I created this picture, because we need to remember the ones whom have sacrificed their lives for our freedoms and safety. People often forget what the soldiers are doing for us as we sit comfortably in our homes.

“My war ended before I ever put on the uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” (204)

This sentence represents the theme of the novel,  A Separate Peace, and Gene’s goal. The theme is to find peace within oneself. Gene struggles throughout the whole story for he is battling his jealousy and guilt. Those are his enemies that keep him from being happy. Most people struggle with being happy from time to time. In our society, most people are upset, because they long for what they don’t have instead of being grateful for what they do have. If more people learned to be grateful for what they have, maybe there would be more people happy like how Gene is at the end of the book. Gene is forgiven by Finny and Gene is relieved of is guilt. Gene no longer has conflict within himself. He feels liberated and is at peace with himself and the world around him. Even as Gene enters the war, he never calls the people he is fighting against the enemy. Our enemies are the one we create for ourselves and we must find a way to overcome. I wonder if everyone found peace if there would be a lot less fighting between people. The greatest obstacle that may keep us unhappy in life may be ourselves.

“I [Gene] had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my character again.” (62)

It is in human nature to want to be confident in who we are. A person wants their own identity that defines who they are. Gene struggles with his identity and he admires his roommate’s confidence. Gene longs to discover himself and establish his own identity.

“… the proper person is your best pal. Which is what you are.” (48)

People have always wanted to be accepted and loved by other people. We are happy when we are told that we are loved by other people. There is undeniable hunger companionship in humans. That is why we have marriages, friends, and roommates. Humans long to be wanted by others and become depressed when they are not wanted. Finny declares that Gene is his best friend. Gene is happy to hear it and admires Finny for saying something so brave.

“Other people experienced this fearful shock… and so began an obsessive labor of defense.” (204)

It is in our nature to never wanting to admit that we are afraid of something. Maybe it is our instinct to survive. We always would rather be the hunter than the hunted. People come up with ways to hide their fear. For example, my dad always lashes out in anger when he is afraid. On the other hand, my mom will shut down her emotions and look for the quickest route for escape.

In A Separate Peace, Finny and Gene break the rules of their prep school, Devon, and leave campus to got to the beach for some fun. They ride their bikes there and enjoy themselves, but the next day, due to not studying, Gene fails his math test and blames Finny for distracting him. Finny forms the Super Suicide Society which the members jump out of a tree. Finny decides to do a double jump with Gene and Gene shakes the branch making Finny fall. Shattering his leg, Finny is no longer able to play sports and Gene feels guilty for his action. During the winter, Finny returns back to school and decides to throw a winter carnival. There is games, cider, music, and prizes and Finny runs the show. The boys have a good time. Gene goes  to visit Leper who has come back from war. Gene is disturbed by the sight of his friend. Leper has lost his mind and was soon to be discharged from the army as a mental person. Towards the end of the story, Brinker drags Finny and Gene into something like a trial to see if they could accuse Gene of being guilty of making Finny fall on purpose. Finny discovers the truth and becomes very upset. As Finny tries to storm out, he falls and breaks his leg again. Finny forgives Gene before he dies. This makes Gene feels at peace with himself. As he enters war, Gene feels like he has already defeated the enemy.

Gene undergoes a major change at the end of the story when Finny dies. The entire story Gene is fighting a war within himself until the end when he defeats his enemy. He battles jealousy and guilt that overruns his life. Gene feels especially trapped by it after the accident in the tree with Finny. Everything Gene does is never pure. He always has a hidden motivation which is usually his guilt. Gene’s devotion to Finny is not out of friendship, but out of guilt. I questioned many times in the story whether or not Finny and Gene would be close friends if the accident never happened. At the end when Finny breaks his leg for the second time, Finny forgives Gene and they laugh it off. For the last few moments of their friendship, it is pure. There is no ulterior motives motivating their friendship. At Finny’s funeral, Gene felt like it is his own funeral for he has defeated his enemy when Finny forgave him and the enemy died with Finny. Although funerals mean death, it is also Gene’s rebirth into a new person. Gene feels at peace within himself and has adopted many of Finny’s ways like never seeing anybody as the enemy. Gene’s transformation leaves him happy and at peace.

