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 so desperately. As one can
see, Gene acted artificially throughout the novel, and let grades, people,
and “fake” things influence him.
In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace,
Finny, unlike Gene, acts naturally. Everything from Finny’s appearance
to his walk to his personality is natural and spontaneous. Finny was described
as “… an extraordinary athlete, he was not spectacularly built…five
feet eight and a half inches…a hundred and fifty pounds,…which flowed
from his legs to torso around shoulders to arms and full strong neck in
an uninterrupted unity of strength.” (Gene Pg. 8) From this description,
one can tell that Finny is very “natural-looking”. His walk, which can
be described as ” a continuous flowing balance, so that he had seemed to
drift along with no effort at all, relaxation on the move.”, (Gene Pg.
103) was also very natural. Finny’s personality was very outgoing, fun,
and innocent. He was not affected by what others thought of him, but rather
wondered what people would think of him if he pulled outrageous stunts.
When Gene told him that he would look like a “fairy” if he wore a pink
shirt to school, Finny did it anyway. “Does it? I wonder what would happen
if I looked like a fairy to everyone…in case suitors come clamoring at
the door, you can tell them I’m wearing this as an emblem.” (Finny Pg 18)
“He did wear it. No one else in the school could have done so without some
risk of having it torn from his back.” (Gene Pg. 18) He was able to be
sincere with people and let them see who he really was. “Everything he
said was true and sincere; Finny always said what he happened to be thinking,
and if this stunned people then he was surprised.” (Gene Pg. 16) Finny
was the best athlete in the school, but what made him so natural is the
fact that he did it out of pure enjoyment for the sport and not for the
awards and praise that came with it. When he broke the school swimming
record, he did not want anyone to find out about it. “By the way…we aren’t
going to talk about this. It’s just between you and me. Don’t say anything
about it, to…anyone.” (Finny Pg. 36) He didn’t want attention, he just
wanted to see is he could break the record. Finny believed that: “Everyone
always won at sports. When you played a game, you won, in the same way
as when you sat down to a meal you ate it. It inevitably and naturally
followed.” (Gene pg. 27) “Finny never permitted himself to realize that
when you won, they lost. That would have destroyed the perfect beauty which
was sport. Nothing bad ever happened in sports; they were the absolute
good.” (Gene Pg. 27) Finny’s attitude towards sports is similar to his
personality as a whole. He was innocent and never caused anyone harm purposely
and believed everyone was the same way. When he told Gene that he wanted
to participate in the war, Gene replied by saying: …You’d be sitting
at one of their command posts, teaching them English. Yes, you’d get confused
and borrow one of their uniforms, and you’d lend them one of yours…You’d
get things so scrambled up nobody would know how to fight any more. You’d
make a mess, a terrible mess, Finny, out of the war.” (Gene Pg. 182) Gene
knew what kind of person Finny was and knew that he was not cut out for
the war. Being the natural person that he was, he enjoyed nature and ran
around and frolicked while at the beach with Gene. “This kind of sunshine
and ocean, with the accumulating roar of surf and the salt, adventurous,
flirting wind from the sea, always intoxicated Phineas. He was everywhere.
He enjoyed himself hugely, he laughed out loud at passing sea gulls. And
he did everything he could think of for me.” (Gene Pg. 39) He had honest.
open relationships with people, and unlike Gene, was not afraid of what
people thought of him. He told Gene he was his “best pal”, knowing that
“…exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at Devon School was the
next thing to suicide” (Gene Pg. 40). He had “tremendous loyalty to the
class, as he did to any group he belonged to, beginning with him and me
and radiating outward towards spirits and clouds and stars.’ (Gene Pg.
34) He created Blitzball, a game which “brought his own athletic gifts
to their highest pitch”. (Gene Pg. 31) He had a desire to do good mixed
in with a disregard for the rules. He could talk himself out of any situation
and was described by Gene as being able to “shine”. After realizing that
he had been wrong about the competition between himself and Finny, Gene
came to the conclusion that “Only Phineas was never afraid, only Phineas
never hated anyone…all of them, except Phineas, constructed at infinite
cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against the enemy…” (Gene Pg.
196)
In John Knowles’s novel, A Separate Peace,
Finny acts naturally, while Gene acts artificially. Gene disguises himself
and is constantly worried about people’s opinions of him. His obsession
with grades and outdoing Finny causes him to believe that they are in competition.
Finny, on the other hand, is spontaneous, innocent, and natural. He does
not worry about praise or awards, but instead plays sports for pure enjoyment,
and has honest, open relationships with people. Both Finny and Gene are
very alike physically, but emotionally and mentally, they are as different
as two people can be.