We all confront antagonists in everyday life. In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, Gene, the protagonist confronts several different antagonists as he tries to mature throughout the book.
The antagonists Finny, the war, and Gene’s own inner issues affect how fast he is able to start this process of maturing. All of them developing him as a person.
Finny is one of the many antagonists who shows Gene’s maturing process down by making all of Gene’s decisions for him. First, Finny pressures Gene to climb up in a tree and jump into a river. “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into things like this?” Pg. 9 Gene is obviously too shy and won’t speak up for himself. It’s hard for him to mature and become his own person, because part of being mature is making your own decisions. Then Finny makes Gene get involved with athletics which takes time away from Gene’s school work, and doesn’t allow Gene to mature by doing what he was already good at. Finny also affects Gene’s decision to enlist in World War II.
When Finny found out about Gene joining the war he wasn’t supportive of his decision to enlist. That slowed down Gene’s maturing because in order to mature you can’t back down on your decisions just to please another person.. However, Finny isn’t the only thing that affects Gene and his maturing process. The war acts as an antagonistic force toward Gene because it forces him to mature too fast.
When Genes friend, Leper is recruited from Devon, Gene realizes that the war is real and it does affect him, especially when Leper comes back from the war crazy. This affects his maturing because he is seeing someone he cares about loose his mind. Finny’s opinion on the war also affects and shocks Gene, “sure, there isn’t any war.” Pg. 150 This forces Gene to mature because he realizes that people have different beliefs and standards which is a major realization in the maturing process. When Gene realizes that he will eventually have to go to war, this is a major step because part of maturing is coming to terms with what you have to do. Even though the environment affected Gene’s maturing in many ways, his inner issues were the major antagonist.
Gene’s inner issues inhibit his maturing process. He always feels he has to compete to be better than Finny and he puts pressure on himself. When he does this he isn’t being his own person which slows his maturity down. When Gene decides not to enlist it is also an inner issue because he had made a decision but as soon as Finny disapproved of his decision, he backed out on what he wanted to do. When Finny said, “Enlist… what a nutty idea” Pg. 100, this slows down his maturing process because in order to mature you have to make your own decisions.
Another inner issue is his school work. He knows he should do well in school, but he also wants to fit in by playing sports. This slows down his maturing because he’s not doing what’s good for him. Inner issues are what mainly affected his maturing process. Gene confronts several different antagonists which affect him as he tries to mature. Three of the major antagonists Finny, the war, and gene’s own inner issues affect how fast he is able to go through this process. Part of life and growing up is finding out who you are and what your morals are. You develop these things as you mature and antagonists slow down this process, as they did for Gene.
Meghan Petitti
Dec. 7, 1998
We all confront antagonists in everyday life. In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, Gene, the protagonist confronts several different antagonists as he tries to mature throughout the book.
The antagonists Finny, the war, and Gene’s own inner issues affect how fast he is able to start this process of maturing. All of them developing him as a person.
Finny is one of the many antagonists who shows Gene’s maturing process down by making all of Gene’s decisions for him. First, Finny pressures Gene to climb up in a tree and jump into a river. “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into things like this?” Pg. 9 Gene is obviously too shy and won’t speak up for himself. It’s hard for him to mature and become his own person, because part of being mature is making your own decisions. Then Finny makes Gene get involved with athletics which takes time away from Gene’s school work, and doesn’t allow Gene to mature by doing what he was already good at. Finny also affects Gene’s decision to enlist in World War II.
When Finny found out about Gene joining the war he wasn’t supportive of his decision to enlist. That slowed down Gene’s maturing because in order to mature you can’t back down on your decisions just to please another person.. However, Finny isn’t the only thing that affects Gene and his maturing process. The war acts as an antagonistic force toward Gene because it forces him to mature too fast.
When Genes friend, Leper is recruited from Devon, Gene realizes that the war is real and it does affect him, especially when Leper comes back from the war crazy. This affects his maturing because he is seeing someone he cares about loose his mind. Finny’s opinion on the war also affects and shocks Gene, “sure, there isn’t any war.” Pg. 150 This forces Gene to mature because he realizes that people have different beliefs and standards which is a major realization in the maturing process. When Gene realizes that he will eventually have to go to war, this is a major step because part of maturing is coming to terms with what you have to do. Even though the environment affected Gene’s maturing in many ways, his inner issues were the major antagonist.
Gene’s inner issues inhibit his maturing process. He always feels he has to compete to be better than Finny and he puts pressure on himself. When he does this he isn’t being his own person which slows his maturity down. When Gene decides not to enlist it is also an inner issue because he had made a decision but as soon as Finny disapproved of his decision, he backed out on what he wanted to do. When Finny said, “Enlist… what a nutty idea” Pg. 100, this slows down his maturing process because in order to mature you have to make your own decisions.
Another inner issue is his school work. He knows he should do well in school, but he also wants to fit in by playing sports. This slows down his maturing because he’s not doing what’s good for him. Inner issues are what mainly affected his maturing process.
Gene confronts several different antagonists which affect him as he tries to mature. Three of the major antagonists Finny, the war, and gene’s own inner issues affect how fast he is able to go through this process. Part of life and growing up is finding out who you are and what your morals are. You develop these things as you mature and antagonists slow down this process, as they did for Gene.
