Summary Of The Novel 'A Separate Peace' By John Knowles

Joining the army gave Leper an understanding of the reality of the real world, and he lost his childhood to that. After leaving the army, Leper

As Knowles’ narrative progresses, Gene’s developing resentment of Finny’s seemingly abundant talent triggers an increasingly dark and misguided rivalry. After surmising his exemplary grades would even the score between the two boys, Gene commits himself academically. Consequently, he assigns blame to Finny for sabotaging his studies so

Through such struggle and friendship, they became so close that Gene felt as though he embodied Finny. Finny and Gene went through tough times that were close to ripping their relationship

Instead of joining Finny wholeheartedly and honestly speaking through feelings (about studying for exams, for example), Gene suppresses their mixed emotions and becomes the new experience of freedom in other conformity: It was decided to follow Finny's whims without exception or risk losing their friendship. This way of thinking "all or nothing" childlike in its simplicity, leads to Gene Finny to resent and ultimately causes the violent explosion that destroys a

He states that he fought his war--with Finny and himself--before the real war ever started. He fought his personal demons way before he had to go to battle. Brinker joined up also, and had a lot of pressure from his father to join and be "where all the action is" up on the front lines, but we don't really know how the war impacts him personally because this happens at the very end of the

To illustrate, at the start of the novel, Gene shows himself to be malicious and carefree: “We met every night, because Finny’s life was ruled by inspiration and anarchy, and so he prized a set of rules. As we drifted on through the summer, with this one inflexible appointment every day- classes could be cut, meals missed, chapel skipped.” (Knowles, 34). Gene was so untroubled in life simply because his friends were with him daily. However, the war took all of his friends away, which led to his innocence being taken away.

Constantly, the optimism that Leper has is seen by many recruits and soldiers as they expect a much different reality than what happens in war. Plot elements are a main

Since Gene is a follower rather than a leader, it is easy for him to be loyal to Finny and only lurk in his shadow as opposed to acting independently. This characteristic of Gene becomes evident when he

Since he could not handle and went psycho as the result of the disasters occurring, Leper almost received a Section Eight Discharge, which is, “for the nuts in the service, the psychos, the funny farm candidates” (Knowles

The duo are undeniably very good friends, but part of a healthy relationship is arguments, although it is important not to take it too far. Maturation as a whole means that you will be hit with unforeseen struggles, but it also means you have to let go of that anger and not let it eat you up as it builds up. Trying to keep within you is like wearing a mask of false bravado, you appear one thing when you are really something else. Gene builds up this anger and snaps, and ends up hurting Finny, and crippling him from any sports. Gene is not alone in this act of keeping it in. Finny does so swell, you can see that he has been hiding his feelings of resentment towards not being able to enlist. He wears a mask, denying that the war is even going on. When he finally does come to terms with reality, he is angry and sad. Of course, not to the same degree as Gene. Gene and Finny are both good examples of learning to let things go. But, keeping emotions within you is not always deliberate, sometimes it is forced upon you, as in the case of Leper. Leper was always in either a positive or neutral state, his emotions were stable, and this was because he was good at letting things go. Throughout the book it is shown that he is in touch with nature, and it is because of this that he is able to keep a level head. When he enlists, this connection with nature, and his outlets for peace of mind are stripped away. He is left

It is clear Gene is traumatized, a broken soul wandering endlessly through the Fields of Asphodel. The entire story is varnish over what truly lies within the depths of Gene’s id. Was Finny was simply a manifestation of Gene’s opposite personality? Did Gene truly had much more troubling matters to deal with than a friend dying at a school? It is much more likely that Gene suffered post traumatic stress disorder after World War II. As Gene states, “The war was and is reality for me, I still instinctively love and think in it’s atmosphere.” It is clear that Gene has never moved on, and has regressed back to his teenage persona, to reshape his memories into less despairing ones, than the ones that plague his subliminal and innermost thoughts. Leaving these anguishes separate from his ego. Memories in which Gene is Judas who betrays Christ, instead of potentially monstrous horrors suffered in the cruel and hellish trenches of the war. Denial. Regression. Gene is a broken man, who is so consumed by the darkness of the cave, that he cannot see the true light.

Often times, Gene would find himself under pressure placed by Finny. For example, Gene questions himself when told to jump off a tree, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”.(17) Gene’s actions and insecurities are pushed upon Finny, who is seen as the cause, and takes the brunt of the consequences. On the other hand, the author of Time magazine doesn’t place all the blame upon Finny, but rather refers to him as a catalyst who helps speed up the process in the destruction of Genes innocence. Throughout “A Separate Peace”, Phineas is seen to have a negative impact upon Gene; for example, Forrester’s thoughts are expressed on the meetings he had to attend in the super suicide society, “I hated it. But I always jumped. Otherwise I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable.” (34) The constant pressure in Finny and Gene’s competitive relationship is what leads to the unfortunate incident on the tree, in the summer of

Finny’s accident, the burden and guilt Gene feels, and the destruction of Leper’s sanity are all key ideas that help support the main theme of the novel. Leper helps reinforce the theory that the young men who could not adapt to the war ended up not being able to survive. At first, Leper focuses most of his attention on the outdoors and surrounding nature. He is interested in the evolution of animals and he wants to understand everything about it. By the time he goes off, he had yet to perceive the astringent realities of the war and has higher assumption for what the war is. It did not take long for him to run away because he could not handle the violence, especially as a gentle and peaceful boy. Leper revealed that in combat you are in a hurry. Even though he understood that concept, he could not obtain it and continue to see nature and people get destroyed. Leper demonstrates the need of adaptation while approaching new and harsh situations like the

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

“But I no longer needed this vivid false identity . . . I felt, a sense of my own real authority and worth, I had many new experiences and I was growing up “(156). Gene’s self-identity battle ends and he finds his real self. Gene’s developing maturity is also shown when he tells the truth about Leper. His growing resentment against having to mislead people helps Gene become a better person. When Brinker asks about Leper, Gene wants to lie and tell him he is fine but his resentment is stronger than him. Instead Gene comes out and tells the truth that Leper has gone crazy. By pushing Finny out of the tree, crippling him for life and watching him die; Gene kills a part of his own character, his essential purity. Throughout the whole novel Gene strives to be Finny, but by the end he forms a character of his own. Gene looks into his own heart and realizes the evil. “. . . it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart” (201). He grasps that the creation of personal problems creates wars. Gene comes to acknowledge Finny’s uniqueness and his idealism and greatly admires his view of the world. He allows Finny’s influence to change him and eliminates the self-ignorance. At Finny’s funeral Gene feels that he buries a part of himself, his innocence. “I could not escape a feeling