Literature Analysis #1

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Literature Analysis #1

1.       A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about two best friends who are in a sort of athletic competition with one another. Gene is jealous of Finny’s incredible athletic ability and assumes Finny is jealous of his academic achievements. In the efforts to be greater than Finny, Gene purposefully tried to make Finny fall off a tree branch which resulted in Finny breaking his leg; therefore, preventing him to do athletics. Gene eventually confesses to Finny that Finny’s fall wasn’t an accident. World War II just began and Gene wants to enlist, but Finny, instead, insists he stay to train in fulfilling Finny’s athletic dreams as an athlete in the 1944 Olympics. As the war continues, Leper escapes the war and suffers post-war hallucinations. Brinker is suspicious of Gene’s actions concerning Finny’s accident and summons him. Gene avoids confessing and lies about his intentions to hurt Finny. Gene confesses to Finny once more, but explains that his actions were not out of hatred, but out of jealousy. Finny and Gene reconcile. Finny goes to have surgery on his leg, which was broken a second time, resulting in death. The story ends with Gene at peace with the death of his friend due to his perspective that Finny will always be apart of him and will never be forgotten. The rest of the characters graduate and enlist in the military.

2.       A major theme of the novel would be friendship because the entire story revolves around Gene and Finny’s friendship. With friendship, comes a battle of identity which is another theme. Due to Gene and Finny’s adolescent age, they are in a time in their lives where they are trying to build a reputation and identity for themselves. Oftentimes, teenagers are trying to find themselves which is the time in Gene and Finny’s life that is the hardest struggle.

3.       I would describe the author’s tone as deeply reflective. Since the story is told by Gene, who is well educated, then the story is told in a mature voice with a loaded critical analysis that revolves around guilt for hurting Finny. Here are three excerpts that demonstrate Gene’s reflective tone:

·         “Isn't the bone supposed to be stronger when it grows together over a place where it's been broken once?" Although this was towards the end of the story and could be taken as a medical evaluation. The reader is able to understand Gene’s thought process at that point in the story and understands that he is metaphorically referring to his friendship with Gene. He believes that going through suffering in a relationship is supposed to heal the friendship and create a stronger compatibility and understanding of one another. Gene was obviously perplexed when he understood that the leg injury didn’t make their friendship stronger, but made it so he lost his friend forever since Finny died.

·         “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. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone.” Gene’s tone is very mature and provides a deep analysis of his position as a soldier and friend. It possesses a sort of guilt and sadness that overwhelms Gene.

·         “For if Leper was psycho it was the army which had done it to him, and I and all of us were on the brink of the army.” Gene’s quote reflects on his own self-analysis by comparing Leper’s transformation from innocent to a psycho. This scares Gene because he now understands the effect war has on a person. He relates this war metaphorically to his friendship with Finny. He sees that the war created Leper to become mentally ill which serves as somewhat of a foreshadowing to the ending of the story; the war between Gene and Finny creates Finny to become physically ill and die.

4.       Ten literary elements I observed that strengthened my understanding of the author’s purpose, the text’s theme and/or my sense of tone include: metaphors, similes, foreshadowing, flashback, conflict, irony, allusion, characterization, hyperbole, and rhetorical question.

*Metaphors- used excessively throughout the entire story to, oftentimes, gives a new perspective to his (Gene’s) feelings since they are so complex.

Ex) Gene-

*Similes- used to describe unforgettable moments that most others wouldn’t understand such as the event of losing one of his friends and looking at the tree in a new way.

Ex) “The tree loomed in my memory as a hughe lone spike . . . forbidding as an artillery piece, high as the beanstalk."- Gene

*Foreshadowing- there are a lot of hints to how the story would end. The most significant use of foreshadowing was using Leper’s mental illness of war and having Gene compare that to his friendship with Finny. We saw that hard times don’t always make you or your friendship stronger, but can lead to horrifying circumstances like Finny’s death or Leper’s mental illness filled with hallucinations.

