What does Gene mean when he says “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” (204). Who/what is his enemy? Why does he contradict himself there? What was his war? Langston
In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene reflects on his experience at Devon. He then realizes that he has already been through his own war. "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” (204). Throughout this novel, John Knowles has pushed the reader to see that Gene and Finny's relationship is complex. When Gene says, "My war ended before I ever put on a uniform" (204). He is talking about his internal war with his inner demons and his guilt with Finny. Now that Finny is dead, Gene considers Finny as an enemy. In the next line, Gene states, "Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone" (204). In this one sentence, John Knowles is saying that Finny never saw the bad side of people and never thought people could be evil. To Finny everyone was a friend, which is why he wouldn't be able to survive in the world. To conclude, Gene has already won his war against his enemy Finny. His entire experience at Devon was all childish to him because he never grew to what he wanted to be until Finny died.
On page 203, Gene says, "My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him." What does this quote mean?
If Finny was still alive do you think he could've somehow learned to grow? How?
If Finny was still alive do you think he could've somehow learned to grow? How?
Why do you think Finny thought of everyone as his friend?
I think Finny thought of everyone as a friend because he was going to live in the fantasy about not having war, so it might as well be a perfect world. He didn’t want to admit that sometimes people didn’t like him. Before the accident, Finny was thought well in the Devon community. He was a star athlete according to Gene. After the accident he watched his reputation diminish. He thought that he would always have his best friend, but once he learned that Gene bounced the tree branch, nobody had Finny’s back.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note. I disagree with Gene’s statement at the end of the novel, when he says that he has killed his enemy. He refers to his enemy as Finny, but I truly think that his enemy was himself the entire novel. He played everything up in his head and Finny was the victim of Gene’s actions in the tree. Gene perceived Finny to be the bad guy, but in reality, Gene’s insecurities got the best of him.
Why does Gene feel the reason to believe that Finny is his enemy?
I think Finny thought of everyone as a friend because of the innocent way he lived his life. An example, as Cassie said, was his outlook on the war. The way he pretended, or, at least, chose to believe it did not exist, showed his innocent mind. Also, he was influential and well-liked. Others always seemed to befriend and admire him, or, at least, not challenge him. Because of this he always assumed those around him would be his friend. He simply always saw the best in people, even when he should've come back to reality and realized that people are not always perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think that Finny viewed everyone as his friend and friendly because he refused to see the bad in people. He didn’t want to believe that people disliked each other and could think so negatively about others, he was living in his own little fantasy. This is why he couldn’t accept the fact that there was a war going on until soon before he died, he just couldn’t get himself to believe that people could have so much anger and hatred toward each other to the point where they use violence against each other. Not many people had shown Finny negativity towards him so he always saw the best in people and believed everyone to be his friend. He was living in his own little fantasy where he thought everything was near-perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think that Finny thought that everyone was his friend because he is still holding on to his childhood, and hasn't grown up or matured. When you're a child, there are much lower stakes, and everyone is friends with one another. Finny still has a certain childhood innocence and he sees the good in everyone, and can't see anything bad in another person. Knowles shows this with Finny's fantasy world, and his idealistic outlook on life. In Finny's head, everything is good, and anything bad is filtered out, or he makes excuses for it, like how he believes that there isn't really a war going on, and that it's just a big conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteFinny and the truth were not friends. Finny didn't like the truth at all, and in the end that's what got him killed. He saw everyone as a friend because he was afraid of the truth. He sugarcoated life and thought of the world in his own way, but sooner or later the truth will catch up to you.
ReplyDeleteThroughout a Separate Peace John Knowles has made Gene go through two different wars, an external and an internal war. Knowles has used these wars parallel to one another to force Gene to overcome adversity and mature. In the end of the novel both of the wars get closer to Gene until the external war has now entered his life, and the internal war is gone. It's strange that Gene thinks peace has descended on Devon, especially because the war just entered Devon. Furthermore, Knowles is showing how Gene now has some of Finny's traits. Throughout the novel Gene slowly lost himself and became more like Finny. But, when Finny died Gene now has some of the best parts of Finny in himself. Gene now has the ability to see a "separate peace" despite how bad things may be. That is why in this moment when the war has descended upon him, Gene still is able to find peace and serenity in the worst things.
Finny, gone, is still with Gene in a sense. Their relationship was so impactful on Gene and Gene learned so many things from him. Even though Finny might have been the spark for the internal war, he still helped Gene overcome it. On page 204 Gene says, "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." Gene's enemy was never Finny, it was himself. He was envious and violent to Finny, and in the end he beat his enemy and matured.
Genes fury was his guilt about Finny.
Throughout A Seperate Peace by John Knowles, Gene and Finny grow a strong codependent relationship that has negative impacts on both characters. The quote on page 203, "My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him,” shows how Finny’s death influences Gene’s perspective on their true relationship. With Finny gone, Gene feels that he no longer has the responsibility of holding this burden and that he doesn’t owe it to anybody else. Gene describes his burden now as “withered and lifeless,” meaning he feels ready to leave behind this dead past. In conclusion, Finny’s death ultimately relieved Gene of his ongoing internal conflict that he can now put to rest.
ReplyDeleteI think the quote "My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him," means that since Gene only ever felt real fury towards himself about Finny, that when Finny died he had no more fury. Ever since Gene pushed Finny out of the tree, he had felt fury towards something. Usually it was at himself, in the form of the guilt he felt for the actions he did. He felt this "fury" because he was never able to address his guilt directly, therefore he let it grow. But when Finny died, he finally let go of his fury, as the person who was causing him the most pain had died.
ReplyDeleteFinny considered everyone as his friend because he was not in a good place with reality. What I mean by that is he was overly optimistic, and unrealistic. When he refused to believe in the war, that was his way of coping. In the end, I think Finny never wants to grow up. He doesn't want to have any responsibilities, because it's easier that way. He considers everyone his friend because that's what all children do, and it's more enjoyable to be someone's friend than their foe.
ReplyDelete