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Post by matthewzhang on Oct 27, 2015 19:48:31 GMT
In A Separate Peace, symbolism appears a lot and conveys a lot of meaning. For example, Finny's fall off the tree has symbolic meaning to it. The fall represents the loss of Gene's innocence and to prove that his resentment and envy for Finny does have consequences to it. The fall could also represent the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve eat the apple from the tree. Both Adam and Eve lose their perfection and their innocence and gain knowledge of the sinful world around them. Likewise, Gene is pushed out of his protected childhood barrier and brought into the scary adult world. The idea of innocence is also conveyed through one of the most innocent and childlike character: Finny. Finny's rejection of the idea of war and his theory of war not existing shows how childlike Finny really is. Not only does he reject war because he is childish, but he rejects it in order to avoid getting Gene into the war. This display of selfishness represents the child-like qualities that Finny has in himself. World War II also has symbolic meaning in the story. The war symbolizes the conflicts and enemies people will make in their lives. In the story, Gene develops a envy for Finny that slowly snowballs into a disaster and eventually to Finny's death. The aspect of war has created a lot of tension into the school that gets the better of Gene, Finny, and many others. There are many more examples of symbolism, but it is obvious that symbolism is a very big part of the story.
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Post by joshualiu on Oct 27, 2015 20:23:50 GMT
I agree with you completely Matt. Not only does the tree represent the symbol of Gene's inciting incident, but also it is an allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. You mentioned Finny's death, which I want to point out is actually another symbol. When Finny fell down the stairs, it represented the idea that he had finally passed into the liminal stage. At the trial, Finny had the realization of what actually happened with Gene at the tree. When he talked to Gene in the infirmary, he also admitted that he knew the war was real, but that he couldn't come to terms with the reality because he knew he would never be able to fight in it. Finny had finally stepped out of his childhood as a result of this inciting incident.
The symbol of the stairs also represents Gene's epiphany moment. Gene had been denying the events at the tree and never coming to terms with the truth. However, Gene talked with Finny about the event, promising that it was just a blind impulse when he jounced the branch. Gene and Finny finally reconciled and put the matter to rest. As a result, Finny is able to move past his child-like denial of many events, which also include the war. Even though Gene knew the war was real, only after Finny explained his denial, could Gene move on and actually enlist in the war. It's pretty clear that the stairs symbolize both the inciting incident for Finny and the epiphany moment for Gene.
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Post by ndefilippis on Oct 27, 2015 23:48:22 GMT
I agree with you, Matt. The symbolism of the tree has a lot of implication that have to do with a fall from grace and Finny being a Christ-figure.
Another symbol is the Devon School itself, which represents the liminal state that Gene goes through. Concretely, Gene grows up in the Devon school, where he learns to become and adult, as he prepares for war. However, the Devon School represents the liminal stage in a more abstract way. It is between two rivers, the Devon and the Nagauamsett. The Devon is pure and pristine and the Nagauamsett is dirty and full of sea water. One river represents the innocence and purity of childhood, while the other represents the emotionally burdened adulthood. In between these two rivers is the Devon School itself, where Gene goes through his transition into adulthood. The appearance of the Devon school itself, as described on page 110, also lends itself to Devon's liminal nature. The outside of Devon is described as bleak and foreboding, with "[window] shutters standing sentinel" and cupolas that were "expected, but not pretty." The diction used in this description makes the outside of Devon seem cold and uninviting. This outside of Devon represents adulthood, with its dark and foreboding look. The inside, however, the school becomes vibrant with color and full of pink and white marble. This extravagant interior represents the cheerfulness of childhood. The interior and exterior of the school both combine to make Devon represent the inbetween state between childhood and adulthood.
Another important part of the school is the First Academy Building where Gene goes on trial. Inscripted on the building are the words "where boys go to become men." This is extremly fitting for the situation because in Gene's case, this is the exact location of his epiphany moment, when Finny falls down the stairs and he can no longer deny the truth that he pushed him. Gene literally transitions into a man in this building, the same exact building where student at Devon graduate or get thrown out into the adult world. For the students at Devon, as well as Gene, the First Academy Building, described as being dark and gloomy just like the exterior of Devon, is where they receive their final push into adulthood.
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Post by Emily Sykes on Oct 28, 2015 15:52:43 GMT
Matt, for the most part I agree with you! However, I do not think that gene envies Finny. After all, most of the book is based off of the two boys combining together as if creating a single person. If Gene was envying Finny, then that idea would collapse on itself because it would be proposing that Gene was envying himself.
I do agree that symbolism is very relevant throughout all of the text. The symbol that stands out to me the most is Finny himself. Finny began as a young and reckless child, and he died a young and reckless child. We see in the book that Finny is not necessarily spiritually changed by his fall. That is why I consider his inciting incident to be when he accepts the fact that there is a war. Anyway, Finny likely symbolizes childhood, and because he and Gene are "one person", Finny must have a tragic end. In order for Gene to be able to move onto his adult life, his childhood life would have to die. Therefore, the childlike version of the "one person",Finny, dies. Immediately after that symbolic death, we see that Gene is not phased. He does not cry and he does not get upset when other speak of Finny. That is because Gene was thrown into adulthood and he now thinks like an Adult. Gene had the longest liminal state out of the characters in the story, so he is able to cope with Finnys death in the most mature way.
