Lauren Crom Post 4 A Separate Peace

My heart stopped when I read this quote in the last section of A Separate Peace:  “This touched an interesting point Phineas had been turning over in his mind for a long time.  I could tell that because the obstinate, competitive look left his face as his mind became engaged for the first time.  ‘It’s very funny,’ he said ‘but ever since then I’ve had a feeling that the tree did it by itself.  “It’s an impression I’ve had.  Almost as though the tree shook me out by itself’” (Knowles, 169).  The reason that this struck a chord with me was because this isn’t the truth.  And Phineas was told the truth earlier on in the story, yet he continues to deny it.  Though Brinker continues to prod and dig further in order to find the reason behind the mystery of Phineas’ fall, I still don’t understand exactly why people continue to do so.  I understand that this was possibly the largest tragedy at the Devon School, but at the time Phineas wasn’t dead.   

I also didn’t get this quote said on page 176 where Brinker compares both Phineas and Gene to an engine:  “But it has two pistons.  What is that engine?  Well anyway, in this engine first one piston sinks, and then the next one sinks.  The one holding on to the trunk for a second, up and down like a piston, and then the other one sank and fell.” I don’t quite understand this analogy because an engine works with more than two pistons.  While one piston is receding the other is ascending.  I don’t get why Brinker used this analogy because he already suspected Gene of committing this crime… And the fact that only one person jumped makes this analogy totally unreasonable. 

Till the end of the book, I continued to not understand the relationship between Phineas and Gene.  Yes, I feel as though Phineas admired Gene beyond the point that I would have admired him.  However, Gene’s standpoint and opinion of Finny seems to be as decisive as a sine curve—very indecisive.  Prior to Gene’s visit to Finny in the hospital (the second time), Gene was looking forward to seeing his old friend—especially witnessing him talk in Latin to the doctors and nurses tending to him.  It was mentioned in the book repeatedly that it “made him laugh” the fact that Finny did this just to annoy several people.  However with the turn of the page Phineas hated the very sight and sound of his childhood pal Gene.  He supposedly thrashed about in his hospital bed (keep in mind Phineas has several broken bones along with his leg tied up in a cast resting above his head).  This action alone displays how much hate is held towards Gene.  But I didn’t happen to catch when in the story Gene’s confession was truly believed and processed by Finny. 

I also don’t fully understand why this second incident was Gene’s fault.  It wasn’t.  I feel as though the blame for this most recent occurrence should be placed upon Brinker and Leper because they were the ones whose arguing drove Finny off the wall and down the marble stairs.  Knowing this, why does Gene think:  “I couldn’t escape a confusing sense of having lived through all of this before—Phineas in the Infirmary, and myself responsible” (Knowles, 187).  Hiren, if someone in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest suddenly realized that they had done something extremely wrong (beside MacArthur), then how do you think that book would have played out?  

Another quote that caught my attention was on page 187:  “But I could not hear, and that as because I did not exist.”

Hiren Ajudia Post 4 A Seperate Peace

Chapters 11-13
Thanks for appreciating my perspective on the title. I think that that statement is relevant to the book because Finny convinced this classmates to forget the war that was taking place around them and instead he got them to have a little of fun. While the rest of the nation was busy training and stressing for the war, Finny got the boys to ignore the urgency of the event. In real life, I think that this characteristic of Finny’s would make him an excellent therapist. I think this way because he has the ability to get people to look at serious situations with a childish perspective. In terms of the clothes enhancement, I think that at that moment in the book, Gene felt superior to Finny, and his clothes were the only representation of him—Gene finally mustered gained the popularity and “strength” that Finny always possessed by posing as Finny. If the two boys were actually really good friends, I think that this situation in the book would have been pointless—two boys sharing their clothes with each other. Just like the previous book that you connected this one too, I have not read Catch 22, but I do know that just like A Separate Peace, it is also popular.

