John Knowles’s novel, A Separate Peace, takes place at the Devon School in 1959, and it is located in New Hampshire. This novel takes place during World War II, and even some of the main characters participate in the war at the end of the novel. This novel is told by Gene Forrester, and at a certain points of the novel, Knowles asks the audience to question his reliability as a narrator. Gene’s friend, Phineas, plays a large role in the novel because Gene is jealous of Finny for many reasons, one including Finny’s marvelous athleticism. This jealousy leads to some anger as time passes. Eventually, these harsh feelings lead to Gene’s dishonesty with the readers. John Knowles illustrates the complexity of friendship through Gene’s dishonesty.
Gene’s dishonesty leads to a complex friendship between him and Phineas. Throughout this novel, there are many examples in which Gene and Finny’s friendship is questionable, to say the least. Ordinarily, these types of positions the novel takes make you wonder about his reliability. Most of the time, however, it is dishonesty and unreliability. An example of his false accusations …show more content…
In the novel, Brinker was the first person to find out that Gene pushed Phineas off of the tree, but Gene did not tell him that he pushed him off. Once again, Gene lies to others, and he becomes a less reliable narrator. In the same example, Brinker finds out that he pushed him off, and Gene replies with “Don’t be nutty, Brinker” (Knowles 44). This quote is one example in which Gene lies to others to try and hide what he did . By this point in the novel, Gene’s innocence is starting to fade away, so he just does not want people to understand his intentions by doing this. Since we can only see the novel through Gene’s point of view, this shows unreliability and we lose our trust in Gene’s
Gene’s dishonesty leads to a complex friendship between him and Phineas. Throughout this novel, there are many examples in which Gene and Finny’s friendship is questionable, to say the least. Ordinarily, these types of positions the novel takes make you wonder about his reliability. Most of the time, however, it is dishonesty and unreliability. An example of his false accusations …show more content…
In the novel, Brinker was the first person to find out that Gene pushed Phineas off of the tree, but Gene did not tell him that he pushed him off. Once again, Gene lies to others, and he becomes a less reliable narrator. In the same example, Brinker finds out that he pushed him off, and Gene replies with “Don’t be nutty, Brinker” (Knowles 44). This quote is one example in which Gene lies to others to try and hide what he did . By this point in the novel, Gene’s innocence is starting to fade away, so he just does not want people to understand his intentions by doing this. Since we can only see the novel through Gene’s point of view, this shows unreliability and we lose our trust in Gene’s