A Separate Peace
We all become both witnesses and victims of protagonists and antagonists, in our daily life. The most challenging part, is deciphering between them. When we fail to do that, we can fall into a dark hole of misery, and make preposterous decisions. In John Knowles A Separate Peace, Finny is the real antagonist, as he leads his friend, Gene down a troubled path; he emotionally scars Gene and forever changes the course of his own life. During World War II, personalities clash, causing inner battles that affect the two high school friends, Finny and Gene.
Finny’s actions are parasitic, slowing down Gene’s maturation process. He first pressures Gene to do something he’s terrified of: jump off a tree and into a river. Afterwards, Gene begins to think to himself as to “what [he was doing up there anyway and why did he let Finny talk him into things like that]” (Knowles, 9)? Gene obviously does not have a very strong personality and struggles to stand up for himself. It's difficult for him to grow as an individual when he’s not given the chance to make his own decisions. The antagonist of this novel also makes it extremely difficult for Gene to be his own person. …show more content…
When Gene begins to attend Devon, he is very ambitious, intelligent, and driven. This all begins to tear at the seams when he meets Finny. Finny inconsiderately pulls Gene away from from his academics by making him involved in athletics, and justifies himself by saying that “[he didn’t know Gene needs] to study” (Knowles, 26). Finny in particular is asinine and never takes into consideration as to what the people around him want. There are many flaws in Finny’s behavior; as he is selfish and oblivious to the fact that what he wants isn’t always what other’s want as well. Gene’s difficulty maturing and making right choices is the affect of Finny always pressuring him into doing things that he does not want
We all become both witnesses and victims of protagonists and antagonists, in our daily life. The most challenging part, is deciphering between them. When we fail to do that, we can fall into a dark hole of misery, and make preposterous decisions. In John Knowles A Separate Peace, Finny is the real antagonist, as he leads his friend, Gene down a troubled path; he emotionally scars Gene and forever changes the course of his own life. During World War II, personalities clash, causing inner battles that affect the two high school friends, Finny and Gene.
Finny’s actions are parasitic, slowing down Gene’s maturation process. He first pressures Gene to do something he’s terrified of: jump off a tree and into a river. Afterwards, Gene begins to think to himself as to “what [he was doing up there anyway and why did he let Finny talk him into things like that]” (Knowles, 9)? Gene obviously does not have a very strong personality and struggles to stand up for himself. It's difficult for him to grow as an individual when he’s not given the chance to make his own decisions. The antagonist of this novel also makes it extremely difficult for Gene to be his own person. …show more content…
When Gene begins to attend Devon, he is very ambitious, intelligent, and driven. This all begins to tear at the seams when he meets Finny. Finny inconsiderately pulls Gene away from from his academics by making him involved in athletics, and justifies himself by saying that “[he didn’t know Gene needs] to study” (Knowles, 26). Finny in particular is asinine and never takes into consideration as to what the people around him want. There are many flaws in Finny’s behavior; as he is selfish and oblivious to the fact that what he wants isn’t always what other’s want as well. Gene’s difficulty maturing and making right choices is the affect of Finny always pressuring him into doing things that he does not want