A Seperate Peace-Paper

Coralie Casimir
English 10 Honors
Mr. George
12-09-08
Essay
A Separate Peace
The Second World War was a very destructive time period for humanity. An excessive among people was persecuted during this time period in particular the Jews. Thousands of men of young risk their lives fighting in the war and each year thousands more would embark on this gruesome journey. In John Knowles novel A Separate Peace, displays a different kind of war. John Knowles refers to an internal war that the character Gene undergoes. Gene’s internal struggle was the extreme jealousy he felt towards his best friend Phineas. To justify his feelings Gene creates this competition between him and Phineas. Phineas different which made it impossible for Gene to compete with him. Gene was mislead by his emotion and acted on impulse; he misidentify his true enemy and pay all the consequences.
It is the summer of nineteen forty-two and in world is in turmoil. Everywhere was chaos even peace at The Devon School would be disrupted. Gene Forrester is a timid human being whose growing jealousy towards his best, friend Phineas push, him to do the unthinkable. He envied the authority Phineas had toward his peers, energy he brought with him, and his charisma. Gene hatred for Phineas was incontrollable, he despised Phineas so much that he fabricated pretext to justify his hatred. His explanation was Finny also hated him, “You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone,” (53). Gene also wanted to be reassure himself. It would be terrible for himself if he was the only one who felt that way. These depraved thought is what drove Gene to his when breaking point.
Gene has two different aspects to his personality a good boy or a savage. His jealousy, temper, and impetuousness is what taint his good boy reputation and then he is perceived has a savage. Nonetheless when he regains his composure he is able pick out the moral thoughts form the immoral ones, for example, when he states “He had never been jealous of me for one second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us,” (59). Gene acknowledges there is no competition between him and Phineas because of who Phineas was made from a different quality. For one moment he accepts the fact that Phineas only wanted to be his best friend and this made him angry. It irritated him that Phineas did could not ever hate him and he was just a beneath Phineas status. Just one scene after his emotion kicked in and he causes Phineas to fall off a tree which shattered his leg.
Throughout the novel few of Gene flaws were carefully depicted. One of these flaws is he did not know who his true enemy was. From the beginning is taught his enemy was Phineas. His allegation was driven by sentiments. Gene only believed what he wanted to believe. He only viewed Phineas as a self- absorbed person, who wanted paraded his good qualities to the world. Gene believed that the only way he could ever defeat his opponent was by becoming him. “I decided to put on his clothes… I felt like a nobleman… I was Phineas, Phineas to the life,” (62). This scene occurred a little after Gene jounced the limb and Phineas fell of the tree. He felt like he accomplished something great until he knew of the horrible end result.
Gene never for one moment taught the consequences of his actions were going to so horrific. “Walking again” (63) this was Gene reaction when doctor Stanpole told him they could have been a change Phineas would never walk again. This was a turning point for Gene. He was taking on a new role, being at Finny’s assistances as well as a transition. When Phineas came back feels obligated to fulfill give himself to Phineas. He thinks it he should be at Finny’s service. He tries to do this because he was ashamed of what he has done to Phineas and it the right thing to do. "Sometimes you are too ashamed to leave. That was true now. And sometimes you need too much to know the facts, and so humbly and stupidly you stay. That was true now too,"(146). This quote explains why he put all his plans and ambition on hold and stayed at The Devon School. His only mistake was Gene taught he had to physically and mentally become Phineas. Gene was not perfect he would lose his temper from time to time but the hatred resentment he has in his heart was slowly going away.
Gene’s change did not come until the death of Phineas. When Phineas died Gene finally realized his fault. “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there (204).”The enemy Gene finally vanquished was in himself. He overcame the ignorance he had in his heart. It was the hatred, resentment, and envy who kept from becoming a better person. When Phineas died he came absorbed all the hatred in Gene and took him. Gene salvation can through Phineas. Gene finally understood that he did not have to become Phineas to be perfect. He just had to take on some of his good traits. At the end Gene finally took on some trait and fully discovered who he is. Gene finally realizes his true enemy was in himself at last he can become the men he was fated to be.
In the end Gene metamorphosed from an envious boy to an intelligent young man. He started pointing the finger at himself and recognizes his shortcoming. Gene’s journey was not easy. First he had to realize that Phineas was not his true nemesis. Second Gene started to be comfortable with who he was. Then he finally won the battle against his enemy. Now he can put on his uniform and fight in the real war. Even if Gene was able to accomplished this it still came with a price, Phineas’ life.