A Separate Piece - Alter Egos

A Separate Peace: Alter Egos Gene and Finny are alter egos. Gene was quiet, smart, and envied Finny, while Finny excelled at sports, was outgoing, and did not envy Gene. Gene admits his envy that Finny could get away with everything, while he couldn’t. “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” (Knowles 18). “…His immortal soul and corrupt body, good and evil struggling within his person for possession of his soul.” (191). The Naguasmett and Devon River are alter egos. The Naguasmett was dirty and Gene only swam in it in the winter session while the Devon River is clean and Gene swam in it in the summer session. "I had never been in before; it seemed appropriate that my baptism there had taken place on the first day of this winter session, and that I had been thrown into it, in the middle of a fight." (Knowles 78). “Perhaps the commonest form of the Alter Ego archetype is that in which an individual is believed to have a counterpart, or double.” (189). The winter and the summer sessions are alter egos. The winter session is cold with death, war, and stress in it, while the summer session is full of friendliness and youth. “In the same way the war, beginning almost humorously with announcements about maids and days spent at apple-picking, commenced its invasion of the school. The early snow was commandeered as its advance guard.” (Knowles 84). “In another form, the individual soul is thought to consist of several parts, separate but linked…” (189). World War II is an archetype because it has two sides. One side of the war is that it was a trick played on the nation by old men. In the same way the war, beginning almost humorously with announcements about maids and days spent at apple-picking, commenced its invasion of the school. The early snow was commandeered as its