Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Assignment #12: 4 Gene reflects on Phineas’ impact on his life at the bottom of page 202 and top of page 203. In this passage, what do you think Gene means when he says “Phineas alone had escaped this” (202)? What did he escape? And did he do so by dying or by the way he lived his life? (see also page 204) (Mike)
In the final chapter of A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene thinks about Finny “escaping” the war meaning that he was too brave and cheering to be angry about it. After a tough conversation with Brinker’s dad about enlisting to the war, Gene reflects on Finny’s influence on his own life and comes to the realization that Finny actually escaped the war. Finny had always been a super lively person who seemed to never be upset about anything. Even after hearing about his best friend completely ruining his career, Finny still maintained his happy persona. Because of this, Gene says that his happiness made Finny escape from the war. “‘He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity’”(Knowles 203). Although Finny showed less of his joyful self towards the end of his life, Gene always remembered him for that. Knowles writes this to show that personality can mean a lot, and for Finny his personality was like his coping mechanism and he had tons of things pushing against him, but still managed to get by. Finny didn’t escape from war because of death, but by living his life with positivity and almost never looking at the bad side of life.
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I agree with Mike; Finny didn’t escape from war because of death, but by living his life with positivity and rarely looking at the wrong side of life. Like Mike stated earlier, Gene said that "nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity"(Knowles 203). Finny did whatever he could to stay possitive he never let things upset him. Finny lived a short happy life, and that is how Gene will always remember him.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this is very related but also to add on to what Mike and Quinn said, I think if Finny were to be in the war there is a possibility that he could have turned out like Leper. Leper was also kind of like Finny in the way that Finny is described here, and going to war may have ruined Finny's happy attitude like it did with Leper.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Finny definitely escaped the war by vividly expressing his vibrant personality in everything that he did throughout his life. Finny becomes upset over not getting enlisted because of his injury and Gene tries to console him by saying "You'd get things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more. You'd make a mess, a terrible mess, Finny, out of the war." (Knowles 191) Someone with Finny's personality would never do well in the war; he's too happy go lucky and lighthearted to focus on winning the war. This also reinforces Brinker's claim that both Leper and Finny would be unsuited to fight in the war, due to their optimistic and jovial natures.
ReplyDeleteI also agree I think that Gene is directly relating to the war when he narrates, " ...capacity for affection which saved him. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity" (Knowles 203). What Gene means by this is that he didn't grow up with his relatives and create the strongest bonds. He grew up in Devon and thats where he became "a man". Flashing back to the scene when Gene goes to Finny's house Knowles sets the scene of a lonely house that is way to big for the people that live there and that can be lonely. The reader can also tell that of all the places Finny visits in the book he feels the most "home" at Devon. Finny did escape the war because of his connections at Devon and his strong bonds with friends. Although he may have died I think that Finny would not have survived the real world nevertheless the war. I think this is because Finny always seemed to live in this perfect fantasy when he still had a functioning leg, and he would struggle to apply those skills into the real world.
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