Assignment #4 Briefly explain Gene’s visit to the infirmary. How does Finny act? Why? Does this feel “realistic”? How does Gene’s visit impact Finny? (Quinn)

Gene went to visit Finny in the infirmary, and finny was acting differently than usual. The visit feels realistic because gene and finny both seem different and the incident will have a lot of impact on their lives. The doctor says to gene, "Sports are finished. As a friend, I think you ought to help him face that and accept it"(63). Being done for good is a thought in every young athlete's mind when they get hurt, but some refuse to accept it. This is why Finny is acting strange, it is not only because he is on a drug, it is that he is refusing to accept his fate. Gene has one main felling while he is there in the infirmary, and that is guilt. He is guilty because he thinks he caused finny his life in athletics and will live with that guilt for the rest of his life after visiting him.

Assignment #4: Briefly explain Gene’s visit to the infirmary. How does Finny act? Why? Does this feel “realistic”? How does Gene’s visit impact Finny? (Sydonie)

Gene's visit to the infirmary leaves him on edge, this feels realistic because everyone can relate to the feeling of not being able to say something they know they should. After falling from the tree, Finny shatters his leg. People keep talking to Gene about Finny's injury but nobody suspects him. After a while, Dr. Stanpole tells Gene that Finny is finally ready for visitors and that he will never be able to play sports again. Hearing this, Gene bursts into tears but the doctor says he has to be tough for Finny's sake. When Gene goes in to see Finny, rather than telling his version of the events, he asks Finny what he remembers before he fell. In short, Finny says he has the notion that it was Gene's fault but then shakes away the idea saying it would be ridiculous. Gene decides to tell Finny what happened but just at that moment Dr. Stanpole comes in and rushes him out. In this scene, Finny acts very calm, he doesn't yell at Gene or himself. He just accepts the way things are. For instance, when Gene thinks Finny was to pull Gene down with him, "I flinched violently away from him. '“To drag me down too!” [Finny] kept looking vaguely over my face. “To get hold of you, so I wouldn’t fall off.”' Here when Finny could have been suspicious or angry, he feels absolutely nothing towards this. This scene is realistic in the way that Ginny was able to lie but unrealistic in the way a person would react right after their leg was shattered and their athletic career was ruined.

Assignment: #4 What is Guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can Someone live guilt free? (Alex Sandell)

Guilt is a main theme in A Separate Peace, it is what you feel when you make mistakes and everybody makes mistakes. In this scenario Gene made a mistake when he made Finny fall off the tree and shatter his leg. Gene feels so bad about what he did to Finny because he took away his ability to play sports, sports plays such an important role in Finny’s life and now is to never play them again. “...then if it isn’t amputated and the bones are still there, then it must come back the way it was, why wouldn't it? Of course it will” (Knowles 63). Gene realizes in this passage what he really did and the impact that one simple action can have. Guilt is indirectly unavoidable in someone's life. Guilt comes from a wrongdoing and wanting nothing more than to have a second chance to make something right. Every human will make a mistake with different levels of impact but will cause guilt nonetheless. Gene feels guilty for Finny's injury and how his actions can change someone's life drastically.

Assignment #4: What is guilt? Do we all have it? Is it part of being human? Can someone live guilt free?(Mike)

Guilt is this feeling that you know you did something wrong and you’re hiding it. Everybody will experience guilt at some point in time because its part of life and holds things together. In Chapter 5 of A Separate Peace, Gene is faced with guilt because he forced Finny to fall off of the tree that the two were going to jump off of together. This resulted in Finny never being able to play sports again, which was his favorite thing to do. At first, Gene doesn’t really feel guilt, but when he is sitting around doing nothing, it comes to him, “That night I slept easily, and it was only on waking up that this illusion was gone, and I was confronted with myself, and what I had done to Finny.”(Knowles 62). Even outside the book, guilt is something everybody encounters and it is extremely hard when facing it. Gene knows that he pushed off Finny, and after Gene tells Finny, he feels terrible because Finny is heartbroken, even though it was the right thing to do. That is the way guilt works because it gives you the feeling of being sick, which lets you know when you have done something wrong. This is why guilt is good, because without it, people could be doing bad things and not feel the urge to fix it.

