Gabriel Silverio December 6, 2012 The Ups and Downs of Phineas In this excellent story A Separate Peace written by John Knowles one of the main characters, Phineas is a very well rounded young man and I feel strongly connected to him. I see myself being very similar to Finny in multiple ways. The first way I am similar to Finny is that me and him share an extreme athletic ability and love sports. The second reason is that Finny and I have very similar personalities and attitudes. The last reason is that I can relate to Finny in ways such as his injury.
“It was good that Finny could shine at it. He could also shine at many other things, with people for instance, the others in our dormitory, the faculty; in fact, if you stopped to think about it, Finny could shine with everyone, he attracted everyone he met.” (Gene Forrester, page 30) Gene also finds himself gloating at Finny’s failure. As stated, Finny was able to charm his way out of every problem he found himself in. Each time Gene experienced a possible problem with Finny, he both feared and anticipated a punishment. For example, when Finny boldly used the Devon school tie as a belt, he risked dismay from the headmasters.
It is not and expected way for teachers and students to interact: students removing their teachers motorcycling clothes each item with an elaborate flourish, naming each item in, and exclusively speaking, fluent French it does easily set up his character as a very well-read and learned individual. This is in contrast to the silly side of Hector which teaches his class “all the words of When I’m Cleaning Windows” by George Formby, as the Headmaster later reveals. The contradictions of Hectors personality is well illustrated through this. One part of him is rather venerable, and possesses vast tracts of arcane knowledge and can quote poetry by heart. This side praises the old and shows a love of High Art, poetry, theatre and the like.
As he stands under the lights of the noisy room, the citizens rib him and make him repeat himself; an accidental reference to equality nearly ruins him, but everything ends well and he receives a handsome briefcase containing a scholarship to a Negro college. This episode, I thought, might well be the high point of an excellent novel. It has turned out to be not the high point but rather one of the many peaks of a book of the very first order, a superb book. The valedictorian is himself Invisible Man. He adores the college but is thrown out before long by its president, Dr. Bledsoe, a great educator and leader of his race, for permitting a white visitor to visit the wrong places in the vicinity.
Another who respects him greatly is a new recruit named Raleigh who knows Stanhope because Stanhope was dating sister before the war and they had become good friends. Raleigh is young too and idolises Stanhope to the point that he would die for him. He thinks that he is a true hero. Is it really just a lucky coincidence that he wound up in Stanhope’s company? What is the likelihood of that?
This is exemplified by Charlie Dalton when he refused to do his walk when Keating ordered them to do so and when he changed his name to Nawanda which is a unique name. Keating encourages his students to don’t just consider what the author thinks when they read but consider what they think themselves; quoting Thoreau who said “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!” Emerson also wrote “To believe in your own thought, to believe what is true for you, in your private heart is true, that is genius!” Another element is the concept of “Carpe Diem” which was demonstrated by Knox who seized the day when he finally acted upon by his desire to call Chris. The third element is spirituality in nature as shown by the recitation of poem and the chanting of the boys in an Indian cave.
He personifies what the word “jock” truly means: an athletic, cocky, self-centred, controlling, egotistical student. Through the way the three other individuals act towards him, we can conclude that he is high in the social hierarchy of the high-school, and he appears to have a pretty good life. After all; he is popular, athletic, and has a good future in sports laid out for him. However, through the course of the movie we learn that beneath all of the “perfection” he does have many insecurities, and inner demons which the rest of the Club can relate to. Andrew Clarke can be seen as an excellent example for Sigmund Freud’s philosophies and ideas, when it comes to psychology.
People in America (and teens from all over), usually the ones who have no right to, whine about how horrible their life is when some insignificant problem comes up. They won’t be allowed to go to a party or they have to redo a simple chore due to the lack of effort put into it the first time around. I admit, I too am occasionally guilty of this. But, let’s consider this. Does our life truly suck?
After all bullies usually only pick on people they know they can make feel bad to make themselves feel good. Ishmael didn’t feel good about himself, he hated his name he hated hearing the story of how he was born. Ishmael squirmed every time he heard his mother and father tell the story of how he was born and where he got his name from. At school Ishmael spent most of his time, as he says “making himself as small a target as possible” to avoid the bully Barry Bagsley and all the names he called him. Names like Le Spewer, Fishtail Le Sewer and Manure.
Even when it is decided that he did not really mean what he said he runs into a lot of students at school who now hate him, especially after his family decides to sue the school. His "friends" were the ones who goaded him on and now they abandon him. Ugly Girl is sort of a punk-type girl, studs in her ears, tall, big (but not fat), and very, very independent. She calls herself Ugly Girl, though, it is not the other students that are doing that. She will stand up to anyone and anything, warrior-women Ugly Girl, as she puts it.