Finny vs. Millicent - a compare/contrast essay based on characters in John Knowles' <i>A Separate Peace</i> and Sylvia Plath's "Initiation"

Phineas, a main character in John Knowles' A Separate Peace, and Millicent, a main character in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation," are both alike and different. Though the plotlines and themes of these two stories are quite different, the characters themselves display similar wants and morals. This can be seen through their relative popularity, their desire to join or create an exclusive club, and both characters' realizations that change is constant. In both A Separate Peace and "…

…opinions, and probably their personalities, are alike in their basic themes, morals, and wants. Though the reader cannot know all of Finny's thoughts as they do Millicent's, they can infer his basic emotions and views. In these two pieces of literature, John Knowles and Sylvia Plath created different characters who still relate to each other in small but significant ways, and also relate to the reader through the use of universal themes such as change.