A Separate Peace Essay

Tim Rezendes
English 10 Honors
Mr. George
December 15, 2008
Who’s a Better Friend, Gene or Finny
Friendship is a crucial part of a person’s young, adolescent, and adult life. In the novel, A Separate Peace, the friendship between Gene and Finny is corrupted throughout the novel by Gene’s false sense of jealousy. In the novel Gene has a peculiar feeling of envy and a false idea of a competition between him and Finny. These envious tendencies and false sense of competition eventually push Gene over the edge when he jounces the tree limb causing Finny to fall off and shatter his leg and his sports career. Finny always wanted the best for Gene and was never jealous of him which is why he was a better friend to Gene. Finny is a better friend than Gene because he is not envious of Gene, he always tries to include Gene in everything he does, and Finny knows in his heart that Gene really is his best friend.
Unlike the jealousy Gene expresses to the reader throughout the novel, Finny was never jealous of Gene. Finny shows Gene that he is not jealous of him through sarcasm when he says, “I’d kill myself out of jealous envy.” (52) Finny says this after Gene asks him is he would be jealous if Gene was the head of the class. Gene takes this sarcastic response and turns it into a confession of Finny’s envy towards him. After Gene determines that Finny really is jealous he takes this idea and runs with it until he loses control and jounces Finny out of a tree; this is something that a true friend would never do.
Finny knows that he is better than Gene in some aspects of life and he lacks in comparison to Gene in other aspects. Gene, on the other hand, is always trying to one up Finny by making ludicrous comparisons and ridiculous schemes against him. This is distinctly proven to the reader when Gene says, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies. That explained blitz ball and the nightly meetings of the Super Suicide Society, that explained his insistence that I share all his diversions.”(53). This is an ideal instance where Gene thinks up one of his preposterous ideas. Finny would not set out to wreck Gene’s studies because he knows that he has no chance of being valedictorian. Gene is delirious because of his outrageous ideas. Finny shows another quality of a good friend by including Gene in almost everything he does.
Finny has many of the qualities that people look for when choosing the community that they want to involve themselves in. One thing that Finny does very well is the inclusion of Gene in many of the daily activities that he participates in. Finny demonstrates this late one night when he storms into the dormitory room and says, “Arise . . . Elwin Leper Lepellier has announced his intention to make the leap this very night, to qualify, to save his face at last.”(57). This shows that Finny is always trying to include Gene in activities because he feels it is what a true friend should do. Gene mistakenly thinks that Finny is, once again, trying to sabotage his studies; which clearly is not Finny’s true intention. No offense towards Finny, but he is not the type of person to think up an elaborate scheme to ruin a person’s studies just to be superior to them. Finny is the type of person who comes up with ideas spontaneously; this is an instance where he believed Gene should be present when Leper attempted the jump because Gene was a “Senior Member” of the Suicide Society. Gene is a person who over thinks just about everything; this is one of his crucial flaws. If Gene could just accept the fact that Finny really is his best friend then he may have been able to put their differences behind and have a decent friendship. Gene and Finny have completely different personalities which is why Finny chose Gene as his best friend. Although Gene cannot accept this Finny knows that Gene truly is his best pal.
“Because it is what you had in your heart that counted (56).” Ironically, Gene says this even though what he believes in his heart is completely different than what he expresses to others. Finny is a very authentic person who knows what he believes in his heart and he articulates this to people without caring what they are going to think about him. Finny illustrates his genuine quality when he says, “. . . and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is you best pal. ‘He hesitated and then added,’ which is what you are, ‘and there was silence on the dune.’”(48). Finny is being unbelievably sincere in this statement and Gene is too ignorant and hard-headed to realize this. At the pivotal point of adolescence most males would not be able to open up to someone in the way Finny had. Seeing this, Gene should have had the aptitude to believe him, but once again his envy takes over him and he cannot accept Finny’s sincerity.
Gene’s a personality is tainted by the way he lets jealousy take over and cause him to do things that a best friend and a true friend would never think of doing. Finny is, most definitely, a much better friend than Gene due to his inclusion of Gene in daily activities, his sincerity towards Gene, and the way he is never jealous and always supportive of Gene’s aspirations. I believe Gene could have very easily cleared things up with Finny if he directly confronted his problems instead of running from them until those same problems manifested themselves into a disgraceful deed. After this deed was committed Gene had no chance of being a good friend to Finny. Unlike Gene, Finny was genuine throughout the novel and always wanted the best for Gene, therefore, Finny is in fact a better friend than Gene.

