Self-Knowledge In John Knowles A Separate Peace

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The Tree of Knowledge As people get older, they go through experiences and discover things about themselves that they never knew before. Self-knowledge is essential to personal growth. This is evident in the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. It is clearly shown through the characters Leper, Finny, and Gene, that self-knowledge is important. If you learn more about yourself, it may help you grow as a person, and if you don’t, it may result in crucial events. Self-knowledge is essential to personal growth. If a person lacks self-knowledge, it may result in their inability to successfully function in society. Leper is a perfect example in the Novel of someone who lacks self-knowledge. He is an extremely awkward character. Not being…show more content…
Phineas, like Leper, also lacks self-knowledge, which results in dire consequences. Naiveté about personal abilities creates resentment. Phineas does not like talking about his personal achievements and abilities, which causes resentment and jealousy in other people, especially Gene. “We aren’t going to talk about this. It’s just between you and me. Don’t say anything about it, to… anyone.” (pg. 44) The inability to adapt to new situations results in the repetitions of past mistakes. Phineas still doesn’t to believe that Gene jounced the tree causing him to fall out when their friends hold the trial. This upsets Phineas causing him to storm out, and trip and fall down the stairs, hurting himself again because of something Gene has done. Phineas cannot adapt to the situation that Gene is a different person of who he thought he was. “his body falling clumsily down the white marble stairs.” (pg. 177) Not everyone is a sincere person all the time. If an individual is not able to recognize that, they can end up getting hurt in the end. People need to be more careful with who they trust, which Phineas did not do. The refusal to acknowledge dark impulses in others, results in an untimely death. Phineas refused to believe that Gene purposely jounced the tree causing him to fall. “of course you didn’t” (pg. 70) It is clear that consequences may be extreme due to ones lack of self

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