Preview

A Separate Peace Identity Theme

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
353 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Separate Peace Identity Theme
The theme of A Separate peace is self-identity. Gene goes through the same identity crisis, but his crisis resolves not around war, but Finny. Gene's admiration for and jealousy of his friend is so great that he literally loses himself in Finny. At the time when Finny is injured, he feels that he doesn't exist. Gene's personal identity is so wrapped up in Finny that in order to become an individual with his own identity, he has to destroy Finny.
The first example of identity is at the beginning when Gene wasn't sure of who he was, and basically just followed along with whatever crazy ideas Finny had come up with, such as being the first ones in their class to jump out of the tree. Gene didn't really want to, he was scared, but he did anyways
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A Separate Peace Book Report
    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Separate Peace Book Report

    2) One theme of A Separate Peace is denial. Denial is evident in both the lives of Gene and Finny. Gene denies that he hurt Finny even though he…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Seperate Peace: Did Finny Do It on Purpose?
    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Seperate Peace: Did Finny Do It on Purpose?

    John Knowles A Separate Peace is thought to be a memoir of the author himself, set during the heart of World War Two, and the aftermath of those years. The protagonist, Gene Forrester, a seemingly happy boy, hides fear and paranoia within. His best friend and the antagonist of the story, Finny, is his greatest competition. Throughout their years at school together, they become inseparable. But, as their friendship grows deeper, Gene’s paranoia grows with it. Finny is the schools top athlete and is loved and known by everyone. As the story progresses, Gene becomes something of his side-kick. Although this may be happening, Gene only thinks Finny is trying to get closer to him in order to ruin his athletic and academic career at the school. During the summer of their first year together, they form the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. Initiation into this club involved jumping from a tree limb into a small river. The two boys are the first to do this of everyone at the school. During the summer session, the boys decide to make the jump together. Upon climbing onto the limb Finny tells Gene to jump first. As Finny is about to jump, he loses his balance, but Gene catches him and practically saves his life. During the next summer session, they decide to jump together again. This time, Finny walks out to the end first. He too begins to lose his balance, but this time because Gene purposefully “jounced the limb.” One can see he did this purposefully due to three key reasons. Firstly, their competition between each other and Genes obvious envy towards Finny. Secondly, the way eyewitnesses and Gene himself describe the situation. And lastly, Genes confession to Finny the year after.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gene Forrester In 'A Separate Peace'
    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gene Forrester In 'A Separate Peace'

    Gene Forrester is the narrator in the novel "A Separate Peace." He began by looking back to his high school years, contemplating all the memories, the good and bad, he shared with his classmates and friends, especially his best friend, Finny. Gene shows many different sides in his personality through the dramatic situations he goes through. He shows through as a loyal, intelligent young man, struggling through adolescence, and then turns to a jealous, unconventional teenager, not knowing what his true feelings are, but for the current moment. His complex inferiorities make his relationship with Finny much more difficult, resulting in a quick yet painful lesson in growing up.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Plot Summary Of A Separate Peace
    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Plot Summary Of A Separate Peace

    The backdrop of World War II in A Separate Peace emphasizes the microcosmic war that is occurring in Devon. Military language that is used emphasizes the parallelism of the actual war and Gene’s war throughout the novel. Man’s destructive actions portray man’s inhumanity to man; eradication and killings of the war depict how cruel man can be. Finny’s inability to cope with the cruelty of this world causes him to become oblivious to what’s actually happening. Gene’s constant hatred and envy leads him to loose himself in Finny. He characterizes Finny to have no flaws and believes, “There was no harm in envying your best friend a little” (25). This little envy grew to the extent where Gene had no control of his action and destroyed his best friend’s future.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Correlation Of Friendship Between Gene And Finny In A Separate Peace By John Knowles
    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Correlation Of Friendship Between Gene And Finny In A Separate Peace By John Knowles

    In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, he plagues the friendship of Gene and Finny with competition. Through the glimpses of Gene’s memory, Knowles shows the intertwining of competiveness and friendship because of jealously and envy. In several episodes of Gene’s memory, like Finny and Gene’s arguments, the winter carnival, and the trial, Knowles expresses the difficulty of separating friendship from competitiveness. Throughout John Knowles’ novel, the friendship between Finny and Gene is jeopardized by their constant want to be better than the other, through competition.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace
    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace

    In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, symbolism is used throughout the story especially in chapter 6. In Ch. 6, Finny, the main character of the novel is describing both of the rivers that are in the environs of the Devon School, the Nagumsett and the Devon River. These descriptions of the two rivers do not just expand our knowledge of the surrounding geography of the Dxevon School, but also symbolize the different stages of Gene and Finny’s lives.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Separate Peace: How People Affect Gene
    • 788 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A Separate Peace: How People Affect Gene

