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A Separate Peace: Contrasting Gene And Phineas And The Struggle For Power - Term Papers

A Separate Peace: Contrasting Gene And Phineas And The Struggle For Power

John Knowles' A Separate Peace depicts many examples of how power
is used. In A Separate Peace, two opposing characters struggle for their
own separate might. Gene Forrester, the reserved narrator, is weakened by
his struggle for power. While, Phineas was inspired by his own power within.
The novel conveys how peace can weaken or inspire during a mental war.
Phineas, a natural rebel, is known as the best athlete in school.
For example, he and three others come to look at a tree, which is
considered among the Upper Middler students at Devon an impossibility.
Phineas demonstrates his supreme power by stating that the tree is, indeed,
a "cinch" (p. 6). No Upper Middler had dared to do the ...

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classmates. Phineas'
spontaneity inspires many others to be like himself and jump off the tree.
Another example of Phineas' power is his character establishing scene of
disrespect to the school by wearing his pink shirt and the Devon School tie
as his belt. We here, again, see him as the spontaneous individual who "can
get away with anything" (p.18). Phineas' nature inspired Mr. Patch-Withers,
a teacher at Devon. Phineas has an eloquence about himself, allowing him to
get by with so much. Phineas "might have rather enjoyed the punishment if
it was done in some kind of novel and known way" (p.20). Even with
negative actions, Phineas can enjoy a situation if it presents something
new and different. It is this spontaneous and contradictory nature which
Gene cannot understand and which ultimately contributes to his attempting
to destroy Phineas.
Gene Forrester, after being gone for fifteen years, returns to the
Devon School to recollect his past memories of the summer session when ...

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A Separate Peace: Contrasting Gene And Phineas And The Struggle For Power. (2007, July 31). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Separate-Peace-Contrasting-Gene-Phineas-Struggle/68910

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 7/31/2007 11:34:30 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 796
Pages: 3

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