Othello Assigment #1

QUOTE
Brabantio- Look to her, moor, if thou hast to see: she has deceived her father and may thee." (1.3 25 287-288)

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
If thou hast to see can be seen as a racist remark because Brabantio is questioning whether Othello can see because he is a Moor. This is an example of foreshadowing, this forshadowes that later in the book Desdemona will betray Othello in some way. Most likely she will cheat on him because earlier in the text Othello says he has no sexual desires anymore.

QUESTION
What will Desdemona do to Othello

A Separate Peace Final Chapter

QUOTE
"Because my war ended beofre I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. (204)

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
This quote makes Gene sound like he wanted to injure and eventually kill Finny. Gene is sending mixed signals to the reader throughout the whole story. Sometimes he says he is sorry and he did not mean for anything to happen to finny, and at another point he says he killed his enemy. This makes me believe that Gene is somewhat insane.

QUESTION
Do you think Gene wanted to end Finny's life?

A Separate Peace Ch. 12

QUOTE
"You want to break something else in me! Is that why you're here! (184)"

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
This is a major turning point in Finny's attitude in the novel. Before this night he has had the idea in his head but he never believed it. After Leper tells his account of the tree incident Finny finally comes to grip with what happened. Now that this has happened Gene and Finny will have no way of ever repairing their friendship.

QUESTION
Is Leper going to come back to Devon?

A Separate Peace Ch. 12

QUOTE
"Then these separate sounds collided into the general tumult of his body falling clumsily down the white marble stairs."

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
Brinker is undoubtably the biggest ass on the planet at this point in the story. In their heads, everyone knows the truth about Gene; He jousted the limb so that Finny would fall out of the tree. There is no reason for him to gather everyone together and exploit this in front of Finny, who most likely cannot take anymore pain at this point. Now that Finny has fallen down the stairs again Brinker can be blamed much like he was putting all of the blame on Gene.

QUESTION
Is Finny going to be paralyzed for life?

A Separate Peace Ch. 10

QUOTE
"I didn't care because it had nothing to do with me. And I didn't want to hear any more of it. Ever.

DESCRIPTION
This quote characterizes Gene as an unbelievably selfish person. Gene cannot even listen to a mentally unstable person tell a story. It seems as though Gene's loyalty is to Finny; I am not sure if this is Gene's idea of repaying Finny or just Gene's wierd way of reparing the relationship. At first Gene is sympathetic to Leper then he pushes him off a chair; then he goes walking with him only to completely blow him off when he tries to say something. Gene seems to be having mood swings which are somewhat unexplained.

QUESTION
Is Gene going into the war himself?

A Separate Peace CH. 9

QUOTE

"This was the first but not me last lapse into FInny's vision of peace. (123).

DESCRIPTION

This quote explains my questions about the quote I chose for chapter eight. Peace hadn't actually returned to Devon, Gene had just fallen into Finny's illusion of peace. This quote also shows forshadowing when he says it isn't the last time he will fall into Finny's vision of peace.

QUESTION

Is Leper going to die in the war?

A Separate Peace Reading Assignment Ch. 8

QUOTE
". . . Although the playing fields were crusted under a foot of congealed snow and the river was now a hard gray white lane of ice between gaunt trees, peace had come back to Devon for me. (109).

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
When Gene says peace had come back to Devon for me I see it as an allusion to the title of the novel; I also think that Gene's peace is Finny. I cannot understand why that would be considering Gene has to live with the fact that he basically crushed Finny's world. Another possibility is that the winter can be peaceful for Gene.