I think that you were right have a sense of worry for Leper. In this section of the book, Finny himself realizes how enlisting in the war was no joke like he believed it to be. When Finny finally came to realization that he was wrong about the war this entire time, I felt that deep-down he must have been very embarrassed for his truth to be revealed. I know that if I said something with a lot of confidence and it was proved to be incorrect, I would be really ashamed of my arrogance and in turn, I would not have been able to look my peers in the eye. I feel that it was Finny’s strength to realize and accept his mistake. “If a war can drive anyone crazy, then it’s real all right” (page 146). Reading this section, I still pitied Finny because he was under the influence and he was ready to believe anything and everything that Gene told him. “Of course I believed you” (page 147). Getting into the relation of the two boys, I think that as much as Gene had been regretting his actions towards Finny, the right thing to have done would have been to step up and take responsibility towards his actions. I wish that Gene did not use Finny’s innocence and instead would have told him the truth about the tree incident in the beginning of the book.

I think that Brinker had conducted the meeting about Finny’s past with the best of intentions. “everything about Finny’s accident was cleared up and forgotten.”  However, I think that this quote is ironic because Brinker should have known that the past was already forgotten—neither Finny nor Gene were bringing up the topic until he decided to be nosey and take matters into his own hands. The result of this meeting was not in the least bit positive for Finny because he realized how Gene played a major role for his condition. For Finny, it must have been very difficult to relive his life’s horrible memoires by narrating them to his peers. For a friend, the realization of Gene’s hand in Finny’s condition must have been heartbreaking. Finny must have begun to hate Gene for not showing him his true colors. This incident must have also stirred up a lot of remorse for Gene. When Finny was hospitalized and Gene came to visit him, I think that the roles of the two characters were revered. Gene had been the aggressive one while Finny had been the caring one, but in the hospital, it was evident that Finny was furious at Gene for betraying him, and as a result. In a way, this reminds me of the stereotype “two-faced.” Different situations can obviously cause people to react in a different way.

In the end, I feel that while the rest of the world was fighting a outside enemy, Gene had actually been fighting his own feelings. It had been his personal feelings and reactions of fury which had caused him to be hostile to Finny. The death of Finny represents a loss that Gene got over himself because he had not won against his own feelings, but instead he let his feelings take the best of him.

As the book wraps up, I have a few unanswered questions, and I was hoping that you may have a clue. One thing that I was really curious about was why Gene had returned to his school. I mean to dig up his past was really brave considering his emotional growth. Also, I wanted to make a prediction about Gene’s future: I believe that his past will always have a major impact on the way that he looks upon his actions because he had already experienced the aftermath of when his emotions control him. What do you think Lauren?

Lauren Crom Post 3 A Separate Peace

Hiren, you struck my attention with one of the quotes in your last post:  “Nothing is as peaceful as the youth of a few carefree boys.”  This was a fantastic assessment and summary of A Separate Peace. 

I was especially surprised—like you—at the exchange of clothes and that whole situation.  It alarmed me at how two friends—previously the best of friends and inseparable—could turn out to despise each other.  When Gene was changing out of his clothes, all Finny could do was criticize and comment.  However, his comments were not by any means encouraging, optimistic, or upbeat.   “We went into the gym, along a marble hallway, and to my surprise we went on past the Trophy Room, where his make was already inscribed on one cup, one banner, and one embalmed football.  I was sure that this was his goal, to mill over these lost trophies” (Knowles, 109).  Why would a “friend” do this to another friend? 

Another major turning point—as Hiren mentioned—in A Separate Peace was the moment when Gene was pondering the idea of going into the military post finishing high school at Devon.  “And I have never forgotten that dazed look on Finny’s face when he thought that on the first day of his return to Devon I was going to desert him” (Knowles, 109).  In my opinion this was a major turning point because for once in Finny’s life he had the lower hand.  For once it was Finny who was scared by someone else’s actions.  For once Finny had to fear for his social life, his athletic life and his encouragement.  Without Gene to re-introduce Finny into the scene, who was he to become?  

