A Separate Peace Character Analysis - 1162 Words

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a story about a group of boys attending a boarding school. The story takes place from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1943. The main protagonist, Gene, is a nervous, shy intellectual who tags along with his best friend, Phineas, a relaxed, attractive athlete. The two boys are close companions, practically never leaving each other’s side. During their senior year at the Devon school, the boys and their peers deal with the intertwining stress of highschool and World War 2. The story A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about identity, and reveals that when one is separated from one’s self, they are more lost than ever. This is because of Gene and Phineas’ relationship, Leper’s experience in†¦show more content†¦To sum up, A Separate Peace is about identity because of Gene and Phineas’ relationship. Furthermore, A Separate Peace is about identity because of Leper’s war experience. Elwin â€Å"Leper† Lepellier is a quiet boy and one of Gene’s peers. He loves the outdoors, especially skiing, and enjoyed hanging out with Gene and Phineas. Originally he felt anxious about the war and was going to wait until he was drafted, but after watching a recruitment video from the United States ski troops, he instantly fell in love with the sport and decided to enlist. He left shortly after, and became the boys’ person to look up to. They altered the war stories to be about Leper and gave him their own glory. He was one of the first students to enlist, and it inspired them all. However, the war changed Leper. He would never be the same again. On page 150, it reads, â€Å"‘And the perfect word for me,’ [Leper] added in a distorted voice, as though his tongue had swollen, ‘psycho. I guess I am. I must be. Am I, though, or is the army? Because they turned everything inside out. I couldn’t sleep in bed, I had to sleep everywhere else. I couldn’t eat in the Mess Hall, I had to eat everywhere else. Everything began to be inside out. And the man next to me at night, coughing himself inside out. That was when things began to change. One day I couldn’tShow MoreRelatedA Separate Peace Character Analysis912 Words   |  4 Pagesfriend? Would you kill your friend? Gene and Phineas from A Separate Peace by John Knowles had an admirable friendship that relates to M. Morissot and M. Sauvage’s friendship in â€Å"Two Friends† by Guy de Maupassant. An ongoing war in both A Separate Peace and â€Å"Two Friends† causes conflicts that arose from the hostile environment in the New Hampshire school Devon and in the streets of Paris. Moreover, Gene and Phineas from A Separate Peace contrast to M. Morissot and M. Sauvage from â€Å"Two Friends† becauseRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of A Separate Peace1309 Words   |  6 PagesSeparating Peace Character By Character A Separate Peace is a novel based around a group of high school boys in a private college preparatory school named Devon. Most of Devon’s students want, have, and search for peace throughout their time at school. Upon return from summer break, each character searches for and discovers their own peace. Each character has found or withheld a certain peace, in real life. Each separate peace is exposed throughout fatal or cheerful events. The words separate and peaceRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles857 Words   |  4 PagesA Separate Peace by John Knowles is ideal for a young adult audience, it gives the reader characters they can relate to, as well as a distinct turning point, and an interesting ending. Gene goes through two major conflicts: him against himself and himself against World War II. These two struggles draw out dominant traits that are also apparent in most young adults. Due to his competitive nature, Gene jounced the limb of the tre e that makes Finny consequently fall. Moreover, since the reader doesRead MoreA Separate Peace And To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis830 Words   |  4 Pages2017 The two novels A Separate Peace by John Knowles and To Kill a Mockingbird both share major commonalities within the text, which take multiple glances to fully comprehend. For instance, one major commonality that both novels share is the recurring symbol that plays a major role in the character’s lives. That symbol is the tree. This tree that captivates both Scout and Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, and the tree that shows the bond between Gene and Finny in A Separate Peace. 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Throughout Harper Lee’s fictitious novel To Kill A Mockingbird, and the historical fiction novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the authors take advantage of intertextual criticism to identify universal themes and symbols within theirRead MoreSigmund Freud s Theory And Criticism1345 Word s   |  6 Pagesis written out it may perhaps fill half a page. The analysis setting out the dream-thought underlying it may occupy six, eight or a dozen times as much space† (819). This quote is telling us, as readers, that writing our dreams are simple. It does not take a lot of time to discuss or a lot of space on the paper to write it down. When analyzing the dreams, there are so many hidden meanings, thoughts, and desires. As a result, writing an analysis on the dreams requires a lot more paper, time, andRead MoreAnalysis of John Knowles A Separate Peace 979 Words   |  4 PagesA Separate peace Analysis Essay A separate peace is great novel written by John Knowles. The novel is about the narrator/ protagonist named Gene Forrester who returned to the prep school in which he attended fifteen years ago. The school is called Devon which is located in New Hampshire. While roaming around the schools campus he reminisced the time he has spent at Devon, especially the year of 1942. During this time, World War II was happening overseas and Gene was sixteen years old which meant