QUESTION
Is Brinker going to convince Finny that Gene intentionally pushed him off the tree?

A Separate Peace Reading Assignment #6

QUOTE
"Everything that had happened throughout the day faded like that first false snowfall of the winter. Phineas was back."

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
Why does Gene seem happy that Finny is back? Finny coming back makes Gene forget everything as if their relationship can be the same as it used to be. In the back of his head Gene knows that it cannot be the same but he wants so badly to be Finny's friend that he pushes the idea out of his head. Gene does this because he knows that he jounced the limb due to false ideas. Finny also has the idea that Gene intentionally did this but he cannot accept that fact.

QUESTION
Will Gene and Finny confront the fact that Gene intentionally jounced the limb?

A Separate Peace Reading Assignment #5

QUOTE
"It was nothing like the fresh-water Devon above the dam where we'd has so much fun, all the summer. (76).

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
How can Gene say that he had fun at the river. This quote shows Gene's instability because Gene had made the worst mistake of his life at the river yet he still says that he had so much fun there.

QUESTION
Why does Gene say that he punched Quackenbush for Finny? Gene says we was being Finny's defender.

Antigone Reading Assignment #4

QUOTE
"And I thought we were competitors! It was so ludicrous I wanted to cry (66).

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
This is Gene's realization the Finny was never jealous of him and there was never a competition between the two. Gene jousted the branch and ruined Finny's sports career over a false opinion. Gene is beginning to show signs of mental instability; he takes these random ideas and makes them bigger and bigger inside his head until he has to act. In this case his action was jousting the branch until Finny fell off.

QUESTION
Will Finny believe that Gene jousted the branch purposely, and if so wil Finny forgive him?

A Separate Peace Reading Assignment #3

QUOTE
"I believed him. The joking manner was a screen; I believed him (52).

DESCRIPTION OF QUOTE
I chose this quote because it shows Gene's insecurity with himself, he always wants to be better than Finny. When Gene asks Finny if he would be jealous of him if he was number one in the class, Finny sarcastically said yes and Gene thought he was being serious. This action from Finny excited Gene and made him unusually happy. Gene becomes excited when he thinks that he is better than Finny.

Question
Is Finny going to be alright after he fell out of the tree.

A Seperate Peace Assignment #2

CHAPTER TWO QUOTE AND DESCRIPTION

Quote
"It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak."

Description
I chose this quote because i belive it is Gene's realization that he was weak that summer and he let Finny easily manipulate him. I also chose this quote because it stood out to me as an opinion that I had never heard before, but as I read it i believe it to be true. Sarcasm is a part of everyday life and sometimes it is a quiet protest by passive people who want to make their point heard without directly saying it.

CHAPTER THREE QUOTE AND DESCRIPTION
"We'll call it blitzkrieg ball, said Bobby. Or just blitzball, reflected Finny."

Description
This is an example of Finny opposing his will upon others. Finny always has to have things his way so when others think of ideas Finny always has to make them a little bit better by adding his own personal touch. This shows that Finny has a very strong character and most other people are easily tricked and overpowered by him.

DISCUSSION QUESTION
Do you think that Gene will stand up to Finny at some point during the novel?

A Separate Peace Assignment #1

Phineas Narrator

• Manipulative Quiet
• Athletic Follower
• Strong Loyal
• Fun-Loving Friendly
• Outgoing Fun

Quote Describing Phineas

"If I do it your all going to do it aren't you?"

This quote describes Phineas or "Finny" as

manipulative, trying to get others to do what

he wants them to do.

Quote Describing Narrator

"What was I doing up here anyway? Why did

I let Finny talk me into doing stupid things like

this?"

This describes Narrator as a follower, someone

who is easily persuaded into things he does not

want to do.

Question for Discussion

Do you think Finny will be a poitive or negative

influence on the Narrator?