Assignment #3 : Why does Gene’s “fear” disappear at the end of the chapter? What was the fear? How is it connected to what happened in the tree? (Alisa)

At the end of the chapter, Gene’s fear of Finny trying to sabotage him to be the head of class disappears. Throughout chapter four Gene speculates that all of Finny’s spontaneous activities and adventures are to prevent Gene from studying and becoming the head of their class. He thinks that Finny has a chance of being the head of the class because of his athletic abilities and that he (Gene) can only balance himself out with Finny through his academic abilities. When Finny asks if Gene wants to join him in watching Leper jump from the tree Gene decided to confront Finny about if he is trying to sabotage him. After Gene confronts Finny and realizes he never tried to hurt Gene’s academics he thinks“He had never been jealous of me for a second… I was not of the same quality as he” (Knowles 59). He realized that he and Finny were never in the same race and that instead, he was above Finny the whole time. Once Gene makes the connection that Finny was never against him he decides to go with him to the tree. Once they get there Finny decides that they should jump from the tree together. When they jump from the tree Finny doesn’t land very smoothly and this makes Gene feel better as this further proves how he thinks that he is better than Finny and that Gene has nothing to worry about.

Is there something that Gene fears more? What do you think makes Gene think so negatively of Finny?

Assignment #3; question 2: Re-read the last paragraph on page 48 (end of chapter 3). What happens here? Why is important? Why doesn’t Gene respond? What do you think holds him back? What is the “truth” he refers to at the very end of the quote? (Emma).

The significance of the last paragraph on page 48 is Gene's truth of not seeing Finny as his best friend, but always as his rival.  Throughout the book, we see that Gene is constantly comparing himself and his accomplishments to Finny. Gene has always had a fascination with Finny, from the way he can talk his way out of any situation to his ability to effortlessly play sports. Gene has always had a critical curiosity about his “best friend”. In chapter 4, Gene begins clearing speaking of his rivalry with Finny which we can later see is one-sided, “when everything was thrown into the scales they would, in the end, tilt definitely towards me” (Knowles 55). Gene constantly makes excuses for himself and turns Finny into a villain so he can have any feeling of self-worth. Gene has very low confidence and depends on Finny to make himself feel more accomplished. Even after Gene is given a true look into Finny’s blind innocents of not understanding, Gene finds a way to make himself feel worse, “there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he” (Knowles 59). Gene has always built a sense of competition against Finny which is why he could not bring himself to say that Finny was his best friend, because, in the end, Gene always knew that it would be more of a rivalry in his mind than a friendship.

(Assignment 3) On pages 52-54, how does Gene’s view of their relationship change? (Be sure to explain his usage of enmity). What does he think of it? How do you know this? Why does he feel this way? Do you think it is accurate? Why or why not? (Cordelia)

As Gene becomes obsessed with the jealousy and enmity between himself and Finny, his view of their relationship is hugely changed. After flunking his trigonometry test, Gene asks Finny if he would “mind” if he became valedictorian, Finny jokingly responds “I would kill myself out of jealous envy” (Knowles, 52). Prompting Gene’s misery, who regardes Finny’s response as the truth. Desperate for comfort, Gene tells himself  “... you and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone” (Knowles, 53). This is the turning point for Gene in their relationship, where he concludes that Finny is deliberately trying to wreck his grades. Gene regardes them as enemies, each trying to be better than the other. Finny coldly tricking Gene to into wasting his time, and himself continuously striving to outdo Finny as to satisfy his own jealousy. Jealousy and envy plays an essential role in the novel A Separate Peace causing the narrator Gene to harm his friend; Finny.

Assignment #3: What is the significance of the incident at the swimming pool? What does the reveal about Finny and Gene and what does it add to our understanding of their relationship? (Sophia)

When Finny broke the school record for the 100-yard swim, he didn’t report it and didn’t want anybody to find out. Finny and Gene were just fooling around in the pool one day and Finny decided to try breaking the school record and was able to. When he broke the record, Gene narrates, “I had experienced a feeling that can also be described in one word-shock”(Knowles 45). Whether or not Gene wants to admit it, he is slightly (if not really) jealous of his best friend for having a natural talent in a sport that he has never even tried. This doesn’t mean that Gene isn’t proud of his friend, it just means that he can’t help but sometimes wanting to be like him. Gene isn’t good at sports like Finny is, and human beings tend to want what they don’t have. Finny is slightly embarrassed by having beat the record with close to no effort and zero practice and this is why he didn’t want anybody to find out. Finny is proud and embarrassed by his natural gift in sports.

