A Separate Peace Character Analysis - 912 Words

Would you die with your friend? 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† because Gene’s jealousy consumes his friendship, which eventually contributes to the death of Phineas. On the other hand, M. Morissot and M. Sauvage continue their friendship and die together. Nextly, Gene and Phineas†¦show more content†¦This quote resembled Gene’s fear of what the war would really be like for himself and his classmates; although their class has been preparing for combat. Moreover , Gene and Phineas created their club â€Å"The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session† as a result of the war training by jumping off a large tree at Devon. Furthermore, M. Morissot and M. Sauvage have a conflict driven by the Franco-Prussian War. Written by Guy de Maupassant, â€Å"The two fish lines dropped from their hands and floated off down stream. In a few seconds they were seized, trussed up, carried off, thrown into a rowboat and taken over to the island. And behind the building which they had thought deserted they saw a score of German soldiers.† (de Maupassant 106). Maupassant’s statement is before M. Morissot and M. Sauvage get confronted and killed by enemy soldiers and exemplifies a conflict created by war. Gene and Phineas from A Separate Peace contrast to M. Morissot and M. Sauvage from â€Å"Two Friends† because Gene is jealous of Phineas while M. Morissot and M. Sauvage of modest of each other. According to Gene, â€Å"I neve r 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. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone.† (Knowles 204). Gene expresses that hisShow MoreRelatedCharacter 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 MoreA Separate Peace Character Analysis1162 Words   |  5 PagesThe 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 bo ys and their peers deal with the intertwining stress of highschoolRead 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 tree 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. Contrarily, in bothRead MoreActions And Characters In A Separate Peace By John Knowles937 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novel, â€Å"A Separate Peace† by John Knowles, the seasons develop actions and characters in the story. The story takes place at an all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II based off of the author’s previous experiences at a boarding school. The two main characters, Finny and Gene, experience character development alongside different seasons. In written wo rks, seasons are commonly used to symbolically represent a change in the character’s personalities. The nature or settingRead MoreTo Kill A Mockingbird And A Separate Peace By John Knowles1315 Words   |  6 PagesThe informed, written analysis and evaluation of a work of literature is known as literary criticism, which is based on a literary theory. An examples of such a literary theory is intertextual criticism, involving the comparison of two separate novels. Written by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird is comparable to A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Both novels are fictitious and showcase universal symbols, themes, characters, and numerous other literary devices utilized by authors. Similarities betweenRead MoreFrankenstein, By Mary Shelley1664 Words   |  7 Pagesend the life of his creation once and for all. Instead, Victor is fatally wounded by the monster, and the story ends with the monster accusing mankind for its lack of compassion before disappearing into th e Arctic Sea. Through a close analysis of the main characters and settings of the story, it can be concluded that Mary Shelley’s novel is, above all, about the theme of alienation and the innocent victims that are affected by it, a theme that is also prominent in Fyodor Doestoevsky’s Crime and PunishmentRead MoreLiterary Criticism In To Kill A Mockingbird And A Separate Peace By Harper Lee1506 Words   |  7 PagesAn informed written analysis and evaluation of a piece of work is known as literary criticism, and it is often based on literary theory. One literary theory technique is intertextual criticism, which allows the reader to acknowledge similarities between literature. 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