Oedipus Final Essay

Tim Rezendes

Oedipus Vs Creon, Who Suffered the Worst Fate?
Oedipus and Creon are two contrasting characters the unknowingly evolve into each other; both of them making similar mistakes and suffering dire consequences. The corruption of power, which is a recurring theme throughout the Theban Trilogies, influences and in some cases directly effects the decisions that are made by Oedipus and Creon. Other than the corrupting nature of power, Oedipus spawns four doomed children out of incest with his mother Jocasta, while Creon fails to properly bury his nephew Polyneices and eventually loses his beloved son Haemon through the killing of his bride-to-be Antigone. In reality, I believe Oedipus suffered a worse fate because he brought eternal disgrace to his house; he blinded himself so that he could finally see the truth, and he murdered his father and committed a terrible act of incest with his mother.
Through Oedipus’ incestuous spawning of his children he brought eternal disgrace upon his house; although Creon suffered an almost equally terrible fate, the fate of Oedipus is still more extreme than that of Creon. Creon did not bring disgrace upon his house; he merely brought disgrace upon himself. Tiresias proves the disgrace of the house of Oedipus when he says, “Oh yes, detected in his very heart of home: / his children’s father and their brother, / son and husband to his mother, /bed-rival to his father and assassin. This is basically a summary of Oedipus’ dishonorable deeds, and it also shows that Tiresias is fed up with Oedipus and does not think fondly of him. If Tiresias does not think fondly of Oedipus then that means the gods do not think highly of him either, meaning that the house of Oedipus is disgraced for eternity. The house of Creon is not completely disgraced because Creon did not commit incest or murder his father. We also do not learn Creon’s fate while Oedipus on the other hand blinds himself by crudely piercing his eyes with Jocasta’s brooches.
Oedipus is so hard-headed and arrogant that he resorts to blinding himself just so that he can see the truth, while the fate of Creon is uncertain. We believe that Creon killed himself, and if that is the case, Creon’s suicide is not an uncommon cause of death in ancient times. In fact, a bloody suicide was an honorable way to die. Oedipus takes a completely different route in his self punishment; instead of committing suicide he blinds himself because of what he saw, his mother while performing in incestuous acts. Also, there is something said by Oedipus’ own mother that I think are words that can cut through emotions like a knife. Jocasta says to Oedipus, “Good-bye, my poor deluded, lost and damned! / There’s nothing else I can call you now.” This shows that even Oedipus’ own mother turned on him and was not even sure what to call her son. In the play, Antigone, Creon only loses Eurydice and Haemon, but in, Oedipus the King, Oedipus directly and indirectly loses everything he knows and loves and his world is completely turned upside down. Oedipus goes from the beloved king to the incestuous outcast. Other than blinding himself to see the truth, Oedipus kills his father and has sex with his mother, spawning a generation of damned children.
Creon and Oedipus both lose people they love, but Oedipus murders his birth father and has sexual intercourse with his birth mother. Creon did not murder his son, although some people may argue that he did so indirectly, he did not have sex with his mother, and he did not spawn a generation of hated children. Oedipus did all these things and everyone in Thebes found out, making him an outlaw instead of a king. Obviously, an act of incest and a murder of the man who brought him into this world is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. The closing moments of Creon’s life are nothing in comparison to Oedipus. Also, Oedipus tried to be the master of everything which was his downfall; if he had never tried to find out the truth his life would have been fine, in his own eyes at least. Creon illustrates this perfectly when he says, “Stop this striving to be the master of all. / The mastery you had in life has been your fall.” I believe this completely, Creon did not try to be the master of everything; he only became king because he was second in line for power. At one point Creon even says that he did not want to be king because he can enjoy the life of a king without all of the obligations of a king. I do think Oedipus was a better man than Creon, but in the end Oedipus suffered a far worse fate than that of Creon.
Oedipus and Creon are two characters that suffer unbelievably brutal fates. Oedipus’ fate is worse because he brought eternal disgrace to his house, blinded himself so that he could see the truth, and committed acts of incest with his mother and murdered his father. Creon and Oedipus are eerily similar in the way they evolve when the corrupting nature of power sets in. In the end Oedipus, the better man in the stories, suffers the worst fate and is exiled from Thebes for eternity. The story of the house of Oedipus is unbelievably tragic; it makes for a great play and a great story to read during our English Ten Honors class.

