A Separate Peace, By John Knowles

He realize Finny is not his enemy, it actually turns out to be himself after all the crazy thoughts he had. “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.”(Knowles 116) This quote is discussing how Gene is saying it is himself that is in the casket not Finny because Finny is not his enemy, it is himself. When he went back to Devon it was more warlike and less peaceful, so he goes to war and ends up killing his enemy at war. Alton states “In the end, inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war growing up.” This quote is explaining how Gene achieves his peace, by fighting in a private war when getting back to Devon. To conclude, Gene has found peace in the oddest way but he definitely succeeds with

Finny's leg injury caused him to not be at Devon for a few weeks, giving Gene room to experience guilt. In the days following Finny's accident, Knowles paints Gene as grief-ridden and regretful, with Gene expressing, "I spent as much time as I could in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was," (62). Gene's guilt shows that he did not intentionally cause the fall. Gene's guilt also evidences that Gene did not consciously want Finny to fall and had no severe feelings of malevolence other than slight envy. Upon hearing that Finny cannot do sports again, Gene reacts with shock and sorrow (Knowles 63).

Another way their relationship is affected is because Gene tries to become like Finny. Gene adds,” that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again” (Alton 54). After Finny’s fall he asks Gene to become an athlete because he can’t. Gene tries on Finny’s clothes and feels confident. Gene finally realizes his flaws in his own character which led to Finny’s

There, he confesses that he is responsible for Finny’s injury, and that is the reason Finny will never be able to play sports again. During his confession, Gene realizes, “I was injuring him again” (62). Gene’s realization indicates that he has gained a level of empathy that was not present before. This growth is shown through Gene considering Finny’s feelings and understanding how his confession is breaking Finny’s heart. This empathy serves as a stark contrast to how he behaved before the accident, where he constantly thought that Finny was trying to sabotage him and was self-centered.

Finny then forgives him. That forgiveness is what allowed Gene to let go and accept and find himself. Finny then undergoes surgery for his leg and passes away from bone marrow getting into his bloodstream. Gene, don't cry. In fact, at Phineas’s funeral, Gene says, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my funeral, and you do not cry in that case” (194).

Gene contemplates his and Finny’s friendship many times in the book, but despite what Gene may have thought, Finny was a good friend to him. He always took Gene’s feelings into account, and through all that happened he had faith in Gene. But Gene never knew this,

Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny did nothing but hurt him and also helped him. Gene being envy of Finny affected their friendship. “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal” (Knowles 11). Gene does not like the simple fact that Phineas can get away with almost anything and gets all the attention. He is jealous of that and starts to envy his own best friend. Finny dies and it is Gene’s fault. “I couldn’t escape a confusing sense of having lived through all of this before; Phineas in the infirmary, and myself responsible” (Knowles 112). Gene realized

Gene imitates Finny by going to the tree with him to jump off. He shakes the limb, making Finny fall off and breaking his leg. Now Gene is feeling bad about the incident. In the novel it states, “I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was” (Knowles 33). Gene didn’t want to be around anybody because he had a lot on his mind.

As Gene feels the obligation to lose himself to become Finny, Knowles shows us that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power. When Finny tells Gene that he has to play sports in the place of Finny himself, Gene says, “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” (77). Gene loses who he is to become the powerful Finny because told him to do so. He feels the need to give up his identity seeing that he has the order to do. This results in an unequal friendship because a true friend would never force someone to do something that would make them lose who they actually are. Gene and Finny’s unbalanced friendship eventually causes paranoia and insecurity on the less powerful side known as Gene because he is giving himself up.

If Gene and Finny had not been friends, Gene would not have thought much of Finny’s fall. To illustrate the point, Gene sneaks out to the hospital after Finny breaks his leg a second time and he offers to fix Finny’s leg up: “‘I want to fix your leg up,’ I said crazily but in a perfectly normal tone of voice which made my words sound even crazier, to me” (185). Furthermore, Gene regrets he did not show Finny appreciation when he should have; Gene realizes that he made the mistake. Later, Gene was more accepting of Finny after Finny’s first fall because it proved to Gene that Finny was human and he made mistakes that will not be forgotten. Consequently, Gene did not appreciate Finny enough for Finny to realize that he was being appreciated.

He lets Finny have a life through him, effectively conforming himself to become a part of him by agreeing to have Finny train him and help him become an athlete, something that Finny cannot be anymore because of his injury. “‘Listen, pal, if I can’t play sports, you’re going to play them for me,’ and 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 (85).” This quote, capturing Gene’s new perspective on the post-incident relationship he has with his friend, indicates that inversely, and somewhat as a result, Gene also lives through Finny now; he feels that living life through him was what was meant to be and who he was meant to be. Gene essentially acquires a previously nonexistent sense of self and identity through Finny as Finny attempts to fulfill his own dreams of being a star athlete through Gene, and it is this codependency that provides a deluding sense of protection from the real situations for both of them. Furthermore, as fate may have it, Finny breaks his leg again, this time dying due to the operation going wrong; Gene “did not cry then or ever about Finny. [He] could not escape the feeling that [it was his] own funeral, and you do not cry in that case (194).” This once and for all solidifies the motif of Gene living his life as Finny

Little sorrow and sadness is expressed around school, even in Gene; no one talks about what happened but everyone remembers, especially Gene. Throughout the novel, John Knowles' strong characterization of Finny results in a more developed and wiser Gene; in the end, Finny actually makes Gene a better person.

Second, the injury puts Finny in the hospital, separating the two, which cause Gene to suffer depression. As Finny is badly wounded, he has to leave his boarding school, Devon, for a long period of time. He spends his time in the hospital, away from Gene. FurthermoreThis makes Gene regret his decision even more. Not only are Gene and Finny physically separated, but also emotionally separated. Essentially, Gene loses his

Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny caused great internal turmoil with himself throughout the story. He went through and identity crisis because he was unsure of who he was and who he wanted to be. In the story, Gene said, “I went along, as I always did, with any new invention of Finny’s” (Knowles 117). He always went along with everything Finny proposed or did; this gave him little to no time to discover who he really was. This lack of personal discovery lead him to doubt who he was. This internal conflict within Gene also affected his personal actions. Before Finny’s fall, Gene said, “I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb” (Knowles

He thinks Finny is trying to sabotage his studies so that he can be number one at that too! In reality, Finny is just trying to be a good friend. Gene is jealous of Finny’s athleticism, but he covers it up by the thought that all Finny wants to do is hurt him. In attempt to have some fun, Finny wants Gene and some other boys to jump from a tree limb into a river. This challenge is something that has never been done by a boy their age. After doing it once, Finny later convinces Gene to leave his studies and come do it again. While the boys are on the tree limb, Finny stumbles, falls into the river, and breaks his leg. Since Finny can no longer participate in any sporting events, he decides to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Gene eventually comes to the conclusion that “[Finny] had never been jealous of [him] for a second. Now [he] know[s] there was and never could have been any rivalry between [them]” (Knowles 78). Gene realizes that Finny wasn’t ever jealous of him, and that pushing Finny from the tree is a mistake that he will later regret. Finny dies after falling down the stairs and a failed surgery, so Gene begins to feel guilty for his actions. Gene had earlier decided to enlist in the war, and had told the other boys about it. After a lot of thinking, he eventually decides not to enlist in the war. Gene now begins to see the wrong doing he had participated in earlier,