Relationship Values essays

Relationship Values essays In the novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles shows one friend, Gene, destroying his other friend, Phineas, based on competitiveness. There are many themes presented in the novel. Some of these are maturing from adolescence, destruction from competitiveness, and separating fantasy and reality. One of the novels major themes is that relationships provide moral values, which molds a person into what they become in the future. This idea is shown through the pessimistic to optimistic views of life, naturalist behavior to independent behavior, poor decision maker to an astute decision maker, and knowledge analyzing capabilities gains from a child to an adult. The pessimistic views as a child improves to optimistic views as an adult. Gene states that there is no rivalry between Phineas and him (51), right before he realizes there is one on top of the tree. He believes that Phineas was a threat, who wants him to fail at being valedictorian, therefore Gene jounces the limb to get rid of him. Rather than looking at Phineas as a leader, who wants to lead him to victory, he looks at him pessimistically and believes he is a threat. Then in the end of the novel, Gene confesses how Phineas is molded into his personality (194). Gene realizes how Phineas was a positive person to look up to, rather than a negative threat to look down upon. Genes optimistic views of Phineas are a realistic example of the major theme. The naturalist behavior as a child changes to an independent behavior as an adult. The first time Gene jumps out of the tree, he did it just because Phineas asks him to (24). Gene as a child was a naturalist, because he was more of a follower than a leader, he went with the crowd, just like Leper. Then in the end of the novel, Gene as an adult walks to the most significant areas of the school, where he wants to ...