A Separate Peace
Essay
Prompt: Discuss how the setting of the novel helps reveal the character of Finny or the narrator.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a realistic fiction. The novel takes place at the school of Devon during World War II. It follows two boys, Finny and Gene, as their friendship rises and falls and how it shapes them into the people they are. It shows how they change as people and the struggle of growing up. Gene’s own feelings and actions impact the way the story goes and help reveal his and Finny’s true characters.
In the beginning, everyone possesses a sense of innocence. They each existed in their own separate peace, away from the war and the complicated world, but as the story progresses, they each lose that. “We were still calmly, numbly reading Virgil and playing tag in the river farther downstream. Until Finny thought of this tree.” (John Knowles, A Separate Peace, page 15) This quote shows that before they started venturing farther out and grew more daring, they were quite innocent and blind to the way things really were in life. They were merely kids in …show more content…
The boy once thought to be goodnatured and loyal, was actually driven by a mad jealousy and hated that about himself. “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all. We would be even…. Was that it!” (John Knowles, A Separate Peace, page 52) This shows the moment of realization in Gene’s mind. He suddenly realizes that Finny could be sabotaging him for his own selfish purposes and becomes convinced that it’s true because it’s credible and makes sense. When in reality, Gene was only conjuring up a reason to hate Finny, to cover Gene’s own insane jealousy. This begins to reveal Finny’s true character, as opposed to what the narrator leads us to
Essay
Prompt: Discuss how the setting of the novel helps reveal the character of Finny or the narrator.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a realistic fiction. The novel takes place at the school of Devon during World War II. It follows two boys, Finny and Gene, as their friendship rises and falls and how it shapes them into the people they are. It shows how they change as people and the struggle of growing up. Gene’s own feelings and actions impact the way the story goes and help reveal his and Finny’s true characters.
In the beginning, everyone possesses a sense of innocence. They each existed in their own separate peace, away from the war and the complicated world, but as the story progresses, they each lose that. “We were still calmly, numbly reading Virgil and playing tag in the river farther downstream. Until Finny thought of this tree.” (John Knowles, A Separate Peace, page 15) This quote shows that before they started venturing farther out and grew more daring, they were quite innocent and blind to the way things really were in life. They were merely kids in …show more content…
The boy once thought to be goodnatured and loyal, was actually driven by a mad jealousy and hated that about himself. “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, then we would both have come out on top, we would be even, that was all. We would be even…. Was that it!” (John Knowles, A Separate Peace, page 52) This shows the moment of realization in Gene’s mind. He suddenly realizes that Finny could be sabotaging him for his own selfish purposes and becomes convinced that it’s true because it’s credible and makes sense. When in reality, Gene was only conjuring up a reason to hate Finny, to cover Gene’s own insane jealousy. This begins to reveal Finny’s true character, as opposed to what the narrator leads us to