    Throughout A Separate Peace Gene’s changes are due to his surroundings and the people that are surrounding him. Sometimes the people you are around can change the way you feel and your emotions. Gene is surrounded by many different people such as Brinker, Finny, and Quackenbush. When Gene’s surroundings change so does he. Throughout the book his emotions change, he gets hot headed and at times attacks people, he gets jealous of finny, he feels sorry for what he has done, and at times envious.…

    • 788 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace
    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace

    A Separate Peace is one of John Knowles' most acclaimed works and is based on Knowles' stay at Phillip Exeter Academy in the early-to-mid 1940's. It is set in a New England boarding school for boys known as Devon, and begins in 1958 but quickly flashes back to the years 1942 and 1943. In these years at the peak of World War II we follow through the eyes and mind of first-person narrator and protagonist Gene Forrester, as he copes internally with jealousy and hate, and externally with the oncoming draft. As is the fate of many great novels it quickly hit the big screen, and in 1972 a film version of A Separate Peace made its first debut, directed by Larry Peerce, and starring Parker Stevensen as 'Gene' and John Heyl as 'Finny'. Though the movie…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gene's Evil In 'A Separate Peace'
    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gene's Evil In 'A Separate Peace'

    Gene killed Finny, broke his friend's leg, and thought his friend to be his enemy. Eveyone dies but to die at the hand of a friend is more horrible than anything. To be filled with hatred and paranoia to break a best friend's leg is pure evil. True friends are not enemies but jealousy can make anyone an enemy. Separate Peace is a book that is filled with friendship and life lessons but it is also filled with evilness that will take over a person so that one can't even recognize…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Characters of a Seperate Peace
    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Characters of a Seperate Peace

    Gene and Finny are the two main characters of the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles. They are two very different people but manage to still be friends despite. During the course of the book, it becomes evident Gene’s envy for Finny. However given the nature of Gene and Finny’s personalities it is almost impossible for Gene to not envy Finny.…

    • 664 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Flashbacks In A Separate Peace
    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Flashbacks In A Separate Peace

    Throughout the book, A Separate Peace, we see Gene dealing with an inner conflict. We see him struggling with who he really is and the guilt he carries with him. He is conflicted about his identity and who he should be. Throughout the book he continues to have guilt over the accident he causes with his best friend Finny. The incident causes Gene to have major conflict with himself. He is conflicted if he really caused the incident or if it was truly an accident. The devices used in this story to reflect that Gene has an inner conflict are, flashbacks, foreshadowing, and symbolism.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace
    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Symbolism In A Separate Peace

    In the novel A Separate Peace there are many symbols, however one of the most powerful is the burning of The Iliad. The burning of The Iliad, a famous tale of war, represents Finny's rejection of the war. Gene says, during the carnival Finny"drew me increasingly ...into a world inhabited by just himself and me, where there was no war at all." Finny is actively rejecting the war, he is removing it from every aspect of his life; he is trying to bring back the carefree summer session through the carnival, training for the Olympics instead of war, and purging every mention of the war from his life. He is desperately trying to create an environment of peace, Finny always found peace in sports; by burning the Iliad he is creating an absence of war,…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Separate Peace
    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Separate Peace

    There are many well-known themes in the book A Separate Peace. One of the most themes is a coming of age for the boys who live and learn at Devon school. For some boys at this school, a coming of age means more opportunities, and for some others, means a chance to go from being a boy, to becoming a man. A large contradiction in this book is innocence vs. ignorance. For some boys the innocence will be destroyed in order for a coming of age to take place. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, growing up at Devon school means that each and every boy will be faced with a simple decision, kill off your innocence, or let it destroy you, physically and/or mentally.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Separate Peace By John Knowles
    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Separate Peace By John Knowles

    When people tend to think of war they think of bloody gruesome battles, although this is one perspective, war doesn’t always have to result in bloodshed. A Separate Peace written by John Knowles is a story of two boys, who attend a private school, Devon, during the occurrence of World War II. Through the simple yet intricate whole story there are many lessons, themes, and symbols that we as human beings can apply to our own lives daily. As humans we create our own enemies due to our envy and insecurities. In this novel Gene Forrester struggles to accomplish and preserve a separate peace. The novel is a result of Genes inability to realize that the real enemy is himself. Knowles uses the characters of Gene and finny as antithesis to each other, and the symbols of World War II, Finny's fall, and Seasons to portray that there will always be wars due to human nature.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A separate peace
    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A separate peace

    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
    Read More

Related Topics