Bum Phillips

American Novelist, John Knowles, in his book "A Separate Peace" describes the flashback of a friendship among two boys in rural New Hampshire. Phineas and Gene's bond becomes stronger through the course of the story as they spend more time together. As the story progresses, Gene becomes envious of Phineas' talents and his happiness. Because of this, Gene shakes the branch that him and Phineas perform their ritual on, and Phineas' leg snaps for the first time. When the novel comes to a close…

A constant theme of a Separate Peace is the fall of friendship. The bond between the two main characters, Gene and Finny becomes tested when their friendship is attacked. Gene becomes challenged with various inner battles, while Finny, his athletic career revoked, has been forced to find acceptability and incitement elsewhere. Furthermore, the book commences in the midst of WWII. This effects everyday life for the boys, it includes stress and tension all around them. The intensities of war show…

In the novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles utilizes the three levels of war, interpersonal, internal, and international, to influence and develop the protagonist’s character. Gene, the main protagonist, has internal conflicts as well as interpersonal conflicts with his best friend Finny during their stay at the Devon School. Firstly, John Knowles uses the interpersonal war of jealousy between Finny and Gene to drive Gene’s character development. When Finny has dressed in a bright pink shirt and…

Throughout the novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving writes a story about two boys growing up and learning the works of the world. The protagonist, John Wheelwright, is narrating the book about his life as an adult and sharing details about his childhood. In his childhood, he writes about his closest companion, Owen Meany. Owen leads John to become an anti-American, pessimistic, all girls private school teacher in Canada. As John is going through college and Owen is serving the Vietnam war…

God’s Instrument After years of typing away on his antique typewriter for hours on end, the Oscar winning storyteller John Irving triumphantly finished his seventh novel A Prayer For Owen Meany in 1989. The emotional tugging that the novel forces upon its audience made it one of the most read novels of the 20th century (McCarthy 2). This humorous yet heart wrenching tale tells of an unlikely friendship between two boys just before the Vietnam era. As a time full of war, death, and lost hope;…

As with many novels, there are an extensive amount of ways that one could interpret the story A Separate Peace by John Knowles. In Gene Forrester's narration, his actions and thoughts, as well as his reflection of those times in his past, portray multiple meanings that are underlying in the plot. From the past to the present, it can be seen how Gene has changed, grown separate from who he was back then. There are also the many examples of good and especially evil which are seen throughout. The…

Having vacated Mac ‘n hiavelli’s, Russell and Phillip then quickly made their way over to Russell’s transport as fast and furtively as two bank robbers not wanting to draw attention to themselves after the crime. “What the hell was that all about?” Russell demanded. “I’m never going to be able to show my face in there again. And even worse, I only received half a haircut. I’m going to have to go to one of those automated places now.” “You saw it,” Phillip proclaimed. “I know you saw it. You saw…

New York’s “Queen of the Bowery” emerges larger than life from the pages in Jami Attenberg’s novel Saint Mazie. Mazie Phillips-Gordon was a real person, an irrepressible, big-hearted movie theater owner and neighborhood legend in the Lower East Side during the Depression. Though well known as the tough-talking ticket-seller at the Venice Theater by day and an angel of mercy to the down-and-outs by night, her personal history remained a mystery. Attenberg first learned of Mazie from Joseph…

Emmitt Perry (also known as Tyler Perry) has been one of the major producers, directors and actors who have dominated this form of media, and the box office ever since his first movie debuted in 2006 (Baldwin 2012). Tyler Perry movies have become so popular because they are suppose to be incorporating African American culture, thinking and mentality as well as a message within them. Usually this message is something along the lines of faith, power, love or forgiveness. The movies are also…

in any leader. However, when self-confidence turns into hubris, leaders are more susceptible to the corrupting nature of power. Self-confidence can change into hubris when a leader is presented a situation that allows him or her to covet power. Phillip Zimbardo explored this in the famed Stanford Prison Experiment. This was an experiment that studied the effects of…