Guilt In John Knowles 'Separate Piece'

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Oftentimes, guilt has a way of warping thoughts, ideas, and perspectives to make life quickly spiral out of control. In Separate Piece by John Knowles, Knowles clearly depicted the way in which guilt can change a person's behavior. In this novel two boys, named Phineas and Gene, become very good friends until their lives pull a Freaky Friday on them and they completely switch personalities. Gene, an academically talented student jostles a large tree branch in which resulted in Finny, the athletic friend was hanging onto a branch, caused Finny to fall out of the tree. This led to Finny breaking his leg and their lives turning upside-down.

Finny was the victim of Gene’s guilty heart because he was constantly suffering from Gene’s inability to get over the accident. Gene routinely tries to make it up to Finny by trying to recreate his dreams of going to the 1942 Olympics, by trying to continue his passion for sports and working to become better every day. Gene realizes he can't fake a passion he doesn't have, which piles on more guilt and Gene starts his transformation of becoming Finny. …show more content…
His everyday life was changing, making him impulsive and daring, and caring less about his academic career than his clothes. Gene is constantly trying to transform into Finny, "I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas" (Knowles,
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