ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

A Separate Peace 27818 Views

Share It!

Description:

Have you ever pretended to be super happy for your BFF when they win an award when, really, you just wanted to rip it out of their undeserving, ungrateful, lazy… We’ll stop before we take it too far. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene has trouble with the fact that his friend Phineas is always in the limelight—and he takes some pretty extreme actions to try to make up for it. Talk about jealousy issues. This video will prompt you to think about the relationship between our own successes and how we view others’ accomplishments. Just promise us you’ll stop having revenge fantasies about stabbing your friend with a plastic crown after losing the Homecoming Queen title to her last year. Step. Away. From. The. Tiara.

Author:

Author / Knowles - John Knowles

Language:

English Language

Subjects:

Tags:

Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:01
A Separate Peace, a la Shmoop. The next time you see a lottery winner on TV . . .
00:14
. . . take a good look at the people in the background.
00:16
Oh, they're trying to look excited about the latest instant millionaire in their midst
00:20
. . . . . . but you can tell their hearts just aren't
00:23
in it. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles,

00:26
Gene and Phineas are friends . . . . . . but that pesky green monster keeps getting
00:30
in the way. And while healthy competition between friends
00:33
can be good for the soul. . . . . . Gene had a little problem watching his
00:36
friend come out on top. So if jealousy and resentment can ruin even
00:40
the best of friendships . . . . . . we have to wonder: Is it possible for
00:44
human beings to be truly happy for someone else's good fortune?
00:48
Judging from the current crop of journalism . . .
00:50
. . . it looks like we're more than happy to root for someone on their way up . . .
00:54
. . . and even happier to watch them on the way down.
00:57
If "No news is good news". . . . . . then maybe we just don't want anything
01:01
to do with someone else's happiness. But c'mon, we can give you lots of examples
01:05
of people bending over backwards to help their fellow man.
01:08
Doesn't that prove that we're capable of celebrating when good things happen to our neighbors?
01:13
Yeah, but you may have noticed that no one's out there volunteering to build a house for
01:17
these guys. Maybe our ability to enjoy someone else's
01:21
success hinges more on where we are in our lives . . .
01:24
. . . than where they are in theirs. Maybe it's just a whole lot easier to cheer
01:28
for someone else when things are going your way, too.
01:31
So, which is it? Are we an unselfish bunch of do-gooders that love seeing good things
01:37
happen to others . . . . . . or are we an envious horde of miscreants
01:41
waiting for - and thoroughly enjoying - others' misfortunes?
01:44
Hard to say. We'll let you try to figure it out. Go ahead...
01:48
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Full Transcript