Ex) “Isn't the bone supposed to be stronger when it grows together over a place where it's been broken once?"- Gene

*Flashback- since the entire story is a narration concerning Gene’s past lived events, then there are a lot of flashbacks throughout the story. A lot of flashbacks are haunting memories to the event when Finny fell from the tree. Gene’s flashbacks are due to guilt and not forgiving himself for the loss of his best friend.

- "The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple beside the river."- Gene

*Conflict- there were several conflicts throughout the novel. Gene often struggled an internal conflict concerning his identity and self-a-steam. Then there were outward conflicts concerning his friendship with Finny and the tree accident. Finny struggled with his disability and inability to pursue his dreams as an athlete in the Olympics, etc.

Ex) “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”

*Irony- It was ironic that Finny, who was the most athletically talented ended up disabled and died in the end from one of his surgeries. It was also ironic that Gene, who was known in high school as the most academically successful, to perform stupid actions that result in several consequences such as Finny’s disability and a corrupted friendship.

Ex) “Finny "practically saves" Gene's life when he grabs Gene's arm when he loses his balance on the limb. This is ironic because Gene later jounces the limb, resulting in Finny's death.”

*Allusion- WWII was used as an allusion to Gene and Finny’s friendship. As the war progressed and became more horrifying, so did their friendship. As people were battling one another at war due to hatred, Gene was battling his guilt, self-a-steam, and how to confess to Finny.

Ex) “The class above, seniors, draft-bait, practically soldiers, rushed ahead of us toward the war. They were caught up in accelerated courses and first-aid programs and a physical hardening regimen, which included jumping from this tree.”

*Characterization- Gene was a dynamic character and, through indirect characterization, the reader became more aware to Gene’s identity.

-“I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . I felt better. Yes, I sensed it like the sweat of relief when nausea passes away; I felt better. We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all.”

*Hyperbole- Gene uses hyperboles in his jokes. He goes into deep thought a lot and overanalyzes situations and describes them to be more than what the average person would identify the situation as.

Ex) “…took in the lofty complex they held high above, branches and branches of branches, a world of branches with an infinity of leaves”- Gene

*Rhetorical Question- Gene is very descriptive and analyzes everything. He contradicts himself a lot, too, during in his reflections.  

Ex) “Was he trying to impress me or something? Not tell anybody? When he had broken a school record without a day of practice?”

Characterization:

1.       Finny's good looks are one of the basic elements of his persona in A Separate Peace. His physicality embodies his athleticism; the "cool blue-green fire" of his eyes reflects certain vitality; even his weight – ten pounds more than Gene – reminds us that he is superior to his friend described in Gene’s insecure self. In the quote from Gene, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies,” the reader can assume Gene is insecure and struggles with confidence and jealousy of his athletic friend, Finny. “It was all cold trickery; it was

calculated; it was all enmity,” is another example of indirect characterization demonstrating Gene’s negative personality and distrust towards his best friend. I believe the author uses both direct characterization to introduce characters and then uses indirect characterization to understand the characters individually and more in depth with real life instances that the reader can relate and create a sense of reality to through personal experiences. I don’t like Gene because he is very depressing and has a low self-confidence. I admire Finny’s strength and positive vibe. He turned his disability into an active role as a coach and found other ways to be happy. He was very forgiving towards Gene which is an admirable trait.

2.       The protagonist was Gene and his syntax varies throughout the story. In the beginning, he is narrates in a jealous tone and creates Finny to look like a cocky, pompous jock. Instead, as the plot progresses, the syntax and diction becomes less vivid on Finny’s actions and more on Gene’s thoughts.

3.       The protagonist is dynamic and a round character because he matures as the story progresses. At first, Gene doesn’t like Finny that much due to his jealousy towards him. As the story progresses, Gene becomes more aware and mature to more significant worries and matters such as war, friendship, life, and death.

4.       After reading the book, I felt like I knew the characters inside and out. I definitely didn’t like Gene, but I tried to understand him the best I could. I walked away with a sort of depressed, strange feeling. I feel like Gene should’ve been more upset and hard on himself after Finny’s death since he was his friend and he was the instigator that put Finny into that position. I don’t agree with Gene’s morals and I thought the book was disturbing.