Assignment 12, Question 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)

Because of the war, all of the boys at Devon, and indeed all over the world have developed a sad and dismal view of life which has been propagated by anything bad in their lives; Phineas, however, was able to “escape” this and maintain a positive outlook on life. In the beginning of the book, the war seems to be a distant and oppressive fog that has set over the rest of the world, but later, especially in the last chapter when the troops start to move into Devon, Gene realizes how connected to the war everyone really is, and how especially, how he is surrounded by it. It is a terrible thought to be connected to such violence and sadness, and would change anyone’s disposition to life.

            Phineas has gone through life with what seems to be constant happiness and ease. This is mainly what attracted the other boys at Devon to him. His confidence in himself and his talents are a testament to this ability of his to glide through life. As a result this, it is very difficult for Phineas to deal with hardship or tragedy. Both of which came crashing down upon him when his leg was broken after falling off of the tree, and then when Leper returned and made the war feel so unjustly real to him, and finally the last straw was when the idea that Gene, his best friend, a person whom he would think of as “part of him”, broke his leg purposefully. Gene realizes this when he reminisces, “Phineas alone had escaped this…. Nothing as he was growing up at home, nothing at Devon, nothing even about the war had broken his harmonious and natural unity. So at last I had,” (Knowles 203). Since Phineas lacks the life experience to deal with all of these unforeseen happenstances, he started to deny them. First it was Gene’s involvement in the accident, and then it was the war. After being his friend for so long, Gene knows about Phineas’ tendency to block things out; “… a way of sizing up the world with erratic and entirely personal reservations, letting its rocklike facts sift through and be accepted only a little at a time, only as much as he could assimilate without a sense of chaos and loss,” (Knowles 202). Phineas’ inability to see anything but the good in people is what endeared him to Gene, and eventually, what led Phineas to forgive him despite everything.

What does Gene mean when he says “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war end before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (204). Who/what is his enemy? Why does he contradict himself there? What was his war?

In the quote on page 204, Gene is referring to his inner demons. Gene killed his inner demons at Devon, and one was jealousy. In the beginning of the novel, Gene admires Finny’s suave and carefree attitude.  However as the summer session continued, envy and admiration start to blur for Gene. Gene wishes he could be amazing at something like Finny, but Gene takes this too far. After learning that Finny would “kill himself” if Gene became valedictorian, he takes that too far and is convinced that Finny is trying to steal the spotlight from him. Gene almost gets upset at Finny when he asks if he wants to see Leeper jump out of the tree. One quote that ticks off Gene is when Finny realizes that Gene has to work in order to get A’s. “It seemed that he had made some kind of parallel between my studies and sports… He didn’t know yet that he was unique.” (Knowles 58) This quote is important because it makes Gene even more jealous, because he realizes he has to work in order to succeed, while Finny succeeds in his own way without trying. These feelings of jealousy rise after this comment, and eventually culminates with Finny falling out of the tree.

            Gene contradicts himself because his enemy wasn’t a person; it was jealousy. Devon is an extremely competitive environment and jealousy is always waiting to strike the boys and poison their minds. Gene also never hated jealousy because it controlled him and fogged his mind. However, Gene’s subconscious was always at war with jealousy, because Gene knew that hiding the truth about the incident at the tree was immoral, but his envy refused to let him accept defeat. Gene’s jealousy was destroyed when Finny died, because Gene finally came to the realization that his envy for his friend died with him. Jealousy destroyed Gene’s admiration for Finny and destroyed one of his closest friendships.

Explore the implications and subtleties of the conversation with Mr. Hadley. What does he say about “manhood” (see what he says about the G.I.’s) and how does he feel about Brinker and Gene’s involvement in the war effort? (198-200) (Joey)

Mr. Hadley sees the war as the true test of manhood. He feels as though war-time stories are to be told to prove a man’s stature. When Mr. Hadley hears that Brinker is going to enlist in the Coast Guard, he goes on to say “make sure it’s the right thing in the long run” (Knowles 199). He also states “Your war time memories will be with you forever...people will get their respect for you from that” (Knowles 199). Mr. Hadley feels as though Brinker is not going to see much action in his branch of the military, which will cause a loss of admiration in future years. He also wants to be able to be proud of his son, and he feels that this can only be accomplished through Brinker’s actions in the war. Mr. Hadley is also firm in this belief of his, as seen in the quote “Times change, and wars change. But men don’t change” (Knowles 198). He even wants to join the war, but is burdened by his old age. Mr. Hadley is also afraid that Brinker will not live up to his expectations, for he has been giving Brinker the same lecture repeatedly. Mr. Hadley sees the war as a man’s greatest moment.

Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is? -Reina

Finny falls twice in A Separate Peace but only one of the falls was directly Gene’s fault. When Finny falls for the first time and breaks his leg, his movements are limited from sports, to walking. This fall is Gene’s fault directly, because he shakes the branch. If he hadn’t shaken the branch, Finny would not have fallen because he is said to have perfect balance. “I took a step towards him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the branch.” (60 Knowles) Since Finny’s leg is hurt, his walking is not as stable as it once was. “sweat was running like oil from Finny’s face, and when he paused involuntarily tremors shook his hands and arms.” (112 Knowles)

Now that Finny is unable to walk properly, he has to be very careful not to fall (especially on marble.) After the trial on page 176, Finny storms out of the room enraged at Gene because Gene shook the branch. This fall was not Gene’s fault directly because he did not push him or want this to happen. He even thought the trial was a bad idea and did not want to do it. This fall is slightly Finny’s fault for not being careful enough but also Brinker who most likely knew that this situation would make Finny mad.

However, while both the falls were different in terms of whose fault it was, Finny’s death was mostly Gene’s fault. Had he not jounced the branch, none of these situations would have happened. Finny would not have fallen either times. While his death was unintentional and he did not want Finny to die, Gene still could have handled each situation better.

Is Finny's fall, and ultimately his death, something you can blame on Gene? Why or why not? If he is not to blame, then who is? - Rahul

Finny’s fall and death can be blamed completely on Gene. Some may argue that Brinker agitated him and that led him to rush out of the hall. Some may argue that the facts that Leper provided pushed Finny past his boundaries because he showed his hatred of the facts and how Brinker was trying to collect them so vigorously. “ ‘You get all your facts!’ I had never seen Finny crying before” (Knowles 177). However what led to this event and made everything spiral out of control was when Gene “jounced the limb” (Knowles 60). It is always the little things that add up to create the bigger things in life.

It could be said by some, that you can’t trace Finny’s death back so far however I think Gene is 100 percent responsible. His competitive nature and “ jounce” made Finny lose his leg mobility. When Gene and Finny were walking to the gymnasium together in the early part of the winter, Gene thinks to himself, “Phineas had moved in a continuous flowing balance. Obviously the accident this impaired Finny’s coordination and balance, and so therefore he must have had a harder time getting down the stairs. He hobbled now among the patches of ice (Knowles 111).  Secondly this lead to several rumors flying around. One can’t blame Brinker for wanting to clear things up. It may have been an awful way to do so, but that is just how Brinker is. Brinker means well however he carries out his ideas in an ill manor. Leper was just doing as he was told. He never wanted to harm anyone. It was Gene’s actions which made everything spiral out of control and eventually Phineas died because of Gene’s stupidity and jealousy

Explain the significance of the last paragraph: "I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family's strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case." (Rebecca)

          Gene feels that he is a part of Finny, and when finny dies, Gene feels a part of himself dies with him. After Finny falls out of the tree, Gene feels like his purpose is to be the part of Finny that he lost when he got injured. “Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,” and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." (Knowles 85) In A Separate Peace, Gene goes from being envious of Finny to being a part of him.
          Gene took away a bit of Finny in the accident, now Gene is repaying Finny by being that part and supporting him. Knowles shows that Finny has forgiven Gene through his language and tone. "'Well there's Finny here.' 'Yes,' agreed Phineas in his deepest and most musical tone, 'there's me.'"
           Finny would rather move on and forget about the accident than settle what happened like Brinker wants. When Brinker brings up the accident 'trial' Finny doesn't want to talk about it so he storms out. Finny re-injures himself, right when he is recovering, which undoes all the bonding and forgiving that happened between him and Gene. Brinker injures Finny emotionally and physically by bringing up the past. Gene doesn't cry at Finny's funeral because Finny dies with all their memories and a part of Gene. Finny was never one to feel sorry for himself, so he would never cry at his own funeral. Gene felt that he was a part of Finny so he shouldn't cry at 'his own funeral' either. Knowles uses the words "you do not cry in that case" to sound like one of Finny's 'Commandments'. Gene's language starts to sound like Finny's because they have bonded and become similar to each other. Gene envied Finny's lifestyle, so he made his own 'Commandments' to live by just like Finny. Gene lost a part of himself when Finny dies, just like Finny lost a part of himself when he fell out of that tree.