“A Seperate Peace”
“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms” anonymous Contained in the book A Separate Peace by John Knowels seen through the main characters, is the lesson of how bitter competition can be. The competition between the boys started off as a healthy, little rivalry but soon turned sour when jealousy seeped into Gene's head. Doubting his best friend's intentions and believing he is his rival, in the competition of life, the contention turns deadly.
It is easy to tell when competition has turned for the worst; when it causes poor decisions and has negative impacts of a life. Genes perception of his friendship changes after he flunked the math test. Thinking the worst of Finny, “The way I …show more content…
Gene imagined hatred from Finny, and unbenounced to Phineas, made him his enemy. In the infirmary, after Gene made Finny fall, it is made clear to him that Finny had no ill will to him or anyone for that matter. He realised his mistake, “And I thought we were competitors! (pg66)...All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.” (pg 204) There was never any rivalry between the the two friends as Gene had imagined. Gene’s cognizance that people are bellicose, that they make unnecessary conflict, shows him how ignorant everyone is. With this new found apprehension Gene finally finds peace, suggesting that true enemies might just be fictional. Imagined competition is dangerous; people become obsessed and interpret every action, feeling threatened, never realising that the other is oblivious to this animosity.
Competition is healthy in little doses, making people strive to accomplish things. But as seen in this story, belligerency gets deadly once it clouds the vision of the contenders of the game. Gene learns that people destroy themselves for no reason at all, with the notion others are enemies, but they are not. Gene comes to terms with what he has done and feels no resentment to the world, just
“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms” anonymous Contained in the book A Separate Peace by John Knowels seen through the main characters, is the lesson of how bitter competition can be. The competition between the boys started off as a healthy, little rivalry but soon turned sour when jealousy seeped into Gene's head. Doubting his best friend's intentions and believing he is his rival, in the competition of life, the contention turns deadly.
It is easy to tell when competition has turned for the worst; when it causes poor decisions and has negative impacts of a life. Genes perception of his friendship changes after he flunked the math test. Thinking the worst of Finny, “The way I …show more content…
Gene imagined hatred from Finny, and unbenounced to Phineas, made him his enemy. In the infirmary, after Gene made Finny fall, it is made clear to him that Finny had no ill will to him or anyone for that matter. He realised his mistake, “And I thought we were competitors! (pg66)...All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.” (pg 204) There was never any rivalry between the the two friends as Gene had imagined. Gene’s cognizance that people are bellicose, that they make unnecessary conflict, shows him how ignorant everyone is. With this new found apprehension Gene finally finds peace, suggesting that true enemies might just be fictional. Imagined competition is dangerous; people become obsessed and interpret every action, feeling threatened, never realising that the other is oblivious to this animosity.
Competition is healthy in little doses, making people strive to accomplish things. But as seen in this story, belligerency gets deadly once it clouds the vision of the contenders of the game. Gene learns that people destroy themselves for no reason at all, with the notion others are enemies, but they are not. Gene comes to terms with what he has done and feels no resentment to the world, just