... build character and bring out who people really are. In the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene and Finny are the two teenage boys that are the main characters. The book takes place at a prep school in New Hampshire during the 1940's. Although Gene and Finny are best friends, they are constantly trying to figure each other out. The theme of this book is life's contrasts and this is made ... watch; sick of victory and enfeebled by the absence of challenge, it begins itself to withdraw from ruined countryside (120). Winter seems to be a very undesirable time at the school, but s...

• Word Count: 908
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... emotional battle within ones heart often leads to self-destruction. When darker forces of the human nature inwardly harass one, one is forced by the evilness of desire that leads to competition and being an introvert. Inner war interrogates the reality of living in a dissatisfied world as shown by Gene in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. When a young person doesn't know what they thirst for in life, they are ... forced to desire the impossible. Growing up in a time of war is hard on an adolescent, since he or she doesn't know exactly ... duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy...

• Word Count: 751
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... John Knowles' A Separate Peace, Finny fits the classification of a tragic hero wonderfully. The character named Finny is courageous and bold, just as a tragic hero should be. One of the greatest philosophers of all time, Aristotle, defines a tragic hero as someone who: is essentially a moral and good person, has a hamartia, and moves from a high position to a lower position. Being the good person that he is, Finny gradually moves down the ... managed to get a snowball fight going. "We ended the first in the only way possible; all of us turned on Phineas. Slowly, with a steadily widening...

• Word Count: 737
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Separate Peace By John Knowles (late 1950s) This story takes place at Devon School in New Hampshire , when one of the main characters gene flashes back fifteen years to tell the adventures his friends and him had through their experiences at Devon School. The story starts when Gene returns to Devon school and turns back to his past to tell the story of the ... ball", which is a mixture of football and rugby. Finny admits that Gene is his best friend, And Gene is touched by this and it makes him very happy. The reason it touched Gene so much is because he felt responsible for Finny fallin...

• Word Count: 618
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... its surroundings, blanketing the earth with a milky white blanket. This blanket is beautiful yet it's also deceiving in how it shrouds objects from view. In John Knowles" A Separate Peace, the deceptive environment symbolizes the sly and mysterious nature that Gene displays. The mysterious nature of Gene towards his fellow peers and the deceiving nature of the Vermont landscape are symbolized by the indestructible trees, the snow covered hills and the lack of human life ... . The purity and serene snow covered hills from the Vermont landscape represent the misleading nature Gene displays...

• Word Count: 644
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... emotional, mental, and physical well being. Problems arise when the self is neglected or misunderstood. Self-knowledge allows for virtuous feelings such as courage, love, and redemption, to flourish; self-ignorance leads to somber feelings of fear, pain, and guilt. Sydney Carton, the surly lawyer in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, is seen by is contemporaries as lazy, vulgar, worthless. Upon meeting ... Lucie Manette, he manages to see beyond the irascible fazade he has created for himself to discover a kind heart, capable of feeling. In John Knowles' A Separate Peace, Gene never...

• Word Count: 497
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Who was Gene's Enemy: Finny or Himself? Rough Draft In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main character and narrator Gene was living a life full of war. All events in Gene's life were now being effected by the war going on around him, but more importantly, his internal "war" with himself and his friends. Gene knew that he would never be as good as his friend Finny, and ... telling of his days at Devon, he says that in that summer he fought his own war and killed his enemy, leaving one to wonder if the enemy spoken of was himself or Finny. By reading the book, one can tell that Gene did i...

• Word Count: 488
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School