Mrs. Murchison
English 9 Honors
Literary Analysis
War takes many different shapes in A Separate Peace and it never appears to be wholly a
good or bad thing. Gene's character is one of the biggest examples of war in the novel. John
Knowles' A Separate Peace uses the concept of Genes internal war and colliding emotions to
covey messages about him that provide more depth into who Gene really is and gives the
Gene's feeling of envy shows up in many instances through out the book. For example
when Gene is trying on Phineas' pink shirt, "[he] felt like [a] nobleman [or] some Spanish
grandee. But when [he] looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat he had become, no
character out of daydreams. [he] was Phineas, Phineas to the life" (Knowles, 62).Gene's jealousy
toward Phineas is shown through this quote because he always wanted to be more athletic and
gregarious, like Phineas.When Gene's envy toward Phineas hit its climax, he then realized that
"[he] was not of the same quality as [Phineas]" (Knowles, 59). For Gene now knew what
Phineas' true feelings were and that Phineas never really distracted him and that it was he who
distracted himself .
Consequently, realizing this did not satisfy Gene at all, it only made him more frustrated
with Phineas, because Gene knows now that Phineas could never have been "a den of lonely,
selfish ambition." (Knowles, 56). As he had once thought Phineas' true feelings were. When
Gene and Phineas were on the limb of the tree Gene's frustration over powered his judgment and
"[his] knees bent and [he] jounced the limb" (Knowles, 60). Phineas fell off the branch of the
tree, he didn't hit the water as they had planned to, he "hit the bank with a
sickening, unnatural thud" (Knowles, 60). Gene's feeling of frustration toward Phineas may have
taken over for that one second, but guilt had truly won that battle.
The feeling of guilt Gene felt was very powerful after the fall and he could only think
about Phineas, when he heard other people talking he knew "[they] must have talked of other
things , but everyone talked of Phineas to [Gene]" (Knowles, 61). Gene's guilt is shown through
this quote because Phineas and how he fell was all Gene could think about. Gene's guilt drove
him to confess to Phineas that "'[he] jounced the limb. [He] caused it.' . . . '[He] deliberately
jounced the limb so Phineas would fall off'" (Knowles, 70). After Gene confesses to Phineas that
he had in fact done it, Phineas doesn't believe him, he couldn't believe him. This only made Gene
question "could it be [Phineas] might even be right? Had [He] really and definitely and
knowingly done it to [Phineas] after all?" (Knowles, 70). The fact of the matter was that "[Gene]
couldn't remember, [he] couldn't think" (Knowles, 70). The feeling of guilt and remorse follows
Gene throughout his life until he could finally forgive himself 15 years after he had left the
Devon School.
Gene's war will never be won by any one emotion, his emotions will always collide. Just as
ours collide everyday, When we have to make a tough decision or when tragedy befalls us.
Gene's character is easy to relate to in A Separate Peace because he is very much like most
people, he has his faults, his strengths and his regrets. Gene's actions in the book were
never described as either good or bad because they helped shape Gene and give him his true
identity.
Works Cited
Murchison, Amanda. Disscusion about A Seprate Peace. Goffstown High School. Goffstown High School. `S
Possel, Heiko. "Transition Words and Phrases." Connexin. 13 Oct. 2008 </http://www.connexin.net/
english-transition-word-phrase-writing.html>.
"Transition Words." It's All Just a Bunch of Rhubarb. 13 Oct. 2008 <http://larae.net/write/
transition.html>.
The Writing Center. "Thesis Statements." The Writing Center. University of North Carolina. 27 Sept.
2008 <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb>.