The Fall of Innocence in A Separate Peace :: essays research papers

Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a tread toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to intuitive feeling at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke by the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud, It was the first off clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking office I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every signature of my fear forgotten. (Knowles 59-60). Gene Forrester, one of the main characters in John Knowles apologue A Separate Peace, describes his best friend Phineas f all in all from a howling(a) tree, an irate steely black steeple beside a river,(Knowles 6) at their all boys boarding school, Devon. Gene is an introverted young boy who is very academically gifted. Finny, however, is an extremely extroverted childlike young boy who is very athleticaly gifted. Finnys give back eventually leads to t errible things, such as death and guilt. Throughout the apologue Knowles uses Phineas bechance from the tree to symbolize his loss of innocence, to show Genes guilt, and to develop Phineas death. afterwardswards Phineas, also known as Finny, falls from the tree, he slowy begins to change. He begins to hurt his innocence, It can be seen in the beginning of the novel that Finny acts very innocent. For example, Finnys back up of Blitzball shows his spontaneous style of play, and his innocent child like personality. However after Finnys tragic fall from the tree, he begins to seem less innocent and childish. He begins to reveal secrets to Gene, such as when he tells Gene about nerve-wracking to enlist in the war. Ive been writing to the Army and the Navy and the Marines and the Canadians and everybody else all winter..(Knowles 190). contend is not an event for innocent little boys. When readers find out that Finny had been act to enlist in the war all winter it shows that afte r the fall Finny becomes less and less innocent. He no longer begins to play his childish games, and no longer tries to preform his crazy stunts. Though he is hurt, he does not seem to want to watch or help take part in any of these activies. On the day Finny fell from that tree, he did not just plument down into the river beneath him, but also fell from innocence.