FREE ESSAY ON A SEPARATE PEACE

A SEPARATE PEACE

A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles that is about prep school experiences during
World War II. This book was a good story about an adolescents attempt to understand the
world and himself. I enjoyed reading about Gene's journey towards maturity and the adult
world.
This book takes place in Devon School, New Hampshire during a summer session when Gene
Forrester was sixteen years old. One day Gene and Finny, his friend and roommate, went to
a large tree by the river. Finny suggested that they try and jump from the tree into the
river below them. This jump was usually for older boys. But they both made the jump
successfully, and Finny formed the Summer Suicide Society, which is dedicated to members
being initiated by jumping from the tree to the river. Each time, Gene and Finny must go
first, but Gene always has a fear of jumping.
Finny always was considered the best athlete in school, and Gene tried to counterbalance
by being the best student. After a while of joining Finny's activities, Gene thinks that
Finny is intentionally trying to make him fail out of school. He starts to dislike Finny
and his activities, and Gene starts interrupting his schoolwork to jump from the tree
more and more often. On one occasion, he thoughtlessly jounces the limb and Finny falls
and breaks his leg.
Finny's leg is so shattered that he will not be able to play sports again. Gene is scared
that Finny will tell that he intentionally pushed him off the tree. After his first visit
to the infirmary, Gene realizes that Finny trusts Gene completely and would never accuse
Gene. After summer vacation was over, Gene guilty conscience decides to confess to Finny
that he had deliberately pushed him out of the tree. Finny refuses to believe his
confession, and demands that Gene leave.
Autumn session had started and Gene did not try to go out for any sports. Students
volunteered to do jobs left from the workers that were sent off to war. Many students
enlisted into the army, and Gene was going to do the same until one day he returns to his
room and Finny was there.
Finny confronts Gene and tells him that he is going to coach him for the 1944 Olympics.
Gene explains that sports are not important while the war is going on. Finny will not
believe in the war, and feels that he has suffered so much already. Gene is drawn into
this belief of peace with Finny, and is not in touch with the reality that is going on.
Gene's good friend Leper was the first to enlist in the war, which made the war seem more
and more unreal since Leper had never been concerned about anything. Leper left after the
recruiter came to Devon and showed pictures of the ski troops in action. 
Later, Gene gets a telegraph from Leper asking for help, and asks Gene to come at once.
Gene arrives at Leper's house, Gene tries to humor Leper with jokes, but notices that
Leper is too nervous and disturbed. Gene asks him how long he will be home, and Leper
says that he has escaped the war. Then Leper gets mad and accuses Gene of thinking of him
as not normal. Leper and Gene fight over new army words and Leper says that Gene will
soon be trapped. Leper reminds Gene of the time he knocked Finny out of the tree. Gene
becomes outraged and calls Lepur a crazy bastard. Then Leper switches moods and begins
laughing at the fact that Finny is crippled for life. Gene knocks Leper over in his chair
and onto the floor, and his mom comes in and tells Gene that Leper is ill. Gene tries to
leave, but Leper makes him stay for lunch. Gene feels ashamed to accept the invitation
for lunch.
Back to Finny's fall, some boys from the dormitory come to get Gene and Finny to take
them to the assembly hall. They begin asking questions about Finny's broken leg, Finny
refuses to answer the questions and bursts out of the room and falls down the stairs and
breaks the same leg again.
Gene tries to visit Finny in the infirmary but Finny wants nothing to do with him. The
following day, Finny wants to know why he pushed him out of the tree. Gene says that it
was a blind impulse. That same day, while the doctor is resetting Finny's leg, some
marrow gets into his bloodstream and Finny dies instantly. Gene does not cry about his
death, and feels that he died with Finny and that he shouldn't cry over one's own death.
Gene later comes to the conclusion that war never meant anything to him, that he had
fought his own war and had killed his enemy at school.
The major conflict in the story is between Gene and Finny. Gene is jealous of Finny
because is the best athlete at school and tries to compete with that by being the best
student. Eventually, Gene's jealousy causes him to jounce the limb while Finny jumps.
Gene then becomes aware of his inner self and learns of his true feelings. He realizes
that Finny has no hatred or jealously towards him. 
Another conflict is between Leper and Gene. When Leper decided to enlist in the army, it
made Gene think that the war was unreal because Leper was not really in touch with
reality. When Gene went to go visit him at his house, they got into a verbal argument,
and went off on each other. Leper keeps saying that he has escaped from the war, and Gene
doesn't understand what he means by it. Gene is really infuriated with Leper when he
blames Gene at the meeting and causes Finny to fall down the stairs, and die.
The mock trial, or assembly, was the climax of the story. It was called by some of the
boys at Devon. At the meeting, they tried to get down to what really happened on the tree
the day that Finny fell and broke his leg. Fingers started to point at Gene, and Finny
could not answer any questions. Finny angrily left the assembly and fell down the stairs,
braking the same leg again. While in the process of resetting his knee, some marrow got
into his bloodstream and he died.
