In a book about war, A Separate Peace, many themes and lessons are learned. In the novel, John Knowles expresses good and bad traits about war and the world war. War not only means country vs. country but person vs. themselves and person vs. person. In A separate Peace, John Knowles expresses this theme by Gene’s war against Finny, Gene against society, and the effects of war shown by Leper.
Throughout the story Gene, the main character and the narrator, feels that there is a war between Finny, his best friend, and himself. It is this feeling that causes Gene’s to be mean to Finny and treat him unfairly. Gene first starts to feel his hatred toward Finny when he starts to envy Finny because of his excellence in sports. To make himself feel better Gene determines that Finny is trying to ruin his studies so he can be the most athletic and smartest person on campus. This thought infuriates Gene and he decides that he needs revenge. When Finny and Gene go for a double jump Gene shakes the tree and Finny falls out. After Finny hits the ground Gene jumps and is cleansed of all fear. Throughout the novel Gene is mean to Finny. This is revealed when Gene goes to visit Finny before fall session. Gene mentions the tree inciden
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Gene replies saying that would be impossible to do since Finny can’t stand up with out help. The first person who suspected is Brinker. At the trail Gene claims to have forgotten what happened and goes along with what Finny remembers until Finny comes to realization. Not thinking about the sinister traits of war he goes to fight… While at the winter carnival Gene receives a note from Leper saying that he has escaped and is at winter location. ” The last person to accuse Gene of the tree accident was Finny. After saying this Finny starts to hurt both mentally and physically and Gene leaves making this the last time he is extremely hurtful to Finny. I didn’t want to hear any more of it. I didn’t car because it had nothing to do with me. Gene did commit the crime intentionally but he doesn’t want the rest of society to find out. Leper turns down the offer for speed and supports his nature skiing. “ ‘I came to-‘ ‘You want to break something else in me! Is that why you’re here!’ “ Finny was the last to figure out what Gene had done to him after all of the clues and hints were revealed. He then tells Gene that he has gone psycho and AWAL. Once inside the house Gene notices that the dining room is under furnished and the house almost has gone to waist. After this Leper accuses Gene of being a savage underneath and after hearing these comments Gene releases his ‘savage’ and kicks Leper’s chair over. Finny yells at Gene to stop talking about that it or he will hit him.
Approximate Word count =
1448
Approximate Pages =
6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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