Реферат: Notes For A Separate Peace Essay Research
Название: Notes For A Separate Peace Essay Research Раздел: Топики по английскому языку Тип: реферат |
Notes For A Separate Peace Essay, Research Paper SETTING The novel A Separate Peace is set against the background of the Second World War. The book depicts a peaceful New England’s boy’s school by the name of Devon. There is a pastoral quality about the school, for it is surrounded by enormous playing fields, is filled with sunshine, and has a peaceful river flowing through campus. During World War II, the novelist John Knowles attended Phillips Exeter Academy on which Devon was based. LIST OF CHARACTERS Major Gene Forrester – the protagonist and narrator of the novel who tells of his experiences at Devon when he was sixteen and seventeen years old. He is portrayed as a person who normally conformed to the rules and regulations of the school and society in general; however, when he is with his roommate, Finny, he behaves very differently. In Finny’s presence, Gene always wants to act like him and be a free man, unaffected by the dictates of others; but he never really succeeds. As a result, he becomes insanely jealous of Finny, and his jealousy turn into brutality. To humiliate Finny and bring him down to his level, he bounces his friend out of the tree, causing his leg to break. Because of the accident Finny becomes a cripple, which causes Gene much guilt and shame. Phineas (Finny) – the roommate and close friend of Gene, the narrator. He is admired by both his teachers and his classmates. He is considered the best athlete in school, moving with perfect physical grace, harmony, and coordination. He is also known as the boy who never makes a mistake, even though he is always spontaneously saying and doing the unexpected. Never desiring consistency, Finny enjoys things that are new and different. Gene idolizes him. Minor Edwin Lepellier (Leper) – another student at Devon. Portrayed as a contrast to Gene and Finny, he is always immersed in the natural world, sketching birds and looking for beaver dams. He becomes the first person from Devon to enlist in the armed service and fight in the war. When he has to face the life of conformity and regulations demanded by the army, he becomes a psychotic individual. Brinker Hadley – one of the students at Devon who is considered a leader of his class. He instigates the trial against Gene, for he suspects that something is strange about Finny’s accident. Mr. Prud’homme, Mr. Patch-Withers, and Mr. Ludsbury – teachers at Devon. Dr. Stanpole – the doctor who treats Finny’s leg. Chet Douglass, Bobby Zane and Quackenbush – other students at Devon. CONFLICT Protagonist: Gene Forrester, the narrator, is also the protagonist of the novel. Idolizing Finny and striving to be like him, Gene becomes extremely jealous of his friend’s abilities and spontaneous ways. His jealousy makes him cause Finny to fall from a tree; in turn, Finny becomes a cripple, destroying his bright and promising future. When Finny learns that Gene, his supposed best friend, has caused his accident, he is shocked and hurt. Feeling that his trust and faith have been violated, he falls down the stairs and breaks his leg again. In turn, Gene is more ravaged with guilt than ever. Antagonist: Gene’s antagonist is really himself. Although he pretends to be his friend, he has a deep jealousy for Finny, his roommate. Since Finny is admired by the teachers and the students for his athletic ability and his carefree, spontaneous ways, Gene longs to be like him and tries to imitate him. When he is unsuccessful, he takes his failure out on Finny, causing him to fall from the tree and become a cripple. Then Gene must wrestle with his guilt. Climax: The climax of the novel is reached during the student trial scene toward the end of the novel. Several times in the book, Gene has tried to admit his guilt to Finny, but Finny will not believe him, for he wants to have total faith in his best friend. At the trial, Finny is forced to face the fact that Gene has caused his accident. He is so upset by the realization that he rushes from the room, falls down the stairs, and re-breaks his leg. Now Gene must deal honestly with the accident, for everyone suspects the truth. Outcome: The story is a tragic comedy. Although Finny dies, Gene does mature. Driven by guilt, Gene realizes that he is his own enemy and accepts that a person cannot measure oneself by the abilities of another person. He accepts that he can only be himself and act accordingly. It is obvious that he will never totally forgive himself, as evidenced by the fact that he returns to Devon many years later to revisit the tree (the scene of the accident) and the First Building (the scene of the trial and Finny’s second fall); however, he has come to grips with who he is and what he has done. He also has refused to let the memories of Finny fade, which is why he has narrated the story. PLOT (Synopsis) A Separate Peace is told as a flashback by Gene Forrester. He returns to Devon, a private preparatory school that he had attended during World War II. He visits his old alma mater to specifically visit two spots on and near campus: the First Building and a tree beside the Devon River. His visit triggers a flashback to his experiences during the summer session when he was sixteen years old and an Upper Middler. The flashback is his coming of age story and his attempt to come to grips with his experiences at Devon and the world at large. Throughout the flashback, Gene, serving as the first person narrator, fights a war within himself. Gene remembers how he and Finny, his best friend and roommate, had gone near a large tree by the river one afternoon. Finny, who was by nature daring and spontaneous, suggested that the two of them jump from the tree. None of the younger boys had ever dared to do this feat before. Although Gene is frightened, he follows his friend’s lead; he jumps because he does not want to be ridiculed by Finny. After the jumping incident, Finny organizes the Summer Suicide Society; all of the members