Artificial Vs Natural In A Seperate Peace

Artificial Vs. Natural In A Seperate Peace Essay, Research Paper

Someone once said that being yourself,

being who you are, is a successful rebellion. Gene Forrester, one of the

main characters in John Knowles’s novel, A Separate Peace should have taken

this advice. Throughout the novel, Gene acted artificially, disguising

his true self. He lived in fear of people finding out what he was really

like. Phineas, Gene’s best friend and the other main character in this

novel, on the other hand, acted naturally around people. He was not afraid

of people seeing who he really was. In John Knowles’s novel, A Separate

Peace, Gene acted artificially, while Phineas acted naturally.

To begin with, Gene Forrester acted artificially.

There are several instances throughout the novel where Gene disguises himself

or is influenced by artificial things. Towards the beginning of the novel

Gene tells the reader that he was a half inch taller than Finny (”I had

been claiming five feet nine inches before he became my roommate…” (Gene

Pg. 8) and that Finny weighed ten pounds more than he did. “He weighed

a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did…” (Gene

Pg. 8) Because Gene mentioned those facts, the reader can tell that even

having a slight height and weight advantage or disadvantage to Finny were

important to him. What people, especially Finny, thought about him worried

him. “…I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been

unthinkable.” (Gene Pg. 26) Later in the novel, when Finny wanted to wear

a pink shirt to school, Gene told him it would make him look like a “fairy”.

“Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!’ (Gene Pg. 17) Gene knew that people

might question Finny’s masculinity and ridicule him so he spoke up. Gene

would have never taken such a risk as wearing a pink shirt because it was

not socially acceptable at Devon School. This again points out Gene’s obsession

with what people thought of him. Gene had a cautious, competitive nature

and let grades and trying to outdo Finny run his life. When Finny broke

the school’s swimming record, Gene did not understand why he did not want

people to know about it. “The worst thing is that there weren’t any witnesses.

Tomorrow. We’ll get the coach here, and all the official timekeepers, and

I’ll call up the Devonian and send a reporter and a photographer-…Not

say anything about it! When you broke the school record!” (Gene Pg. 36)

Gene would have wanted awards and praise for breaking a school record which

shows again how highly he values artificial things. Grades also played

an important part in Gene’s life and he measured himself by what his class

rank was. He pretended to not care about his studies, but Finny saw right

through him. “Don’t give me that line…You want to be head of the class,

valedictorian, so you can make a speech on Graduation Day…I know you.”

(Finny Pg. 43) Later on, Finny convinces Gene to go to the beach with him.

While Finny runs and frolics in the water, having a good time, enjoying

nature, Gene only worries about what time it is and whether he will be

able to pass his exam. “I looked at the sky and the ocean and knew it was

around six-thirty. The ride back to Devon would take three hours at least.

My important test, trigonometry, was going to be held at ten o’clock.”

(Gene Pg. 42) This is just another example of how time, schedules, and

grades play an important part in Gene’s life. While at the beach, Finny

tells Gene that he is his “best pal”. Gene does not reply and tell him

that he is his best pal, but instead, keeps quiet. Instead of being completely

honest and open with Finny, Gene chooses to mask his true emotions. He

knew if someone ever found out about him saying something like that, that

it would be “the next thing to suicide”. (Gene Pg. 40) This obsession with

grades and other unnatural things leads Gene to believe that there is an

intense competition going on between himself and Finny. He convinces himself

that they are “even in enmity”. (Gene Pg. 46) He feels nervous about all

the influence Finny has over him and is suspicious about Finny always taking

him away from his studies. “Finny had deliberately set out to ruin my studies…it

was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all enmity.” (Gene

Pg. 45) From that point on, Gene becomes “quite the student” in an attempt

“to come out even” with Finny. Gene desired to be like Finny so much that

on one occasion in the novel, he put Finny’s clothes on. “I was Phineas,

Phineas to the life…I had no idea why this gave me such relief, standing

there is Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the

confusions of my own character again.” (Gene Pg. 54) Gene felt “intense

relief” when he felt like he was Finny. This was because Gene was not satisfied

with who he was and wanted to be like Finny s

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