In a way, A Separate Peace reminds me of Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.   1942:  a year where warfare is very much present and the atmosphere of a major conflict sticks close to the ground in the United States.   Catch 22 is by far the most bizarre and thrilling book I have ever read.  It makes no sense—yet it makes sense.  That is the “catch” to Catch 22.  The people who want to fight in the war knowing that if they fight they will be decommissioned eventually—although guaranteed to die before they are discharged—are considered the sane ones.  The crazy people are those who wish to leave the service early, knowing that if they don’t leave they will end up dead.   So everything that is said in the book is contradictory.  Every sentence in Catch 22 should be read four or five times because it doesn’t match the sentence leading up to it.  In A Separate Peace, whenever wartime is brought up, people question:  “is there really a war?  Is a war really going on?  Is it?”  I wonder if this is because the people in A Separate Peace are so isolated from the rest of the world that they have no conceptualization or reconciliation of what life is like outside the Devon School. 

I worry about Leper.  During the times of the war, if someone escaped without a discharge from the military and was then found, that was an automatic death and a shot in the head.   This is why he had to be so secretive—because Leper knew about the consequences.  Is it worth it?    

Hiren Ajudia Post 3 A Separate Peace

Chapters 8-10
Lauren, the movie that you compared this book to is unfamiliar with me. I have not seen that movie; however, from your description, I can infer that the movie is similar to the book in the way that a character tries to replace a rival by trying to copy every action. Your comment on how Gene felt like he was a bigger part of Finny after trying on his clothes gave me a new perspective in relation to the situation. At first, I thought that Gene had caused harm on Finny out of hatred, but he could have also pushed his friend from the tree limb because he acted in the spur of the moment. It could have been that Gene had been meaning to tell Finny how he felt in different ways about their rivalry, but it only came out in this way. I am sure that the exchanging of his friend’s clothes had such a dramatic effect on him because that may have caused him to face reality. The incident could have acted as a reality check for Gene because he realized how his action was so dramatic. It might have made him think in a way such as “What the heck did I just do?”  Just like you mentioned, the previous section does show how guilty Gene felt thanks to his feelings towards Finny, but that feeling is shown much more in the most recent reading section. For example, when Finny returns after his healing period, the two friends are put face-to-face.

When both Finny and Gene meet again after Finny’s recovery, I think that the two boys handle the situation very well in the fact that they both try to get over the past. It seems that Finny has less of a perspective change on Gene because he behaves normally with Gene. I got the impression that Finny was anticipating Gene to do nothing without him. If I were Finny, I would have felt very hurt because unlike him, Gene had moved on and had become friends with Brinker. “I had never seen such a look in them before. After looking at me closely he said, “You’re going to enlist?” (page 93). This quote shows that Gene had not been a good friend to Finny. I say this because if he were truly thinking about his friend, he would have never decided to do something that would not have involved him. In the real world, best friends are dying to do everything together, and if for some reason one friend can’t do something, the other friend decides not to do that particular thing either, however this is not the case in the book. Gene should have given it a thought because enlisting in the war meant a lot or responsibility. Also, Finny would not have been able to do that because of his current handicapped situation.

In a way, this section also reveals how demanding Finny himself is. For one, the boy’s roaming session around the school reveals how Finny demands that Gene return his feelings towards him by also loving him. “What I mean is, I love winter, and when you really love something, and then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love” (page 96). I feel that this is the first time that Finny acknowledges the fact that he is aware of the hatred shown by Gene towards him. In terms of their relationship, I feel that this quote implies how Finny knew along that Gene had deliberately pushed him of the branch and he was willing to forget the entire incident if only Gene would return the feelings that Finny has towards him by also loving him. Also, the repeated statement about there not being a war shows how Finny likes the world to revolve around himself. By convincing the people around him that there was no war taking place but the entire incident was rather made up by fat men, Finny is trying to involve himself in the activities that the people around him were a part of. For instance, he convinced everyone that there was no war because he could not be a part of it because of his physical characteristics. I would like to mention that I thought that it was very brave of Finny to face the truth and accept the fact that his closest friend had been responsible for his deficiency. On Gene’s part, I am sure that it must have been very awkward when Finny began to train Gene to complete his unfulfilled dream of competing in the Olympics.  If I was betrayed by a friend just as Finny had been, I also would have focused on shifting the attention of my previous friends from something that I was not a part of to something that involved everyone at hand. What about you Lauren? How would you react if you had found out that a close friend had gone behind your back to bring you down? In the long run, I think that it would be safe to say that Finny’s attempts to ignore the current war had been a failure. I say this because the positive atmosphere had been broken by the letter from Leper about the current war. This section of the reading provides insights to the title of the book. When Gene plays along with Finny's far streched idea of the reality of the war, Gene is comforted for a bit during his training. Nothing is as peaceful as the youth of a few carefree boys.