of this society must jump from the tree into the river. Although friends, Gene and Finny are very different. While Gene is a good student, Finny is a good athlete, probably the best at Devon. Where Gene tends to be quiet and studious, Finny has a vibrant, outgoing, and daring personality. Finny is also very clever, always managing to get himself through any situation. It is not surprising that Finny is very well liked by both teachers and student. Gene absolutely idolizes him, considering him a hero; but Gene also is jealous and resentful of him. Gene’s grades are suffering because he spends too much time with Finny. He is convinced that Finny is intentionally trying to make him a bad student. As the novel progresses, Gene’s jealousy intensifies. In fact, his internal conflict develops to such a degree that it becomes an insanely destructive power that wants to destroy this “perfect” friend. On one occasion when he is in the tree with Finny, Gene purposely bounces the limb to make his friend fall out of the tree. Finny is seriously injured and must be taken to the hospital. The doctor announces that Finny’s leg has been so badly broken that he will be partially crippled. Although he will be able to walk, he will never be able to play sports again. Gene’s jealousy turns to fear and then to guilt. At first he worries that Finny suspects that he has caused the accident and will report that Gene has caused him to fall off the limb. To allay his fear, he goes to talk with Finny and finds that his friend trusts him completely and has no suspicion about what has happened to him. Gene then becomes riddled with guilt. He is relieved when the summer session is over, and he can go home for a break. On his way back to Devon after summer vacation, Gene stops to see the crippled Finny at his home. In order to relieve his conscience, he confesses to his friend that he was responsible for the accident. Finny, however, refuses to believe the confession. Back at Devon, school life is very different for Gene without Finny around. Brinker, the leader of the class, becomes suspicious about Finny’s accident. He playfully accuses Gene of doing away with Finny so that he can have a room all to himself. Gene is very much embarrassed and uncomfortable over the joke. Continually haunted by the memory of the accident, Gene tries to bury himself in his studies. Then Finny shows up again. He is determined to make Gene into a good athlete; they strike an agreement where Gene will coach Finny in his studies, and Finny will coach Gene in sports. Gene’s guilt intensifies as he sees Finny struggling with his crutches and with life. His mood then worsens because of World War II, which is raging across the ocean. Because many of the regular workers at Devon are off fighting in the war, the students have the extra burden of doing manual labor around the campus. Additionally, many students are beginning to leave school to enlist. Gene thinks about the war constantly. Then the war begins to invade the peaceful environs of Devon. Leper, a fellow student who devotes himself to butterflies, birds, and beavers, enlists in the army. Unable to take the pressures of army life and fighting, Leper becomes psychotic. When Gene goes to visit him, he grows fearful that his own personal war will cause his own insanity. Finny admits that he refuses to think about the war since he cannot participate in it because he is crippled. Gene is a bit envious of Finny, for he has no decision to make about enlisting in the army. He will be able to retain his own separate peace. But then Brinker shatters the peace for both Finny and Gene. Suspecting foul play in Finny’s accident, he organizes a student trial to investigate what has really happened. Gene and Finny are led to the assembly room in the First Building. The assembled students begin to question Finny about what happened in the tree. Gene quickly realizes that he is being accused of causing the accident. Finny, finally understanding the truth, leaves the room in a confused state of mind. He falls on the slippery stairs and breaks his crippled leg again. When Gene goes to visit Finny, he finds that his friend has changed, seeming totally indifferent to life. He then, however, begins to question Gene about why he caused the accident. He asks whether it was an act of blind impulse or of personal hatred. Gene, tongue-tied with guilt, has trouble responding, but tries to convince him he has no personal hatred. Later in the day Finny dies of complications from the new break in the leg. The doctor says that some of the marrow had migrated into his blood stream. Amazingly, Gene does not cry over Finny’s death; he knows that he is too numb for tears. He also feels that he has died with Finny, and one does not cry over one’s own death. THEMES Major The novel is a coming of age story; it describes an adolescent’s growth into maturity as he tries to come to grips with the world in general and his own life in particular. The main theme revolves around the pain of growing into manhood. Minor Closely related to the main theme of the novel is the secondary theme related to the danger of jealousy. Although openly a friend to Finny, Gene was really extremely jealous of this well-liked and talented student. His jealousy was so intense that it led him to bounce Finny out of the tree, causing him to become a cripple and indirectly causing his death. A second minor theme is the pain of war. The backdrop for the entire novel is World War II, which is in sharp contrast to the peaceful and removed environs of Devon; but as students begin to leave the school to join the military, the separate peace of Devon is MOOD Since the novel is set against a background of the Second World War and the narrator’s mind is riddled with jealousy and then guilt, the mood is primarily one of confusion. At points in the novel, it seems that Gene is totally unstable. