In the novel A Separate Peace, author John Knowles expresses the peer pressure put on towards Gene and the other boys made by Finny. Finny is constantly asking the boys to follow his footsteps, but Gene soon realizes he is questioning himself if doing these actions is the right decision. The most concern Gene has in the present moment is his studying and education. His concern for sports and exercising is much less of that; which he is only doing this to satisfy the wants of Finny. Saying this, with Finny being Gene’s “best friend”, Gene feels it to be his duty to go along with all of Finny’s adventures.
Gene was always uptight, usually taking charge on the educational parts, as he stated,” If I need to study then so do you.”(Knowles Pg. 58) It helped as he went on to become the top of his class, and popular among the boys who did care about academics. Gene took the roll as the responsible one, at the morning on the beach he hurried Phineas to leave for a critical test they had that day. (Knowles Pg.51) Gene was portrayed as the underdog in A Separate Peace, even if he was the main character. He was very unpopular, clinging close to Phineas, who was Gene’s only source of social interaction.
I could see that in my brother’s behaviors. He was always trying to come up with cool things to say and fun things to go and do. Devon even went as far to tell me that he thinks is one of the popular guys at school and he is stoked about that. I tried to talk to him about why it was so important and really the only answer he could come up with is, “that’s just the way to be cool and be someone.” I understand the need to be accepted, which is definitely what he explained, but it made me sad that that was his only way he thought he could be cool in high school. Basically everything that Devon did for the rest of the hour of observation had to do with friends.
The novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, is about a group of buddies known as greasers that stick together through a battle of social classes is told. This group is confronted with many dilemmas in a short period of time that threaten the bonds that they share. The main character, Ponyboy Curtis is top of his class at school, but almost bottom of the class socially. Being intelligent like he is doesn’t mean he doesn’t act like regular people at home, when he argues with his brother, but when he’s around the people he is everyone knows when to keep their trap shut.
He has the same situation like James, his parents divorced, he like to fight with other people to get their respect, never one to be left alone and he about drop out of high school, but I told him to continue study in high school so he can get a better life. Finally, he made it and his father is very proud of him. Sometimes, in life there will be a person that make you have more motivates. For example, the motorcycle boy is James’s brother and he also is a hero in James’s heart. Motorcycle boy is the one who got James’s back when James in trouble, he helps him out and he is the only one beside with James.
I agree with what Graff says and also agree when he says, “The challenge, as a college professor Ned Laff has put it, “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes” (p.302). I strongly believe this is true, I wish teachers would really take this into consideration. The author also reminds us of his own adolescent experience. Graff was anit-intellectual as a young student until he entered college. Graff disliked books very much and only cared for sports.
The difference between the feeling of the schools in the movie and book are significant. The surrounding of the school in the movie and the novel seemed not quite the same. One school came off as a very serious, dedicated school with an advanced curriculum that worked hard to prepare its students for college. The other, was perceived as a place where parents sent their sons to get an education while being secluded from the distractions of the outside world. Both the movie and novel still portrayed the typical all-boys prep school, but in different ways.
A Separate Peace In Chapter four after returning from their night at the beach, Gene begins to wonder if his friend is truly or if he is only friends with him to keep him from becoming head of the class. This makes Gene suspicious of Finny’s actions with the Super Suicide Society and his insistence on Gene partaking in all his activities. Upon this realization Gene doubles his studies so that he and Finny could be even. Gene keeps attending the nightly suicide society meetings as to not arouse the suspicion of Phineas. One night as Gene is studying Finny runs into their dorm and announces that Leper Lepellier was going to jump out of the tree and be initiated into the Suicide Society.
A Separate Peace John Knowles is the writer of a Separate Peace. It is a book written in a unique style, its an old man coming back to his childhood school and the whole book is a flashback. His meaning of writing it was to show friendship verses the evil nature of man and how they intertwine. Gene and Finny had a intimate relationship Gene was a follower of Finny, Finny was the most athletic, daring, handsome kid in the school he was training for the Olympics. Jealousy overcame Gene one day and caused him to jounce a tree limb he and finny were jumping from therefore having finny land on the ground with a fractured leg.
Vishal was called a very bright student by many of his teachers. However, he was addicted to his technological devices. He had to make the decision every night to either pursue his passion of filmmaking or to do his homework. Most of the time he chose to edit, revise, or shoot a film instead of doing his homework that was due the next morning. He found his passion through his addiction to filmmaking, but it came at a price of making poor grades in school.