Everyone in the world has a slice in their soul that is pure evil. For some people it is larger than others. Some of this evil is represented in the characters of A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Some of this evil may also be represented by the Mrs. LaBombard when she reads this because it is not exactly the assignment.
The first character from A Separate Peace that shows a nice piece of evil, and of whom has a very large amount of evil grief in his heart in my opinion, is Quackenbush. Quackenbush is the head of the crew team at Devon School. He is always teased and harassed by the other students and consequently, Quackenbush has low self-esteem. He feels that by making fun of Gene, unleashing his inner evil, that it will make him feel better. You know how it is, someone makes you feel bad or very pissed off then sometimes you take it out on other people. The same idea is seen here with Quackenbush. For the time being it makes him feel big and important. The first incident is when Gene starts as the Assistant Crew Manager and Quackenbush is above him. “…’Get some towels’…’How many?’…’As many as you can carry. That won’t be too many.’…” (69). Quackenbush hurts Gene another time too. After making fun of Gene, Gene remarks
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Gene did not like that comment because Finny was at that time disabled. Brinker, who is the popular ‘everyman’ at Devon, seems jealous of the friendship that Gene and Finny share. His jealousy and anger builds up inside of him until he can no longer hold it in. “…What if [valedictorian] was my goal? After all, he should talk. “…’I’ll bet you knew all the time Finny wouldn’t be back this fall. Gene has the most darkness out of the all the characters I have discoursed about. How could I know a thing like that in advance?” “You fixed it. When Finny falls, Gene makes a spiritual fall. “Doing away with his roommate so he could have a whole room to himself” [said Brinker] “God damn it! Shut up! I swear to God you ride a joke longer than anybody I know”…”So you killed him did you?” a boy uncoiled tensely from the couch…:Well, not actually killed. “…Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone…fell through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening thud…With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten…”(52). Quackenbush doesn’t like when Gene stands up for himself, he cannot stand it. Another example is down in the Butt Room, Brinker accuses Gene, once again, of purposely hurting Finny.
Approximate Word count =
990
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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