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Post by colleenstrohlein on Oct 29, 2015 3:38:07 GMT
Emily, I agree with what you said about Finny symbolizing childhood and accepting the war as his inciting incident, however I believe that Gene does envy Finny, and this is essential to Finny's symbolism. One example of when it cannot be disputed that Gene envies Finny is on page 44 after Finny beats the swimming record and doesn't want to tell anybody. Gene is clearly impressed and says that Finny is "too good to be true". At this point it seems that Gene is in awe of Finny and even reveres him a little. Another example is on page 40, where Gene talks about how good Finny is at blitzball, and comes up with a bunch of reasons for why Finny is better at it than anyone else. At this point it seems that Gene is trying to keep himself from being bitter about how great Finny is. I think that this jealousy is important, so that as Gene grows, he acquires some of the traits that he was jealous of, and lets go of the bitterness. After Finny falls out of the tree, Gene becomes the new best athlete and therefore no longer envies Finny's physical skill. In the beginning Gene also admires Finny's ability to talk himself out of any situation and always knowing what to say, and yet on pages 190-191 Gene "knew what he said was important and right", which shows that he has learned how to express himself, and no longer has to look up to Finny for that either. In the end when Finny dies, it symbolizes the death of Gene's childhood, but it also symbolizes his growth. Gene learned from Finny and then when Finny had nothing else to teach him, or when Finny had nothing left to learn in childhood, he could finally move on to the rest of his life.
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Post by Ms. McGettigan on Oct 30, 2015 0:26:09 GMT
Great conversation here guys! An interesting debate about whether or not Gene envies Finny- I'd be interested to see what some of your classmates think too! There is certainly a sense that Gene's feelings about Finny are very complex, and change throughout the novel. Is it possible that there are times when he is envious, and times when he is not? Is that normal in friendships?
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Post by carlsonchris on Oct 30, 2015 1:32:34 GMT
To answer your question Ms. McGettigan, I believe that it is normal in friendships to be envious of certain people. People are naturally better at certain things than others and that causes some envy. Gene struggles with this throughout the book, and tries to emulate Finny to an alarming degree. Whatever crazy scheme Finny thinks of Gene goes along with no matter the consequences. Finny has a cult like hold over Gene and the death of Finny is the only way it is released.
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Post by joshualiu on Oct 30, 2015 21:10:20 GMT
Gene definitely had mixed feelings about Finny throughout the novel. At times, he would go along with Finny's ideas and enjoy himself, but at other times, he would find himself having unwanted envious feelings towards Finny. But even when Gene did feel jealous of Finny, he still did what Finny wanted to do. For example, when Finny wanted to watch Leper jump out of the tree, Gene lost his temper and yelled, "Okay, we go. We watch little lily-liver Lepellier not jump out from the tree, and I ruin my grade" (Knowles 57). Prior to his conversation with Finny, Gene was stressing out over the idea that Finny was trying to surpass him and excel at everything they did. Even though he was angry at Finny, in the end, he decided to go. No matter the situation or complex feelings, friends always seem to be their for each other and enjoy having fun with one another. That idea was clearly shown throughout the novel, as Gene and Finny stuck with each other to the end, despite the pains and struggles they went through (Even when Finny found out that Gene caused him to break his leg, they made up afterwards).
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Post by reshmabelur on Oct 31, 2015 22:13:13 GMT
Emily, I see where you're coming from when you talk about how it seems as though Gene and Finny are blending into a single person. This is shown when Gene adorns Finny’s pink shirt and feels like “Phineas to the life” (62). He saw in himself Finny’s humorous expression and awareness and felt as though he would never stumble through the confusions of his character again. Feeling a sense of transformation, Finny embodies the concept of a dynamic character who goes from previously envying his friend’s greatness to preserving his memory by emulating him whenever possible. His envy is apparent when Gene describes their enmity and desire to be equal to him. This seems to be evident in the end of the novel as well when Gene says he “fell into step” with his nature while he was “Phineas-filled”. Different from his initial, overt desire to be Finny, Gene seems to have assimilated some of his qualities- leading to his deeper understanding of life and transition into adulthood. His acceptance of what transpired with his best friend gave Gene better perspective on life and actual combat in war.
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Post by sfarmand on Nov 1, 2015 16:27:36 GMT
Reshma, I like what you said about Gene assimilating some of Finny's character traits and how they led him to gain a more fulfilling understanding of life. In the end of the book, when Gene is looking around the normal campus setting and realizing that everything has so much more meaning than he thought before, whether he knows what the meaning is or not, we really see this enlightened state of Gene in action. As was mentioned before, Finny was symbolic of all things childish and innocent. Finny was always the one to drag things back to the childhood state of things, whether it be in Blitzball or in the Suicide Society. This unadulterated and pure way of seeing the world caused Finny to become overwhelmed when he finally realized the truth about his accident on the tree. In a way, his entrance into the liminal state and out of childhood was also his death, as Finny was never prepared or made to be anything but a child. In addition to being representative of childhood in general, he more specifically represented Gene's childhood, and Finny's death allowed Gene to blossom fully out of childhood and the liminal state and jump headfirst into adulthood.
Regarding Gene's feelings towards Finny, I agree with everyone who said that they were mixed and dynamic throughout the novel. Going through some internet forums about this book, I learned that many believe that Gene had romantic feelings for Finny, but I disagree with this. I think that their relationship was a typical best-friendship, and that their competitiveness and mutual admiration (towards the middle and end of the book) was very exemplary of that. Disregarding the symbolism that goes along with each character, they were what we would today call "ride or die brothers/bros", as they are such a significant part of each others' lives. Envy and competition is, while not necessarily healthy, a natural part of any friendship.
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