A Separate Peace

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Best friends share a special bond. The bond of friendship is a strong bond, and it is quite often unbreakable. Best friends are supportive of each other and love each other no matter what. What happens though, when one of the friends begins to grow jealous of the other? Does the friendship persevere? Or, does the friendship fall apart? In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, two best friends appear to have this unbreakable friendship bond. Finny and Gene are two boys trying to survive high school at The Devon School. The two are best friends until the unthinkable happens. Gene begins to grow jealous and hostile towards Finny. This jealousy and hostility cause Gene to do the unthinkable. He does something that he can never take back. This sparks …show more content…
In chapter two, Gene first realizes that he has jealousy and hostility towards Finny. On page twenty-five, Gene internally says, “ I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” In these lines, the reader begins to see that Gene is envious of Finny. Gene is internally having a conversation about his true feelings towards Finny. The fact that the conversation is taking place internally is crucial because without the novel being told in the first person, the reader would not know Gene’s true feelings towards Finny. Similarly, as the chapter continues, Gene begins to show more signs of resentment and envy towards Finny. On page twenty-eight, Gene says to himself “He had gotten away with everything. I felt a sudden stab of disappointment. That was because I just wanted to see some more excitement; that must have been it.” Here, the reader once again sees that Gene is resentful about the fact that Finny gets away with everything. Finny’s inability to be punished causes Gene to become angry and bitter towards Finny. These internal realizations that Gene has in chapter two are very important to the development of the theme. The anger and resentment that Gene has built up will eventually be
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Symbolism There are various symbols encased in the writing of A Separate Peace. Throughout the novel, the reader is shown the school life of a boy named Gene and his best friend Finny. The book begins with Gene returning to Devon, the boarding school he attended, after 15 years. Gene has a flashback to 1942, where he goes through every detail leading up to the death of Finny. Symbols are a major characteristic in A Separate Peace because the Summer and Winter Sessions, the tree, and Finny’s broken…

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