Finny and Gene break the rules to have some fun on the beach. The guilt quickly eats away at Gene and admits to Mr. Prud’homme that they broke the rules of leaving the campus. Mr. Prud’homme doesn’t care that they broke the rules and is more interested about the details of their fun adventure.

The tree the young, adventurous boys jump out during the summer has a lot of fond memories, but also left a great amount of guilt for Gene. They were all cheerful and excited as they jump out of the tree into the river below. Then Gene shakes the branch and makes Finny fall onto the bank shattering his leg. Gene feels guilty about handicapping Finny.

On his way back to Devon, Gene decides to stop at Finny’s house in Boston to see how he is doing, because he feels guilty. Finny is ecstatic to see Gene and enjoys chatting with him until Gene tries to unburden his guilt by telling him that he is the reason he fell out of the tree.

When Finny finally returns to school, it brings great joy for both Finny and Gene. They are excited to see each other, but Gene feels guilty for his actions and feels like he owes Finny. He follows every Finny’s whim trying to relieve his guilt.

At the end of the story, Finny figures out that Gene caused his accident. Being guilty, Gene tries to make amends. In the end they are great friends again and are filled with joy of their friendship.

I enjoyed A Separate Peace greatly more than most of our books that I have read in English class this year. As most of the books we read deal with hardship, this book was refreshing, because of the innocence, joy, and youth of the boys. Even though there is some death and hardship, Finny has a optimistic attitude  that lightens the mood of the story. Finny is my favorite character, because he acts like a little child only concerned with having fun. Although his leg is broken and he will no longer will be able to play sports, he still has fun and tries to get everyone to join in on having fun like the winter carnival. The things I would change about Finny is to make him more responsible, so his natural ability to be a leader would be put to better use than convincing people to skip school. If Iwas Knowles, I would completely change the character Gene. The only thing I like about Gene is his loyalty to Finny.  I greatly dislike that Gene is very smart, but does not use his brain to think for himself. I thought the book was okay. I wasn’t able to connect with boys very well. I don’t think I would recommend the book to girls, but I might recommend the book to boys.

A Separate Peace is a fictional story that takes place during World War II. The setting of the story takes place at Devon, a all boy private school. The campus is perceived as a beautiful place with green grass and a clear river during the summer. It is generally a peaceful place that is secluded from the world that is consumed in war and loss. The book is fictional, but many aspects can be related to present day. The war is never really described except for when they read the news and it doesn’t make a big impact on their isolated world. The many wars that go on today doesn’t make a big impact on our everyday lives either. Usually, we continue on our daily routine without much thought of the death and destruction that is occurring somewhere else. Eventually tension rises on campus when the boys are about to graduate, because the war is about to effect their lives. Security today keeps tightening as the fear in the people rise when the war from the other side of the planet leaks into home. The youth and innocence of the boys in the story are still seen today with the carelessness of boys and their attitude of the world revolving around them. The story may be fictional, but many of the topics are still relevant in our world.

     Gene succeeds in academics and is relatively quite. He  believes in following the rules. This is hypocritical for he breaks rules all the time with Finny without question. Easily influenced, he skips classes and breaks various other rules with Finny. Though Gene has a smart brain, he doesn’t know how to think on his own very well. Gene typically follows whatever somebody says to do, even if it puts him in danger. Gene submits to every whim of Finny’s. Gene let’s Finny train him for the 1944 Olympics. This is a waste of time for Gene, because Gene’s goals are in academics and with the war on there won’t be a Olympics. Many times in the story Gene tries to be like Finny by trying on his clothes and such. This infers that Gene hasn’t established a identity for himself, so maybe that’s why he obeys Finny’s every word. Gene is also a jealous and competitive person. He envies Finny for getting away with things when he breaks the rules and of his athletic skill that comes easy to him. Gene shakes the branch on the tree, that makes Finny fall, out of jealousy. Gene is continuously comparing himself to others. He wants to be ahead of everybody. Aggressively attacking his studies, Gene is competing against Chet for valedictorian. Gene compares himself to Finny and thinks he is better, because he is excellent in academics and okay in athletics where Finny is terrible in academics and is excellent in athletics. Although Gene is smart, he still has much more maturing to do. He has many flaws and he needs a major boost in confidence, so he can think for himself.