Antigone Reading Assignment #2

Messenger- "Haemon's gone. Blood spilt by his own hand." (244)

In the passages surrounding this quote the messenger is explaining is explaining Haemon's death and the fulfillment of the prophecy to the chorus leader. He begins to go into explaining that Haemon was found dead with his dead bride Antigone, who also killed herself,. The messenger also somewhat blames Creon for Haemons's death by saying "Both. Driven to it by his father's murdering," this puts the blame on Creon because Creon did not allow Haemon to live his own life.

Is Tiresias the only person in these stories whose character stayed the same throughout the entire trilogy

Antigone Reading Assignment #1

Antigone- "And if you judge me fool, perhaps it is because a fool is judge." (211)

This quote is from the part of the passage when Creon is accusing Antigone of burying her disgraced brother. Antigone stands up to Creon, which is not customary of women of that time. This shows that Antigone is much like her father Oedipus, who is very opiniated and headstrong.

Is Heamon on Creon or Antigone's side? In one part of the reading he tells Creon that he is on the side of his father, as is customary; but in another part he defends Antigone and begins to argue on her behalf.

First essay of the year in English Honors
Topic: Facebook or Myspace?
Resources- Wikipedia.com

Facebook and Myspace are two websites that have burst onto the social networking scene about five to six years ago. Both sites have over one hundred million users but Facebook is the better website. I believe Facebook is substantially better than Myspace due to its features, the applications Facebook provides, and the level of privacy Facebook offers.
The features of Facebook are much more advanced than those on the website Myspace. While Myspace does allow room for more customization, Facebook provides features such as the wall, groups, and “pokes”. Facebook also has a news feed which gives updates on relationship statuses, wall posts, and new friends, which Myspace does not have. Facebook also has gifts which allow users to send gifts to their friends. Another big plus for Facebook is called “Facebook Beta”, this is the new version of Facebook that combines certain things to reduce space and allow for more information. Facebook Beta is not very popular yet, but as users learn the particulars of the new system it will continue to help Facebook stay the number one social networking website in the world. The top features of Myspace include top friends, profile songs, and profile layouts. Two of these top features are available on Facebook via applications which are quick and easy to use.
Facebook offers many different applications for certain people and certain personalities. Even though Facebook does not allow profile layouts, applications provide a way of customization. While Myspace only has certain features, Facebook has many applications such as, heritage, fantasy sports, bumper sticker, and the ability to compare people. Myspace does not offer many applications and can make the website get old and boring. With the application of heritage you can put your country’s flag on your page so that everyone knows where you are from. Fantasy sports allow fanatics of all sports to participate in picking their teams and even drafting a team of their own. Bumper sticker is another way to customize your personal profile by adding stickers that show everyone your own unique personality. Finally, the application “Compare People” lets users compare their friends and vote on who they think is the funniest, most likely to succeed, and most desirable. These are a few of the applications that Facebook has and Myspace lacks, making Facebook the website with the better applications. Privacy on social networking websites is a big issue and we hear about it often from the media, from parents, from teachers, and most other role model in our lives. Facebook and Myspace both let users choose how much of themselves they want to put out on the internet, but Facebook has the better privacy settings.
I believe Facebook has the better privacy options. On the news we frequently hear of Myspace leading to abductions of children all over the country, but as I watch the news, Facebook comes up a lot less frequently. On Facebook you can block unapproved users from seeing your profile; you can also block users who are your friends from getting your information in their news feed. This information includes your relationship status and your wall posts. Myspace does have a feature where you can set your profile to private, but it does not have the in depth security standards set by the superior Facebook.
Facebook uses its features, applications, and security options to create a social networking website that trumps all other websites of its kind. There are many other social networking options available on the internet, but if you are looking for the best website Facebook is the way to go.