I would have to say that if I were Gene, I would not have been able to set off on an expedition to Vermont all by myself. I think that this was a rather dangerous decision on his part. Since Gene was alone through his journey of finding Leper, anything could have happened to him. He could have gotten lost in the city because he did not know his way around the area. So far Lauren, I would have to agree with you that this book has been a great read. In response to your prediction, I feel the same way towards the future of the book. Your prediction seems reasonable because if we were to consider Gene’s behavior, he had attempted to kill Finny once already, and I think that he has the potential to attempt this again. If Finny were killed rather than injured, I feel that the most Gene would have to face the most. After he first trial, he was given opportunities for forgiveness, but if Finny were killed, there would have been no more opportunities for Gene to seek forgiveness for his dramatic actions.

Lauren Crom Post 2 A Separate Peace

We continue to learn more and more about the secret hate that Gene Forrester has for his presumed best friend, whom he affectionately calls “Finny.”  In the last section of the reading, Gene illustrates that he does have a secret hatred towards Finny, because Finny is everything that Gene is not.  Though Gene is an almost straight-A student (mentioned in Chapter 4) and Finny can “hardly break a C”, Finny has athletic capability like no other.  One quote that I found particularly amusing in Chapter 4 was Finny addressing Gene: “If I had a brain like that, I’d—I’d have my brain cut open so people could look at it” (page 58).  Using the tree as an analogy, Finny is the one who can jump the farthest and reach the deeper water.  In a way, this competition keeps Gene on his toes.  However this opposition also drives the hatred that Gene holds for Finny so deep that he would go out of his way to hurt him.  Destroying Gene would be the only obstacle that Gene had to clear in order to make himself the best boy at the Devon School.  His competition would be nonexistent—his type would be a monopoly.   Like Hiren mentioned in his last post, Gene needed Finny for the protective shadow he cast upon him, and Finny needed Gene as someone to listen, teach, love and learn with.  But perhaps the worst thing out of this whole mess that Gene created was the fact that Gene no longer had anyone to compete with. 

This section of the reading also introduces regret.  Regret is defined as: to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that has happened or been done, esp. a loss or missed opportunity): she immediately regretted her words.  Gene must have felt absolutely terrible because of the incident.  Not only because it was he who shook the branch that nearly killed (and even worse; destroyed Finny’s life) but it was Gene who almost opted out of jumping that night.  I wonder what almost prevented Gene from going to his Suicide group that night.  It was possible this comment that he was thinking before the accident:  “Any fear I had ever had of the tree was nothing beside this.  It wasn’t my neck, but my understanding, which was menaced.  He had never been jealous of me for a second.  Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us.  I was not the same quality as he” (Chapter 4). 

In a way it surprised me that Gene Forrester would intentionally do this to his friend.  I didn’t expect this menacing act—no matter how much Finny was hated by Gene. 

Another element of A Separate Peace that surprised me was when Gene tried on Finny’s clothes.   I wondered if he preformed this act to see how much he was becoming a Finny—reckless yet daring, extreme yet sincere, and a winner at heart.  When he tried on a particularly strapping shirt of Finny’s, he saw something else:  “it was no aristocrat I had become, no character out of daydreams” (Chapter 5).  Gene was so shocked when he tried on his lost companions clothes that he didn’t even recede to dinner that evening.  What a profound impact—clothes so closely resemble a person, but does not identify one.  

