Literary Analysis Of A Separate Peace

Joshua Barrier Mrs. Murchison English 9 Honors October 12th, 2008 Literary Analysis War takes many different shapes in A Separate Peace and it never appears to be wholly a good or bad thing. Gene's character is one of the biggest examples of war in the novel. John Knowles' A Separate Peace uses the concept of Genes internal war and colliding emotions to covey messages about him that provide more depth into who Gene really is and gives the character more life. Gene's feeling of envy shows up in many instances through out the book. For example when Gene is trying on Phineas' pink shirt, "[he] felt like [a] nobleman [or] some Spanish grandee. But when [he] looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat he had become, no character out of daydreams. [he] was Phineas, Phineas to the life" (Knowles, 62).Gene's jealousy toward Phineas is shown through this quote because he always wanted to be more athletic and gregarious, like Phineas.When Gene's envy toward Phineas hit its climax, he then realized that "[he] was not of the same quality as [Phineas]" (Knowles, 59). For Gene now knew what Phineas' true feelings were and that Phineas never really distracted him and that it was he who distracted himself . Consequently, realizing this did not satisfy Gene at all, it only made him more frustrated with Phineas, because Gene knows now that Phineas could never have been "a den of lonely, selfish ambition." (Knowles, 56). As he had once thought Phineas' true feelings were. When Gene and Phineas were on the limb of the tree Gene's frustration over powered his judgment and "[his] knees bent and [he] jounced the limb" (Knowles, 60). Phineas fell off the branch of the tree, he didn't hit the water as they had planned to, he "hit the bank with a

sickening, unnatural thud" (Knowles, 60). Gene's feeling of frustration toward Phineas may have taken over for that one second, but guilt had truly won that battle. The feeling of guilt Gene felt was very powerful after the fall and he could only think about Phineas, when he heard other people talking he knew "[they] must have talked of other things , but everyone talked of Phineas to [Gene]" (Knowles, 61). Gene's guilt is shown through this quote because Phineas and how he fell was all Gene could think about. Gene's guilt drove him to confess to Phineas that "'[he] jounced the limb. [He] caused it.' . . . '[He] deliberately jounced the limb so Phineas would fall off'" (Knowles, 70). After Gene confesses to Phineas that he had in fact done it, Phineas doesn't believe him, he couldn't believe him. This only made Gene question "could it be [Phineas] might even be right? Had [He] really and definitely and knowingly done it to [Phineas] after all?" (Knowles, 70). The fact of the matter was that "[Gene] couldn't remember, [he] couldn't think" (Knowles, 70). The feeling of guilt and remorse follows Gene throughout his life until he could finally forgive himself 15 years after he had left the Devon School. Gene's war will never be won by any one emotion, his emotions will always collide. Just as ours collide everyday, When we have to make a tough decision or when tragedy befalls us. Gene's character is easy to relate to in A Separate Peace because he is very much like most people, he has his faults, his strengths and his regrets. Gene's actions in the book were never described as either good or bad because they helped shape Gene and give him his true identity.

Works Cited Knowles, John. A Seprate Peace. New York, NY: Scribner, 2003. Murchison, Amanda. Disscusion about A Seprate Peace. Goffstown High School. Goffstown High School. Murchison, Amanda. "In-Text Citations." Class Notes. 2008. Possel, Heiko. "Transition Words and Phrases." Connexin. 13 Oct. 2008 . "Transition Words." It's All Just a Bunch of Rhubarb. 13 Oct. 2008 . The Writing Center. "Thesis Statements." The Writing Center. University of North Carolina. 27 Sept. 2008 .

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