named Gene who decides to visit his old school Devon years after the war and recollects his memories of his friend‚ Phineas. Most of the story is a flashback about the hardships Gene and Phineas had to face growing up in high school during a war. During this flashback‚ Gene grows through the phase where he must let go of his childhood and mature to adulthood. Throughout the book‚ Phineas symbolizes childhood and innocence‚ revealing the main theme of the book: innocence versus maturity. Gene’s journey
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and has yet to discover who he really is. But Gene forms an incredibly close relationship with his best friend Phineas‚ and together they make new discoveries about themselves. Their close‚ sometimes complicated relationship teaches Gene a lot about himself. He also learns from Phineas; basing a bit of his personality off of him. Gene grows as a person during this time‚ and finds Phineas is still a part of him long after high school. Phineas’s way of living teaches Gene about himself and helps him
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his friend and roommate Phineas. Phineas was the best athlete in the entire school. From then on the story moves back to 1942 at the school named Devon. Phineas’ athleticism inspires Gene to become one of the smartest kids in the school. He starts to do well in school until he failed a test because of a trip to the beach with Phineas. When this happens‚ he blames Phineas for him failing. He begins to get angry with Phineas and tries to stay focused until one day when Phineas persuades Gene to go and
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changes from being insecure to confident because of how his relationship with Phineas affected him during high school days at Devon. Knowles vividly portrays Gene in the beginning as insecure because he is constantly pointing out how Phineas excels at everything and how all he has are books through his way of telling the story from his experience and his relationship with Phineas. Gene interprets his relationship with Phineas as a friendly rivalry‚ but realizes that it’s one sided. “I couldn’t help
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us‚ it has the tendency to turn everything sour. Jealousy is a blinding and powerful emotion. Gene had several moments of jealousy in the novel‚ A Separate Peace. Gene never dislikes Phineas‚ Gene is just simply jealous of Phineas. Gene is in a way “obsessed” with Phineas‚ if you will. The way Gene speaks of Phineas and everything he says and does always leads straight back to Finny. One example that conveys this is when Gene says‚ “I was
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understanding‚ maturity‚ and he finds the separate peace that every man longs for. “Phineas just walked serenely on‚ or rather flowed on‚ rolling forward in his white sneakers with such unthinking unity of movement that “walk” didn’t describe it. When the novel begins‚ John Knowles leaves a subtle detail of Phineas’ character through his vivid descriptions of his movements. Phineas always represented an uninterrupted flow of strength and energy‚ like a river with nothing
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tree branch (on which both him and Phineas were on) in order to make Phineas plummet to the ground‚ whereof his schoolmate Phineas fell to the ground shattering his leg.’ To this indictment the defendant pleaded not guilty‚ if we prove him guilty‚ you must find him so. We will prove this as particular as can be‚ that Gene Forrester was Phineas’ friend and vice versa‚ and without provocation the accused deliberately jostled the limb of the tree in order to cause Phineas to fall to the ground. It would
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which affect their actions. This happens twice in the novel: when Gene (the main character) creates his own idea of Phineas (Gene’s best friend) and him having to be equals‚ and another when Phineas surmises that the war is a front for adults to control the younger generation. These thoughts not only affected their actions‚ but had an effect on everything they said and thought. Phineas‚ as an example‚ thought that the war was fake; a big show to control the youth of the country. He went as far as preparing
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find "a separate peace" and in this process directed his emotions at Phineas‚ his roommate. Forrester and Phineas formed the illusion of a great companionship‚ but there was a "silent rivalry" between them in Forrester’s mind. Self deceptions in Forrester led him to believe that Phineas was "out to get him" (Forrester). Subconsciously Forrester jounced the limb of the tree and forced Phineas to fall and break his leg. Phineas found out the truth of his "accident" with the help of
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protected world of Devon‚ Phineas and Gene started junior year with their innocence and optimism intact. During their junior year‚ Phineas and Gene experienced tragedies that led to their loss of innocence. These tragedies made the boys realize that they would never again feel the purity of their younger days. While Phineas is at Devon‚ he attempts to convince himself and others that the ugliness of the war is not happening. He even told Gene “There isn’t any war.”(p.115) Phineas had thought that fat
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