Overall I love the book and the depth within it.  In a way it reminds me of the movie GATTACA because Gene (no pun intended!) is trying so hard to be someone that he is destined not to be.  Destiny did not want Gene to be as physically and emotionally resilient as it had meant for Finny.   I can’t wait to read on… I predict that Finny dies.  Evil is only as evil as the consequences.  Hiren, if Finny did die (and maybe he does in this next section) would the consequences be greater than if he were to be crippled for the remainder of his life?  Would the consequences be greater upon Gene?  

Hiren Ajudia Post 2 A Separate Peace

Chapters 4-7
Lauren, when I first read your explanation for the first quote, I thought that your description implied that the main character was in war fighting for fifteen years, and that is what caused him to be away from his town. However, this would be impossible because World War II only lasted for four years. Like you, I thought that the main character was going to be lonely, but luckily he had a friend. Just like I mentioned in my first post, I think that the stairs symbolize Gene’s experience and memories at his school. You mentioned that Gene may be an OCD character, and I think that he may be an OCD person because one of the symptoms of this disorder is to have repeated thoughts and sensations, and after reading this section I totally agree. Throughout the beginning of this chapter, Gene continuously has negative thoughts towards his friend Finny.

            Just like I was leading into, the relationship between the two boys is portrayed in a different way than it was described in the section prior. Based on Gene’s character development, I can totally sense that his envious feelings towards his friend are more serious in this section then it was before. For example, Gene thinks that his friend is trying to distract him from studying so that the two can be at an equal status whereas; the two are at different positions currently. Finny was behind from Gene because he was not as good of a student academically as Gene was athletically. “We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (page 43). After reading this section, I was really mad at Gene for thinking this lowly of his best friend. It is apparent that Gene wanted high popularity in his school. “Anyways,’ I [Gene] grudgingly added, ‘somebody’s got to be the head of the class’” (page 41). This quote reminds me of the saying “I did not ask to be princess, but if the crown fits…..” because it Gene is trying to persuade his friend that he does not have the burning desire to be in charge, but if the school community really needs him to rule he will. The thing that  really makes me mad about the relationship between Gene and Finny is that Gene thinks that Finny is trying to bring him down. This is obviously a false statement, because if it were true, Finny would always try to distract Gene from studying instead of motivating him to continue studying. “Why didn’t you say you had to study before? Don’t move from that desk. It’s going to be all A’s for you” (page 48).  Lauren, how would you react to envious feelings towards friends?

            On one side, Gene is a terrible friend while Finny is a naïve one. I am really surprised how Finny acted like Gene was innocent when he was trying to convince him that he was responsible for his condition. I think that this is a very commendable example of friendship. This example shows that just because one person sees their friend as an enemy instead, that does not mean that this should become a mutual mind set for the relationship. I feel that by inflicting harm on Finny just because he was competition was a very cowardly act for Gene. If I was in the shows of Gene, I would not have the guts to push someone off of a tree no matter how much I hated that person. And as a result, if I were Finny, I would never be able to forgive the person that willingly hurt me. I thought that it was such an emotional moment when Finny asked Gene to play sports for him because he was asking the person responsible for his condition to “continue his plan” of gaining more and more popularity in the school by participating in everything that he possibly could. I am really curious as to know what and how you would react if you were betrayed by a dear friend.

            As the story progresses, I could feel the remorse that Gene felt whenever he encountered his crippled friend Finny. I know that Finny’s absence from school is not good for his academic life, but I think that it also has an effect on Gene’s behavior in school. I say this because the journey described prior to Finny’s injury never mentioned if Gene was ever bullied. I think that in a way, Gene used Finny as a shield to guard him from bullies at school because after he left, the school found Gene as a weak person and began to bully him. For example, Gene has a conflict when he becomes the crew’s assistant manager. In the very least, I feel as if he descerves that after hurting Finny.

           

Lauren Crom Post 1 A Separate Peace

Compared to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I find A Separate Peace a work of literary art!  There were several quotes that impressed me: 

“Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it” (2). 

