Set during the infamous World War II, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, unfolds into a story of a growing rivalry between two close friends. English Devon High School students, Gene Forrester and Phineas, are the best of friends, with the perfect balance of athletics and academics. However, Gene’s enmity towards Phineas drives him to have the ideal image of competing to become the top student at Devon. However, ultimately, when the two friends decide to jump off of a limb and into a river, Gene jounces the limb, causing Phineas to fall, shatter his leg, and lose his dream of competing in sports. Throughout the book, readers are taken into a journey of loss of innocence, building trusts in friendships, and the morals of the dark side of adolescence.
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Was that it! With his head bent over in the lamplight I could discern a slight mound in his brow above the eyebrows, the faint bulge which is usually believed to indicate mental power. Phineas would be the first to disclaim any great mental power in himself. But what did go on in his mind? If I was the head of the class and won that prize, then we would be even….” (52). Because Gene has the need for appreciation, he sees Phineas as his enemy, an obstacle to overcome in order to become “even”. Although Gene cannot see the positives of his own life, he focuses on what Phineas easy shots at life, which enrages a jealousy to thinking that their friendship has always been competition. Even from his tone and interior monologue, he believes Phineas’s presence threatens his path for success. His interior monologue focuses on jumping to the conclusions that Phineas has an purpose of sabotage, which causes Gene to “find a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt …show more content…
The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all" (53-54). Although Gene jumps to conclusions about Phineas’s actions, he still has the idea that Phineas seeks to compete against him. Looking at the interior monologue, Gene seems to try to convince himself that Phineas, in fact, has a drive of his own to a certain rank of status. However, he builds a mistrust towards Phineas because Gene assumes the two have an equal enmity towards each other, thus, leading Phineas
Was that it! With his head bent over in the lamplight I could discern a slight mound in his brow above the eyebrows, the faint bulge which is usually believed to indicate mental power. Phineas would be the first to disclaim any great mental power in himself. But what did go on in his mind? If I was the head of the class and won that prize, then we would be even….” (52). Because Gene has the need for appreciation, he sees Phineas as his enemy, an obstacle to overcome in order to become “even”. Although Gene cannot see the positives of his own life, he focuses on what Phineas easy shots at life, which enrages a jealousy to thinking that their friendship has always been competition. Even from his tone and interior monologue, he believes Phineas’s presence threatens his path for success. His interior monologue focuses on jumping to the conclusions that Phineas has an purpose of sabotage, which causes Gene to “find a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt …show more content…
The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all" (53-54). Although Gene jumps to conclusions about Phineas’s actions, he still has the idea that Phineas seeks to compete against him. Looking at the interior monologue, Gene seems to try to convince himself that Phineas, in fact, has a drive of his own to a certain rank of status. However, he builds a mistrust towards Phineas because Gene assumes the two have an equal enmity towards each other, thus, leading Phineas