In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the most memorable moment of section two would have to be the falling of Phineas. Phineas is one of two main characters in novel, and is now unable to play sports for the remainder of his life. The fall caused him to break his leg, and this is unfortunate because Phineas is very athletically gifted. What makes his fall more significant is what caused it. Gene, who is Phineas’ best friend pushed Phineas off of the tree limb before they jumped. The reason why this is a significant part in the novel because it would effect the relationship between Gene and Phineas. It makes the reader question will they ever be friends again, and what will be Phineas’ reaction once he finds out what caused it? Jumping off of the tree was part of being in the suicide committee which was something the two of them had created over the summer. It is not literally committing suicide, it is just the name that they came up with, so they can gather a special group of friends to do activities with one another.
The act of Gene of pushing Phineas was very questionable because of the reason why he did it. These two friends are very competitive with one another , and they like to compare themselves to each other. Gene is the more academically gifted one, but not as gifted when playing sports, unlike Phineas. On the other hand, Phineas is not the best student either. One night Gene was studying for his French test, and Phineas comes in to convince him to come outside because one of their friends was going to jump out of the tree. Gene who often thinks too much, interpreted this as a way for Phineas to sabotage his academic goal of obtaining the highest mark in the class so that one day he may reach the highest award of becoming the valedictorian. Gene felt that Phineas was jealous and that he wanted to catch up to Gene’s academic standards, so therefore he tried to lower it. Gene should not have been so quick to have such acquisitions.
Now that Phineas has broken his leg, the event is always crossing the mind of Gene. When Gene finally tells Phineas, he could not believe him, and told him to leave his home, because he didn’t want things to get worse between them. One thing both of them strongly treasure is their friendship, because they rely on one another. Ever since Gene pushed Phineas, he was unsure about his identity anymore. He was not sure if he was becoming more of a part of Phineas than his own self. At one point in the novel, Gene was questioning if he was meant to be like his best friend, and if Phineas was superior to him. Some facts that support this are, when Gene and Phineas were on the phone, Phineas told him that if I will not be able to play sports ever again, then Gene will have to play it for him. It really made Gene question himself as a person. One day Gene got into a fight because Cliff Quakenbush was insulting him and calling him maimed. This made Gene realize and remember his friend Phineas who was at home because of the broken leg. Cliff’s comments really agitated Gene causing him to strike Gene in the face. At the end of the fight, Gene felt like he was Phineas’ defender and he fought it for him, but he too did this fight for himself. If Gene had not pushed Phineas out of the tree, the whole outcome of the novel would have been different, and Phineas would be able to play sports again. Most importantly, there would not have been that possibility of their friendship changing.
No comments:
Post a Comment