most of them are all at once.

In the beginning Gene’s struggles of being better than Phineas identified him as his own person. However, Gene’s identity crisis and his loss of his own goals caused him to mold himself into another person. In other words, insecurities can negatively impact us physically, emotionally, and mentally. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, tells a story of a 16-year-old boy, Gene Forrester and his various feelings that he harbors for his gifted best friend, Phineas. Throughout the novel, Gene is constantly living in the shadow of Phineas in which he grows to breed resentment, envy, and even hate.

Past and Present: Consequences of Gene Forrester’s Actions Past events play a crucial role in deciding what present actions a character will make. One work where past events characterize what characters do in the present is A Separate Peace by John Knowles. The novel begins with protagonist Gene Forrester returning to Devon Preparatory School. As Gene walks the Devon grounds, he begins to reminisce about the school year of 1943 and the lasting effect it has had on his life.

“Our minds are a battle ground between good and bad ideas; we are whatever side wins the battle” Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom. The struggle between good and evil is found universally. In the novel A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester struggles between his own inner good and evil. Gene's actions often reflect his feelings, leading him to trouble, giving the illusion that Gene is filled with more evil than good. However, Gene's goodness can be found even through dark times.

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.

Guilt is a funny concept, that has a different affects on different people. Guilt can cause some to confess and it releases the burden, but for those who take long to confess, it can turn into a negative reaction that can cripple your emotions. A Separate Peace is set in a boarding school in New England. Gene, a main character, is an incisive introvert whose best friend, Phineas, is a handsome athlete. When an accident occurs over the Summer, that leaves Gene and Finny hurt in some way, what comes next could take a toll on their friendship.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a fictional book about Gene Forrester, a student at Devon Private Boarding School. This story takes place during the 1940s when World War II was becoming more and more a part of daily life at Devon. The war encroaches and finally dominates the lives of the boys at Devon. Starting with the boys shoveling snow off of the train tracks, then their friend, Leper, enlists, and finally troops get permanently stationed at Devon.

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.

In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, the main character, Gene Forrester, undergoes a traumatic journey to develop the aspects necessary for coping through adulthood. This novel is a flashback to the year of 1942, when Gene attends his final year at Devon High School, in New Hampshire. Although Gene appears to be Finny’s best friend, he follows in Finny’s steps so that his personality clones to be like Finny’s. Finny exposes new experiences that provoke Gene’s development into adulthood. As Gene engages in new experiences, he soon realizes that he envies Finny’s abilities.

It is also clear to see that these differences have more of an impact on the actual story itself since the characters are those who create a story. When Thomas first arrives, him and Alby don't see eye to eye right away. Alba says to Thomas, “If you ain't scared, you ain't human. Act any different and I'd throw you off the cliff because it'd mean you're a psycho” (Dashner 9).