It was so ludicrous I wanted to cry.” (Knowles 66) In addition, after Finny’s fall, Gene tells no one about what he has done. Gene ignores the fact that the guilt is deeply hurting him, and is unable to go to anyone with the truth of what he has done. Although Gene’s inability to trust is a prime factor on their flawed relationship, it is not the only one. Gene’s incapability to control his flashes of aggression is another factor in his and Finny’s broken friendship. When Gene and Finny are up on the big tree, Gene feels a surge of aggression, bends his knees, and knocks Finny off the branch.
He is grouchy and has a short fuse. For example, he berates his traveling friend right to his face, and even suggests his life would be much better if his companion Lennie was not around. George even tells others that his friend Lennie is not very bright, right in front of Lennie. But on the other side of his personality, he shares his friend’s good points and fiercely protects Lennie from anyone and anything. For example, after a long walk towards the new ranch, George warns “Lennie, for God’s sakes don’t drink so much” and “Lenni.
First of all, John handles everything to an extent but he doesn’t solve the problem at hand. He tends to run away from it. For example, when the narrator asks, “why the house had stood so long untenanted,” he just laughs at her and doesn’t even investigate about it, which proves that he just let it go and does nothing about it. And that is what he does throughout the whole story. Also he “scoffs openly at any talk.” This means that he doesn’t talk about his problems and he would prefer to keep things bottled up then to express how he is really feeling.
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.
Though the pet was once a great sheepherder, it was put out to pasture once it stopped being productive. Candy realizes that his fate is to be put on the roadside as soon as he’s no longer useful; on the ranch, he won’t be treated any differently than his dog. Worse than the dog parallel, though, is that Candy (unlike his dog) is emotionally broken by this whole affair. He can’t bring himself to shoot his pet himself, and we suspect this is going to be the same fear and reticence that keep him from making anything more of his life. Candy can’t stand up for his pet because Candy can’t stand up for himself.
As a result of his failure to make it to the baseball major leagues, Troy reflects his defeat on Cory, telling him he’ll never succeed because of the “white man”. In addition to his jealousy, another reason for Troy holding Cory back is he subconsciously does not want his son to surpassing his own life progress and accomplishments; this is unlike a usual Father who dreams of their child accomplishing more than themselves. Troy’s self-loathing also sabotages his seemingly satisfactory marriage. By cheating on Rose, Troy can escape his daily responsibilities and feelings of failure. He feels this way with his mistress, Alberta, because she does not know much of him or his past, unlike Rose.
Due to General Zaroff’s savage doings for satisfaction, he seems to have lost his humanity and de-valued human life far more than the Villagers and their customs did. Both characters in these two short stories felt that what they were doing was the right thing. In “The Lottery,” they mention “that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.”(Jackson, paragraph 32). Old Man Warner calls the north village a “pack of fools” stating that, that is not the way to go. He believes they must carry on this tradition and he never has come to realized how awful it is.
Both Charlie and Alan found it easier to not express their feelings than to try to overcome them. Charlie did all he could to avoid the life he once knew. He would run from his in-laws to keep himself from being reminded of his past. The only reason Charlie felt comfort in Alan's friendship was because Alan knew nothing about Charlie's family or that time in his life. But as Alan keeps trying to get Charlie to open up about his life and his family Charlie continually becomes very angry and hostile, and storms off to avoid thoughts of the life he once knew.
It literally pissed off Coles because he would not go to register to vote. Once the farmer explained his service was to his family and that God wanted him alive to take care of them, Coles realized how selfish he himself was acting (Coles, 1993, p. 188). Coles was trying to help this tenant farmer come out of an oppressed society and take advantage a civil right that had been given. But by this time, that famer had too much to lose if he chose to register to vote, he was afraid for his life. Coles intention was good, but he was not going to be around after he registered the farmer.
My answer would be that the superficial appearance was that they were inseparable, friends to the end. But, between the two, the path was bumpy to say the least. They had a rough go, especially with the issue of the war, the fact that their mutual friend had seemed to go crazy, Gene caused nothing but trouble for Phineas, and was quite well the death of him. Did they have a friendship? My answer is yes, although it dwindled.