All people - young and old, rich and poor, celebrities and nobody - have probably experienced some sort of "identity crisis "over the course of their lives. Almost every living person has created an identity for themselves, whether they are aware of it or not. A person's identity defines who they will become and how they will react to the world. However, identity is not something that is set in stone. According to Bob Edelstein, author of the article “Authenticity and Identity,” a person's identity is “fluid, subjective, and chosen” and a person can “rediscover and recreate” themselves at any time (1). This could easily lead to an identity conflict and in many cases it does. These identity crises that people around the world face are illustrated by John Knowles in his book A Separate Peace, in which the main teenage characters - Gene, Phineas (known as Finny), Leper and Brinker struggle to find their true selves while living in World War II America. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Identity crises like those described in A Separate Peace are not uncommon. In fact, Susan Krauss Whitbourne writes in “Are You Having an Identity Crisis?” that adolescents are more susceptible to identity crises than adults, as they have reached the point in their lives where they finally begin to think about their role in society and the world around them. They must develop their own identity and make crucial decisions about the path their lives will take. If they fail to face these choices, however, their sense of identity could be shattered and weaken them in the future (1). In Knowles' book, for example, Gene, the narrator of the story, is the one of the four boys who struggles most with his identity and his emotions during his time at Devon School, where the story is set. A person's identity can change rapidly in response to whatever that person experiences in their life, and nowhere is this more evident than in Gene (Edelstein 1). After arriving in Devon and meeting Finny, Gene began to become jealous of what he saw as Finny's superiority over him. Gene slowly began to change, becoming more like Finny, to the point that Gene even felt more comfortable in Finny's clothes, saying that "it seemed, standing there in Finny's triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble into confusion again of my character." ” (Knowledge 62). Gene was constantly jealous of Finny and his abilities, and this led to Gene's desire to become Finny, losing himself in the process. In “Basics of Identity,” author Shahram Heshmat writes that it is exhausting for some try to be someone they are not, because more intellectual skills are needed to manage the self-doubts constantly present in their minds (2). we shift this part of our identity to what is authentic in the present" (1). Leper, whose real name was Elwin Lepellier, entered the history of Devon and Knowles as a naturalist, passionate about everything that had to do with nature and completely against any thoughts of enlisting for the war even chose to go skiing and look for beaver dams instead of helping clear the railroad tracks for the war effort like his fellow Devon students (Knowles 95). The other students thought that Leper would never join the army, with his peaceful and nature-loving personality. However, watching a video about ski troops, which aroused hisinterest, was enough to completely change Leper's personality and identity, making him enthusiastic about the war and the first to enlist among his classmates. However, war was not one of the leper's “personal potentials,” which are a person's strengths and are necessary to form one's identity (Heshmat 1). The sheer psychological effect of the war drove the nature-loving leper nearly mad, destroying his mind. Leper, however, faced pressure from his fellow students and society as a whole to enlist, and this influenced his decision even when he might have known deep down that war wasn't for him and wasn't part of who he was. . Brinker's obvious disdain for ski trips and Leper's naturalistic tendencies could certainly have played a role in influencing Leper's decision to enlist, even before he saw the video of the ski troops (Knowles 99). In his article, Edelstein uses the example of a man named Bill, who is "kind and has a positive attitude" and sees the best in everyone around him (1). In A Separate Peace, Finny was a near-perfect representation of Bill. Finny was a happy-go-lucky person and always seemed to be able to get away with using his charm and quick thinking. Even when Finny wore a school tie as a belt and Gene was certain that "he wouldn't get away with it this time" (Knowles 27), Finny still managed to get out of trouble. Finny was the type of person who felt no hatred or contempt for anyone, but rather genuinely loved everyone he met. As Gene said, “only Phineas never hated anyone” (Knowles 204). Edelstein's Bill, however, discovered how exhausting it is to be positive and consistently kind to everyone, as it required him to repress and refuse to acknowledge some of his emotions. Finny experienced this too, repressing his emotions in an attempt to see only the good in people and not the bad. Finny was only able to suppress his feelings for a time, however, and broke down at Brinker's "trial", screaming about how he didn't care about the facts and running out the door (Knowles 176). Finny has formed his identity into that of a consistently kind, gentle, and positive person, but that type of personality is unnatural and, as in Bill's case, could lead to exhaustion, depression, and even loss or fragmentation of life. identity that brought him. a person thought he had and knew. One of the four common “identity statuses” a person can have is foreclosure, in which people “have a firm sense of self, but have never gone through a serious process of questioning their commitments. " These people generally follow their parents and their parents' expectations of them, acquiring values ​​very similar to those of their parents (Whitbourne 2). In A Separate Peace, Brinker is initially very “foreigned”. He shared the point of view of his father about enlisting as a noble action and was enthusiastic about enlisting and fighting in the war. These views were extremely similar to those of Brinker's father, who believed that “serving your country is the greatest moment, the privilege. bigger” (Knowles 200). At first Brinker felt the same way as his father, complaining fiercely when Leper skied towards a beaver dam instead of helping to clean up the railway (100). According to Whitbourne, however, if people they do not contemplate their own interests and commitments, they may find themselves stuck in something they do not enjoy, and they may be unhappy in the future (2). Brinker, towards the end of the book, was disappointed by his father's views on war and the world, and began to think about his own identity and personality. Ultimately, Brinker ran out.