Gene's Struggle to Reach Inner Peace
John Knowles's novel, A Separate Peace, relates to the struggle of male adolescents growing up during the difficult times of World War II. Set at Devon Academy, a private Eastern preparatory school, the story focuses mainly on the relationship between Gene Forrester and his friend, Phineas, who attempt to isolate themselves from the war by creating a sheltered world at Devon during the summer and winter terms of 1942 and 1943. Events at Devon force Gene to grow up and to come to terms with the negative forces in him. The title alludes to both the peace from the anguish of war and personal peace, a lack of personal hatred or enmity. Knowles reveals that personal peace can be attained when an individual resolves internal conflicts and hatreds and therefore is protected from forces that destroy personal peace and the peace of the world. The novel's title conveys this theme by focusing on Gene's struggle to achieve a separate peace. In the beginning, Gene faces his jealousy towards Finny in an attempt to find inner peace. The first time Gene shows jealousy is when Finny wears his school tie as a belt around his waist and doesn't get in trouble for it. When one of Finny's teachers stopped him, he gave him a long speech, and in the e
When they're walking along the boardwalk, Gene notices that people are looking at Finny. Stanpole tells Gene that Finny will never be able to play sports again, Gene acts as if he said it for him. He blames Finny for trying to waste his time, and trying to get him not to do so well in his classes. Gene reaches this by going through jealousy. One day Gene decides to put on Finny's clothes, for no apparent reason. When Finny finally dies, is when he reached inner peace because through all of those problems he had with himself and Finny are now gone. Quackenbush calls Gene "maimed", so he becomes very defensive. His jealousy leads to guilt, which leads him to become as like as possible to Finny. Now Finny can't be jealous of Gene's academics, and Gene can't be jealous of Finny's athletics. A third time Finny sees the record for "100 Yards Free Style" with "A. Gene's jealousy leads him to jounce the limb and make Finny fall. This all contributes towards the path of inner peace because one thing leads to another. Gene tries to brush it off, but Finny insists.
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