An Analysis Of John Knowles A Separate Peace

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A Separate Peace Essay Have you ever known that a friend or someone you knew had done something terrible, but just couldn’t accept it or admit it to yourself because of what would change? Well, in the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Finny, one of the main characters, feels this way about Gene, his best friend. When Gene does this unforgivable thing - crippling Finny for life - he just won’t accept the fact that Gene really did it to him. It gets to the point where Finny refuses to believe it even after Gene has admitted it, and by remaining in denial Finny only immensely hurts himself, physically and emotionally. Overall, Finny’s actions prove the essential truth that ignorance is indubitably not bliss. The first signs of Gene’s envy and belief that Finny is…show more content…
It sounds terrible and crazy to blame Finny for this, but honestly – it became his fault after Gene confessed his guilt and Finny didn’t believe him. The first fall happened because of Gene, but after Gene confessed and Finny refused to believe it, everything past that point became his fault for choosing to keep himself ignorant of the truth. And he died for it. But Finny’s ignorance resulting ultimately in his death isn’t the only instance indicating the cost of ignorance, as the article “Mercury danger in dolphin meat” by Eric Johnston shows: “Dolphin and whale meat is high in mercury…[Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido] has discovered Taiji residents who eat the meat sold in local stores have extremely high concentrations in their bodies…‘Between December 2007 and July 2008, myself and a team of scientists and researchers took hair samples from 30 male and 20 female residents of the Taiji area. In three cases, the levels of mercury present were more than 50 parts per million, high enough that it was possible nerve damage, like that seen in victims of Minamata disease, could occur,’ said Endo.” (Johnston,

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