Characters in novels generally end up somewhere. Whether it be at the end of a book or a series or maybe even in the next chapter, authors give all major characters a fate. While the term fate suggests a negative connotation, they can be favorable and uplifting such as all of the “...and they lived happily ever after” at the end of most fairy tales. Though this would be a great hault for all books, some characters are not as fortunate with their fates. Often times characters are given more detrimental outcome. This could be something as simple as a broken limb or as severe as a fatality.
One example of a less fortunate kismet is recorded in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Gene Forrester is the narrator and alumni of Devon: a prep school …show more content…
Gene tries to inform Finny that he caused him to fall off of the limb. Finny’s give the same response in the same section of the text. two times. He says , “Of course you didn’t, ”(70). Finny’s state of denial built up a lot of tension in his heart. He doesn’t actually begin to understand what Gene was tring to say until way further along in A Separate Peace. It takes Brinker’s organization, Leper’s testimony, and Gene’s consistent reiterating fact that he jounced the limb for Finny to get the picture. His only comment by this point is, “I don’t care.” When he finally gets a hold of reality it is too late because he spazzes out which results in a completely different injury.
Another reason that Finny is to blame for his death is his creation of the club in the first place. Finny and Gene initially jump from the tree fairly early on in the book.(16) The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session was founded by Phineas.(31) He says, “We’ll form a suicide society, and the membership requirement is one jump out of this tree.” This shows that it was his idea to jump out of the tree and to do reiteratively. Gene agrees because Finny has a history of being in charge and getting his …show more content…
Finny takes charge on three occasions. The first is when they first started the Suicide Society. Gene jumps because Finny orders him too. Also, Phineas added “super” to the beginning of the name that Gene Forrester came up with.(31). In addition, he creates the requirement that he and Gene jump off to commence each meeting. This shows his lack of compliance with the will of others. The second was when Finny envisions the Devon Winter Carnival, and it comes to past exactly as he had planned it.. Gene indicates, “And because it was Finny’s idea, it happened as he said…”(129) The third example of Finny’s controlling temperament is when he tells Gene that he is going out for the ‘44 Olympics. Throughout the entire training Phineas is kind of pushy; however, a small, yet more specific answer is when Gene is chinning himself, and Finny tells him, “Do thirty of them.” The narrator said that he had never even done ten.