Assignment #2: "Re-read Gene’s recognition of his use of sarcasm in the middle of page 29. In what ways has young Gene revealed himself to be weak and then to use sarcasm to mask this weakness?" (Rohan)

Gene uses sarcasm to make himself feel better because he thinks Finny is better than he is. After having tea with the Head Minister, Gene reflects on Finny’s actions by saying “He got away with everything because of the extraordinary person he was” (Knowles 28).  He thinks of Finny as this incredible person, and yet he wants to be more like him, like how he said earlier in the book that he envies him and his character. However, after the tea, Gene pokes fun at Finny by saying “You, Talk too much? How can you accuse me of accusing me of that.” (Knowles 29). After that, he stated that “Sarcasm [was] the protest for people who are weak.” (Knowles 29). He later realized that he was just using sarcasm to make himself feel better. Gene was trying to make fun of Finny in not too harsh of a way, but he wanted to make him feel like he had done something wrong, in this case, talk too much. He did this because he felt that Finny was better than him, so when he had done something wrong, Gene would point it out so he could feel like Finny wasn't as perfect as he thought.

Assignment #2 How does the invention of and the playing of Blitzball impact/influence the relationship between Finny and Gene? Be sure to provide two specific examples. (Grace)

In A Separate Peace, the game Blitzball symbolizes Finny's character and impacts his relationship with Gene. In Chapter 3, Finny creates his game and names it Blitzball after the word blitzkrieg. In this game, Finny changes the rules constantly to give himself the advantage. Because of this, no one was as good at the game as him. Earlier in the chapter, Gene said that one of Finny’s rules was “‘You always win at sports’. This ‘you’ was collective. Everyone always won at sports. When you played a game, you won.” (Knowles 35) Finny is a very competitive person and sees everything he does as a competition. In this book, Gene sees Finny as his leader. He follows him no matter what he does, even if Gene does not especially want to. Gene also spends a lot of time admiring his friend and explaining all of the amazing things he can do. He states that no one was better at Blitzball than Finny and the rest of the boys weren't very good at it. He says “What difference did it make? It was just a game. It was good Finny could shine at it.” (Knowles 40) Gene admires the way that Finny plays the game so well. The creation of the game Blitzball shows how Gene looks up to Finny and the character of their relationship.      

Assignment #2 Re-read the opening paragraph of chapter 3. Explore and explain the quote “Yes, he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me” (33). Explain what Gene is saying and why he is saying it at this point. What are the larger implications of what he is saying?

 In the book A Separate Peace, Gene the 16 year old goes swimming with his friend Finny. They come up with this secret team/squad called "Suicide society". They then came up with rules on how to join which was just one "simple" rule, to jump off the tree and into the river. Gene and Finny go and climb the tree, while they are on the branches Gene looses balance and starts to basically fall off, luckily Finny was there to catch him before he fell. Then they both jumped off and the "Suicide Society" officially became a group. On Gene's way to the library by himself he realizes how he could have died if Finny weren't there. At the beginning of chapter three Gene says,  “Yes, he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me” (33). What Gene means by this is if Finny never made him go jump off the tree than he would have never almost  fallen off and died. So Finny saved his life but really didn't.

Assignment #2:Once the story shifts to the summer of 1942, Gene begins his narrative about his summer, the war, the school, his friendships and most specifically his relationship with Finny. Provide three specific examples of characterization about Finny, most specifically what kind of person is he and how do you know this. (Ja'Niya)

When the story shifts to the summer of 1942, Gene introduces us to his quick-thinking, charming, nonchalant best friend, Finny. When Finny charmed Mr. Prud’homme into not yelling at them for missing dinner. In the beginning of chapter two, page 21, Mr. Prud’homme stopped at their door and finny began to explain why they were not at dinner. Finny started to explain every single thing that they did and not leaving out any details. As Finny continued the story Mr. Prud’homme started to ease up and become kind of friendly. “Mr. Prud’homme released his breathe with a sort if amazed laugh, stared at finny for a while, and that was all there was to it”(Levithan 23). Finny was able to talk long enough for Mr. Prud’homme to ease up and enjoy the boy’s adventurous day. Finny is a nonchalant person because he doesn’t really care if he’s doing something against the rules, since he knows he can get away with anything. He also is quick on his feet because he’s able to come up with any type of story on the spot whenever he needs. When Finny and Gene went to the Headmaster’s party he wore the school’s tie for a belt and Ms. Patch-Withers pointed it out to her husband, Finny easily got out of the situation by giving a quick explanation. On page 27, “This time he wasn’t going to get away with it… But his expression was composed… He had gotten away with everything”(Levithan 27-28). No matter what Finny he did he always found a way to get out of the situation without getting in trouble. He is very quick on his feet and is able to come up with a lie which is how he gets away with everything majority of the time.The story of how Gene was about to fall but then Finny caught him showed the caring side to him. The boys went back to the tree above the river to jump off of to officially create their secret society. Gene had lost balance on the branch and began to fall, but luckily Finny was behind him and grabbed him before he could fall. If Finny was not behind him or quick on his feet then Gene would have fell onto the river bank and might have died. “ I had to begun to lose my balance… Finny’s hand shot out and grabbed my arm”(Levithan 31). Finny is quick on his feet in many different ways, either coming up with a lie, thinking of a fun game, or even saving his friends in a dangerous situation. Overall, when Finny is able to do what he wants while also avoiding trouble for him and his friends. 