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Author Information John Knowles was born on September 16, 1926, in Fairmont, West Virginia. He entered Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire, when he was fifteen years old; he studied there during all of World War II. The setting of Devon in his first novel was based on Exeter. After completing Exeter in 1945, Knowles spent eight months in the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program; but he decided to continue his studies. He entered Yale University, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. It was during his years at Yale that he began his literary career, contributing stories to the undergraduate literary magazine and editing the school newspaper. After leaving Yale, Knowles worked as a journalist and free-lance writer. He also traveled in Europe and began writing and publishing his short stories. In 1957, he became an associate editor for Holiday Magazine and continued to write his fiction. He published his first novel, A Separate Peace, in 1959. It became so popular that he was able to resign his position at the magazine in order to travel and write full time. The novel also won both the Rosenthal Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the William Faulkner Foundation Award. After A Separate Peace, Knowles published eight other novels, including Morning in Antibes (1962), Indian Summer (1966), The Paragon (1971), and Peace Breaks Out (1981); none of them received as much critical or popular acclaim as did his first novel. He has also published a travel book entitled Double Vision and a collection of short stories entitled Phineas. In addition to writing, Knowles has lectured widely and served as writer-in-residence at Princeton University. HISTORICAL INFORMATION Although World War II serves as the background for the entire novel, it is painted in vague terms. Few specific details are given, other than Finny’s references to the American bombing of Central Europe, the passing of the troop trains near Devon, the presence of the military recruiters on campus, and Leper’s Section 8 discharge. Instead of giving details, Knowles uses the war as a depressing backdrop for Gene’s personal battles and as a contrast to the normally peaceful environment at Devon. What goes on in the war is not so important as the fact that there is a war going on to disturb the peace of the students. Literary Information John Knowles has clearly indicated that the Devon in his book was patterned after Exeter, the exclusive private boarding school that he attended during World War II. He said of Exeter, “It was more crucial in my life than in the lives of . . . almost anyone else who ever attended the school. It picked me up out of the hills of West Virginia, forced me to learn to study, tossed me into Yale, and a few years later inspired me to write . . . A Separate Peace. Physically, Devon and Exeter are very similar. Both had expansive playing fields, a winding river, great trees, and pure air. Like Gene and Finny, Knowles attended the summer session in 1943. During that summer, the author met David Hackett, on whom he modeled Phineas. He also belonged to a club whose members jumped from the branch of a tree into the river as an initiation feat. In the fall of 1943, Knowles felt a change in the school. Many of the familiar teachers had left to fight in the war. The students at Exeter, like those at Devon in 1943, were expected to help with the apple harvest and the clearing of the railroad tracks. Even though much of the novel is written out of personal experience, Knowles claims that he is not any one of the characters in the book. He says he was not a good enough athlete to be Finny and not a good enough student to be Gene. Instead, he has invested small parts of himself in several of the different characters. OTHER ELEMENTS Imagery Knowles incorporates many vivid images into his novel. The first part of the book contains abundant pastoral images and descriptive passages. The school is described in almost Eden-like terms with its enormous playing fields, healthy green turf, gently flowing river, and calling birds. This peaceful environment serves as a sharp contrast to the world war that rages in Europe and the personal conflict that rages in Gene’s mind. Throughout the novel, the images of water take on symbolic significance. Gene gets a baptism in to his Finny-like life in the clean, delightful waters of the Devon River. In contrast, he gets muddied by the dirty, nasty Naguamsett River during the time that he is in turmoil over Finny’s accident. Gene also sees Finny’s leg cast like a sea anchor, weighing both of them down. The tree that hangs over the river is an important and symbolic image throughout the book. It offers Gene the first opportunity to become more like Finny; he jumps from its branches into the Devon River below, a daring feat that scares him to death. It is also the tree that causes the creation of the Super Suicide Society, formed by Finny to celebrate freedom and disregard of authority. Most importantly, the tree allows Gene to punish Finny for his superiority; he pushes his friend from the tree, causing him to become a cripple. Indirectly, the tree leads to Gene’s self-examination and acceptance of who he is and his relationship to Finny. During Finny’s absence from school, Gene, for the first, time starts acting on his own. In the past, he had always done things the way that Finny had wanted him to do. When Finny returns to school, Gene realizes that Finny is not a super hero; as a cripple, he is just another human being struggling with existence. Now Finny needs Gene, just as Gene had needed Finny. The tree, therefore, leads Gene to pain, and out of the pain comes an emerging knowledge and acceptance of self. When Gene leaves Devon to join the Navy, he is still in the process of maturing and accepting what has happened to him at school. As an adult, Gene comes back to Devon to come to grips with the power that the tree has held over him during his life. When he finally locates the tree by the river, it is not so fearful as he imagined. He notices that it has changed a great deal; like the narrator himself, the tree has aged and matured, seeming almost weary. |