Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A Separate Peace, Honors

8.  Choose what you consider to be an important quote from the text.  Explain its significance.
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8 comments:

  1. candiceAugust 5, 2009 at 10:14 PM

    "I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone."

    The significance of this quote is that the character Gene finally realizes who he is as a person he describes how he is SEPARATED from Finny and everyone else because of his “lack of desire”. This quote is also important because it basically sums up the book to me. Let me clarify it seems like Gene’s final reflections on everything that happened in his life.

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  2. Katie : )August 6, 2009 at 2:27 PM

    "I said nothing, my mind exploring the new dimensions of isolation around me. Any fear I had ever had of the tree was nothing besides this. It wasn't my neck, but my understanding which was menaced. He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he." (pg 59, paragraph 4)

    This is leading up to the climax of the novel. Gene had thought all along that Finny was jealous of his academic achievements just as he was envious of his athletic achievements and all the attention he received. Gene realized this vital information when Finny had told Gene with innocence that he didn't know he needed to study. Finny thought it just "came to him," just as sports came easily to him. Finny had made a parallel between Gene's studies and his athletics. He thought that anyone who was good at anything came without all the effort that makes someone a superb, lets say basketball player or a great musician.
    Gene had been wrong about everything. This is simple psychology. Gene had been telling himself that Finny was also envious of him as a coping strategy. He had felt guilt about being envious of Finny so he thought it wouldn't be so horrible if Finny thought the same of him. After Gene realized what he had done, he probably felt stupid. He realizes Finny had never thought of or wanted to compete with anyone. Gene thinks he still can't be compared to Finny because Finny is so much better than him, or so he thinks. Gene isn't looking at the big picture. He doesn't realize that people are really good at different things. Everyone has different interests and abilities. Gene was filled with anger at what he was thinking so up on top of that tree he jounced the branch. He had been thinking, "I couldn't stand this," which was probably what caused the whole tree incident.

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  3. CoachZee1212August 11, 2009 at 10:19 AM

    "They moved. They moved like an engine. I can't think of the name of the engine but it has two pistons. What is that engine? Well anyway, in this engine first one piston sinks, and then the next one sinks. The one holding on to the trunk sank for a second, up and down like a piston, and then the other one sank and fell."
    After this whole account plays out, two things become evident. First of all, the majority of the boys would disbelieve Leper's testimony because of his metal state, because he started ranting about not telling people everything imediately after the story. However, Gene and Phineas knew the horrible truth, and they each knew that the other knew as well. Finny, who had spent a year telling himself that his best friend simply couldn't have made him fall out of the tree, was now faced with the reality that his best friend really had! Gene had been vindicated once and for all for his crime. Finny, fled the scene crying and in the darkness of the night, he tripped on the stairs, breaking his leg again. That night, the simple fracture proved fatal. Leper's testimony had killed Finny. Gene's crime had finally been exposed to the one who he cared most about and they did in fact settle their differences. This was the climax of the story.

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  4. SarahAugust 14, 2009 at 6:40 PM

    "Right. Now do you mind? Why talk about something you can't do anything about?" (pg. 197)

    Gene says this while talking to Brinker about Leper. When I read this, I started thinking that this could have been a huge factor in why Gene kept the truth from Finny. After trying to tell Finny, he saw what could and would result from exposing the truth, so keeping it hidden was the best solution in his mind. There wasn't anything he could do at that point to change what had happened, so what was the sense in constantly bringing it up? He might as well just bury it inside of him and carry on with his life. As soon as I read it, everything made sense about Gene that I had questioned previously.

    This also got me thinking, why do we always find ourselves talking about something we can't change or something we don't have any control over? Such as natural disasters or a loss in a game. I know I do it. What is it that makes us want to talk about it and keep bringing it up? And what was different about Gene that keeping it all inside was something that just seemed right? Are we helping to solve some hidden problem inside of us or are we just wasting air?

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  5. SaraAugust 20, 2009 at 12:51 PM

    "We were careless and wild, and I suppose we could be thougt of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to preserve... We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives that were not bound up with destruction."

    When I first read this, it really struck a chord in me, and I find its significance to be in several parts.

    "Careless and wild.": This really embodies the spirit of Phineas and Gene when they were together. Phineas was the ring leader, and Gene followed along because he was so intrigued with the way Phineas lived, and who Phineas was as a person. They broke they rules and went on impulse to do whatever seemed would be fulfilling at the time. I really love that about them.

    "...and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of life the war was being fought to preserve." This said a lot to me. I've always heard that the deepest reason that America fights any war is to preserve the freedom that we have, and I think this part of the quote testifies to that. Sure, maybe not everyone's motives are quite so pure, but I really do think that it's probably a strong reason as to why people are willing to fight for this country. And maybe this is more of a connection than completey relevent to the book, but I found it to be very significant.

    I also found it interesting, as well as ironic, that Phineas and Gene had exemplified this spirit of freedom and peace, but were also enrolled in a school whose whole goal was to prepare them for the war. At the same time, why not fight to give someone down the road the same opportunity to live in such a glorious way?

    "We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives that were not bound up with destruction." At first, this couldn't have been a better example of Phineas and Gene. However, after reading the entire book, I found some irony and even foreshadowing in that statement. Because that absence of destruction gradually changed. From Gene's incorrect suspicions of Phineas, to Phineas breaking his leg, and everything that happened between then and Phineas' death, both expereinced times of destruction.

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  6. haleyofacesAugust 21, 2009 at 3:10 PM

    "The next morning I saw dawn for the first time. It began not as the gorgeous fanfare over the ocean I had expected, but as a strange gray thing, like sunshine seen through burlap. I looked over to see if Phineas was awake. He was still asleep, although in this drained light he looked more dead than asleep. The ocean looked dead too, dead gray waves hissing mordantly along the beach, which was gray and dead-looking itself."

    Expectations can be letdowns. Such as Gene's whole theory of how Finny is secretly befriending him only to compete with him and become the head of the class in sports & academics. Gene was completely letdown after he pushed Finny and realized Finny would never mastermind such a plan against him. It was too late for Gene to take back what he did to Finny. And the line in this quote about Finny looking dead was just coincidence.

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  7. MollyAugust 21, 2009 at 10:29 PM

    "I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone."

    I read this quote over and over again. I love it, I think it sums up the book in a few short sentences. Throughout the whole book war is taking place. In the summer Finny and Gene tried not to think about the war, as if as though they didn't believe it then it wasn't real at all. Their friendship started in the innocence of summer and slowly grew as the war did. Jealousy was the war between Finny and Gene. They may not have known it was going on, like the real war, but it was. As the story went on to tell us Finny actually wanted to join the war but couldn't cause the war between Gene and Finny to ease and amends where made. When everything seemed to be OK a tragedy stuck, Finny's death. Life and war are unpredictable and half the time we don't know what to do or what is going on.

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  8. Victoria KappSeptember 27, 2009 at 7:33 PM

    "He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn’t stand this."

    I like when Gene says this. It reminds me of some of my own friends. Not that I would do what Gene did to Finny, but because of what he's thinking. Finny never wanted any rivalry or competition. He was content with the way both of them were. But Gene was jealous of Finny. After he thinks about it, he realizes that he feels a kind of inferiority to Finny. I think this is definitely significant to the whole course of the story.

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