Do you think Finny is a good friend? Will Finny get Gene is serious trouble? Will Finny ever face trouble he can’t get himself out of?

Assignment #1: Gene is narrating his own story of what happened when he was in high school. How do a. his perspective (1st person narration) and b. the retrospective (looking back and telling a story as if it were the present) influence you as a reader and how does it impact the credibility or integrity of the story being told? (Tom)

I think that the reason John Knowles started the book with Gene narrating his memories from high school is that he wanted the reader to be influenced in a twisted bittersweet way. In the book, Gene is revisiting his old high school, Devon High School, and is remembering all the memories he had, whether they be good or bad. After walking the hallways and the fields, Gene comes across an old tree which he remembers as “the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth” (Knowles 14). This quote is a great example of how, during his time there, Gene remembers the tree differently than how he looks on it now. In my opinion, the credibility of the story isn’t compromised but simply more realistic. I also think that if the story continues by being told in a twisted way, the credibility is lost because it is different from its original form (like a game of telephone).

What do you think? Did I forget something?

Assignment #1: Gene is narrating his own story of what happened when he was in high school. How do a. his perspective (1st person narration) and b. the retrospective (looking back and telling a story as if it were the present) influence you as a reader and how does it impact the credibility or integrity of the story being told? (Madison)

John Knowles begins the novel with a retrospective point of view to enhance the reader’s understanding of his middle school world and how time can distort those memories from fifteen years ago. Gene revisits Devon School, which he attended as a teenager. He finds the old tree that he played on as a student and reflects on how much he has changed since those days at Devon, “This was that tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but that they are absolutely smaller, shrunken by age” (Knowles 14). The retrospective angle given at the beginning of the novel influences the reader by providing them with Gene’s hindsight from fifteen years after the bulk of the story takes place. Gene mentions how people or things who made an enormous impact on someone's life a while ago can become less relevant or important to them with the passage of time. The two different perspectives of the same story told by the same person yet at different points in time increase the credibility of the story's narrator. When the reader obtains multiple accounts of the same information it is more likely that the story will be true, or at least sustain more integrity. The retrospective beginning to the novel adds a reflective piece from an older and more wisened Gene which the reader can refer back to throughout the remainder of A Separate Peace.

Assignment #1 Gene visits two specific places upon his return: the First Academy Building and the tree. Name and explain two specific things he notices/realizes about these places/things now (as opposed to then) and why Knowles might have done this. (Eric)

John Knowles included Gene noticing the changes in the Devon school because he wanted to show that people change and so do their memories of the places they visit along the way. Knowles was very smart the way he started the book A Separate Peace because he brought in the theme of nostalgia which can be a very emotional topic. A key scene was when Gene said, “I reached a marble foyer, and stopped at the foot of a long white marble flight of stairs. Although they were old stairs, the worn moons in the middle of each step were not very deep. The marble must be unusually hard” (Knowles 11). A reason why the marble may have felt harder is that he is now older. This is because when he was younger he wasn’t as heavy as he is now so he may have felt like he glided across the stairs when he still attended the school. He also said that the moons in each step weren’t very deep, and he explains how they are worn, which might relate to the theme that he grew up with the stairs and when he turned away they grew old and worn. Another key scene was when Gene talked about the tree by the river and he said, “The tree was not only stripped by the cold season, it seemed weary from age, enfeebled, dry” (Knowles 14). He seems to feel moved by how the tree is weary from age, enfeebled, and dry. This is because in his flashback he just saw the tree as strikingly tall and strong, but now it seems like it is out of its prime. It is interesting why he uses the word weary to describe the tree’s age. Knowles does this because he sees from the tree's perspective as well. He might say this because the tree has been forgotten after the war and weary seems like something someone would say about someone's else's loneliness. Gene’s experience when going back to Devon also relates to the themes of friendship and peace because of his flashback and relationship with Finny, and when he walked through the school it was quiet. Knowles knowingly included these scenes to remind people of their pasts and to never forget how they got to where they are today.

Questions For Commenters

What did you think of my analysis? How would you change it? Do you agree? Disagree? Is there anything I left out?

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