A Seperate Peace: Finny
Throughout the novel A Separate Peace there were two dominant characters. Perhaps the most useful in the reading of the novel was the character of Phineas, also known as Finny who supplies the qualities of a charismatic, athletic, and strong leader. Finny is the best friend of the novel's main character, Gene. By reading into the text and integrating the aspects of symbol and theme the reader is given a clear picture of the novel through the character of Finny. Phineas is the best friend of Gene . In chapter four of the novel Gene pushes Finny out of a tree and Finny breaks his leg. Subconsciously, Finny knows how the accident occurred but is the type of person who wants to believe that all of life is carefree, he hates to acknowledge that a person could actually hurt another. We see a great deal of this attitude when Finny constantly refers to WWII as something created by old fat men in order to keep young boys from having to much fun. After the accident at the tree Gene attempts to tell Finny that it was him who caused the accident, but Finny refuses to believe Gene. Finny believes their friendship is too and in no way would e
ither of them want to mar it. Because of these feelings the thought that Gene caused the accident is more devastating to Finny, than the actual physical pain. The constant theme of Gene's guilt provides the reasoning for most of the development of the boy's friendship. It seems that soon after the fall the boy's friendship becomes rooted more on unstable lies rather than solid truth. It is this grounding that causes the reader to see the tree transform throughout the novel as a symbol for the boy's friendship. Aside from being the bearer of incredible emotional and physical pain, Finny also bears the personality that Gene does not. Finny is placed in the novel not only for plot development but to open Gene to a part of himself that is not visible. Finny is an incredible athlete, brave and very humble, this is shown through his breaking of the everlasting school swimming record and not wanting to flaunt is talent. Gene on the other hand is very studious, but not so much an athlete or leader like Finny. Through their friendship as well as the novel Gene finds time for his studies and allows Finny to talk him into jumping out of the tree. It is these
Some common words found in the essay are:
Gene Finny, Gene Eve, Subconsciously Finny, Sperate Peace, Phineas Finny, Due Finny's, Adam Eve, Finny Phineas, Separate Peace, Bible Adam, character finny, boy's friendship, novel character, leader finny, novel plot, novel gene, character gene, gene finny, physical pain, caused accident,
Approximate Word count = 779
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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