The fifteen mentioned in the quote above were the years that Gene Forrester had been absent from his town—specifically the Devon School in New Hampshire.  When I stumbled across this quote, I immediately thought that he was a troubled child, or wanted to escape from his anxieties, which he seemed to leave in the dust when he left New Hampshire.  We later learn that fifteen years ago was the time of World War Two.  Obviously there is much trouble within Gene Forrester.  Staring at the steps… What do you think is symbolic about that?  What do you think this holds for an OCD character such as Gene Forrester?

Another quote that I found intriguing was: 

“We had been idiosyncratic, leaderless band in the summer, undirected except by the eccentric notions of Phineas. Now the official class leasers and politicians could be seen taking charge, assuming as a matter of course their control of these walks and fields which had belonged only to us” (66).

Gene seems to be the type of person to stumble upon his past.  He seems to be a deep and intellectual thinker, and one who will criticize every blade of grass on the prettiest and most perfect lawn.  He appears to be stuck and hoping that taking a sojourn to his old school will close some of his insecurities and make him a better person.  I can’t wait for this story to progress—or regress. 

Another thing that I am really impressed with in A Separate Peace is the writing style.  The writing is beautiful, and if flows so well.  The above quote is a superb example of how the English language can be manipulated.  This is just one sample of many of the beautiful parts of A Separate Peace.  I can’t wait to continue reading!

Hiren Ajudia Post 1 A Separate Peace

Chapters 1-3
From reading this book, I can tell that it is from the past. Because the book takes place during World War II, I know that there will be many differences between the world of Gene and the current world. I can really connect with the way that the protagonist sees his school fifteen years after attending it. The school was probably associated with many of the main character’s memories as a young boy. When the main character began to describe the different places in his school, I think that he was describing them as he remembered as a young boy. When he was describing the staircase, I sensed that while he was there, he may have looked upon the staircase with fear. “They were the same as ever. And I? Well, I naturally felt older—I began at that point the emotional examination to note how far the convalescence had gone—I was taller, bigger generally in relation to these stairs”(page 3). After reading this section of the book, the saying relating to the lives of spiders immediately came to my mind. Children are often afraid of things like spiders, and as a result their parents tell them how the spider had much more to fear from the human due to its size. Reading this description made me infer that as a child, Gene may have been afraid of the height of the stairs, or something dramatic could have happened to him on the stairs. It is clear that Gene himself feels ashamed of his fear considering his status that was with him—there was nothing to be afraid of from the staircase. When he started to describe the tree, I got the same sense of fear just like I picked up from the stair incident.

When Gene began to talk about the part, I predicted that he was going to talk about how lonely and isolated he was from the rest of the school community based on the prior description about the tree, but I was rather surprised when he began to talk about his best friend Finny. I felt that when Gene was explaining his relationship with his friend, he tried to sound modest, and as a result he tried to portray his relationship as a very normal friend circle type of deal. I thought that the relationship between Finny and Gene was really strong because both boys seemed to be extremely comfortable around each other. Also, Gene looked up to Finny in matters like his ability to get away with anything.  Also, Gene noticed how Finny walked differently from the other kids.

I was really disappointed in Gene when he did not truly express his feelings towards Finny at the end of chapter 3. Finny had told Gene how he saw him as a friend, and if Gene had returned the gesture, then the two boys could have established an even greater bond of trust. I believe that Gene takes into consideration what people around him think of him more than his own confidence in himself, and that is what freighted him and forced him to keep his feelings within himself. I feel that if Gene had told Finny how important he was to him then the story might take a positive turn. I was also disappointed in how Gene listened to everything that Finny told him to do. For example, Finny told Gene to jump of the tree and Gene had done just that although he knew that it was a dangerous task. This shows that Gene did not really have the ability to make decisions on his own, and as a result he relied on others to decide things for him.

This book is based on the war period in Europe, and I wonder what gave John Knowles the inspiration to write a book like this. Perhaps, the author himself was telling his own story through the eyes of the main character Gene. I am also really curious to find our why the main character was at his old school after so much time had passed from his actual attendance.  The title choice also amazed me because I got the impression that the main character was at peace in situations that were unnatural and unique after reading the first three chapters.

What are your opinions of the book so far Lauren? I hope that this book has some type of positive ending for the main character, Gene.