Essay About Heavy Dose Of A Skillful Manipulator And Butt Of His Peers

Separate Peace Analysis
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A Separate Peace
Author John Knowles writes a compelling story of two boys
whose lives are intertwined together by virtue of being roommates
at a military academy. The time, the beginning of World War II,
plays a significant part in the story as the author uses the
anticipation of going off to war as an important aspect of the
book. The plot of the story, the relationship between the two
boys, is influenced by the knowledge that military duty for their
country awaits them upon graduation.
The theme of the story seems to be the need of the two boys
to balance each others unique type of personality. Phineas seems
to be the domineering, outgoing, super-active type, who needs
Gene, a quiet, subdued sort of introvert, to provide a partner
in crime for his wild endeavors. Gene, unable to stand up to
Phineas, gives in again and again, even getting into serious
trouble, jeopardizing his academic standing, and becoming the
butt of his peers criticisms, to follow the author may not
overly exaggerate the leadership of someone such as Finney, but
it does appear that he makes Gene to be a very weak character
with never enough backbone to stand up to the unending demands
made on him by Phineas.
The need Phineas has to continue to use Gene as the object
of his manipulations is so great that he continues to look upon
Gene as his “friend,” even when he should know Gene deliberately
causes him to fall from the tree. Phineas seems to come through
as a skillful, contriving manipulator and Gene is the spineless,
intimidated individual who never can get up the courage to tell
Phineas “No”. Finally, in his subconscious mind, he finds a way
to get out from under the influence of Finney and then pays a
heavy price for what he has done. In the opening chapter, Gene
reflects upon the fear in which he had lived, yet he never had
the intestinal fortitude to stand up to Finney. The author does
not leave the reader with a very good taste in the mouth for the
character of the boys. Perhaps this is the authors intent as he
gives the reader a heavy dose of a skillful manipulator and the
weak-kneed object of the manipulations.
The author makes frequent use of simile as he describes
certain things in detail. He is able to draw pictures of things
to enable the reader to see them clearly in ones mind. He makes
use of unusual similes such as describing the stores as
“unromantic as knife blades”. The table sitting out in the snow
is “like a sea ankor dragged behind.” Brinker is described as
being “as slippery as an Arab, as intriguing as a eunuch”. In his
skillful rhetoric the author can make a vivid picture come to the
readers mind, as clearly as if it were being projected on a
screen in front of the reader.
The author uses metaphors frequently also to project an
image in the readers mind, a beam of light coming through the
door is a thin yellow slab. The river is “a hard gray-white lane
of ice and Brinker has has a pose of Gibrialtar in
vulnerability”. Through these metaphors the author continues to
give comparisons which illustrate the person or object being
described accurately that the reader can almost touch them.
John Knawles uses another technique, personification, in a
few subtle passages. The “patches of ground revealed that they
had been gardens all along Phineas house” presented a face of
definite elegance to the street. Shrubbery is “too
undernourished to hide the drains”. The author uses gentle ways
of personification; no overused and inappropriate human actions
are given to inanimate objects.