The theme of this novel is Man's Inhumanity to Man. There is a strong relation of this in
this novel. The first point is about Finny's tragic fall and how Gene was the cause of
it. Support from the story is Finny's desire to jump from the tree. Gene said that he was
coming to join him but Finny reminded him about studying. Gene's thoughts on the matter
were, He had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and
never could have been any rivalry between us, I couldn't stand this. The second support
is Gene's actions leading to the accident. He took a step toward the trunk, put his knees
and jounced the limb. Thus, Finny lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. The third
support goes back to the scene of the accident after Gene watches Finny fall. And he
thinks to himself, It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. More
less, this is a sign of pride within Gene as he watches the good athlete, Finny fall out
of the tree. 
The second point is on the scene where Brinker brings Finny and Gene to the mock trial to
let everyone know the real truth about the cause of the accident. In other words, it was
a way of blasting away Gene and shoving his reputation as a respected individual into the
ground. Support from the story is when Brinker and three acquaintances come into Gene and
Finny's dorm and pull them out. After they entered the Assembly Room, Brinker remarks,
You see how Finny limps. This phrase was the beginning of his plan to set the truth
loose, or primarily break the friendship link between Finny and Gene. Brinker chose the
Assembly Room as the setting for this trial since there is nothing humorous about the
place. It is a place which would be terrible for Gene's sake to talk about the cause of
the accident. The second support is Brinker's remark in consociation to the accident. He
says to Gene, There is a war on, here's one soldier our side has already lost. We've got
to find out what happened. A powerful remark by Brinker which ignites the trial. This
indicates a strong reason for the trial, Brinker uses this tactic to have the truth let
out. The truth that will undoubtedly break the strong bond between Finny and Gene. The
truth in which will lead to another tragic fall of Finny. The third support is during the
trial when Brinker and Gene are talking about the accident. Brinker asks Finny, Have you
ever thought that you didn't just fall out of that tree? This inquiry from Brinker sets
Finny into a different focus, which will open up the accident, a focus that will narrow
it all down to Gene being questioned. These are the examples of Brinker's inhumanity to
let the truth loose. His focus is not on just getting the truth out, but breaking Finny
and Gene's friendship.
The third point is about when Leper calls Gene to visit him in his Vermont home and Gene
runs away. This falls under the Man's Inhumanity to Man category because Gene runs from
Leper because he cannot face the fact that Leper has gone crazy. The support for this is
when Leper tells Gene, You always were the lord of the manor, weren't you? This statement
is an example of pushing Gene. It gets Gene upset. The next support is Leper's quote to
Gene which resulted in Gene's physical outburst on Leper. Leper says like the time you
knocked Finny out of the tree. This provokes Gene because it is reminding him of his
inhumane action to Finny. Thus, resulting in Gene being inhumane to Leper and knocking
him out of his chair. The final support is when the scene finally ends. Gene says to
Leper, Do you think I want to hear every detail, I don't care what happened to you Leper.
This quote from Gene is after Leper explained to him the details of his insanity. Gene
cannot hear anymore of Leper's talk about his insanity and runs away. This is the final
argument in regards to the involvement of Man's Inhumanity to Man as the theme in the
story.
Gene Forrester's difficult journey towards maturity and the adult world is a main
character focus of this novel. Gene's journey begins the moment he pushes Finny from the
tree and the process continues until he visits the tree fifteen years later. Throughout
this time, Gene must become self-aware, face reality and the future, confront his
problems, as well as forgive and accept the person that he is. With the jouncing of the
limb, Gene realizes his problems and the true person he is inside. Fifteen years later,
when revisiting the tree, he finally accepts and forgives himself. This journey is a long
and painful one. At the end of this long and winding road filled with ditches,
difficulties and problems, Gene emerges a mature adult.
Gene jounces the limb and causes Finny's fall and at that moment becomes aware of his
inner-self and learns of his true feelings. This revelation comes to him back in his room
before he and Finny leave for the tree. It surrounds him with the shock of his true self
until he finally reacts by jouncing the limb. Up in the tree, before the two friends are
about to make their double-jump, Gene sees Finny in this new light. He realizes that
Finny feels no jealousy or hatred towards him and that Finny is indeed perfect in every
way. Gene becomes aware that only he is the jealous one. He learns of his animosity and
that he really is a savage underneath. Over a long period of time Gene had been denying
his feelings of hatred towards Finny, saying that it was normal for him to feel this way.
Now all of the feelings come back to him and he sees how terrible he really is. 
After the realization of the person he truly is, in his room and up in the tree, Gene
must now confront his problems, face reality, and deal with the future. He must learn
that communication is very important in a relationship and that he must express himself
instead of keeping his feelings inside, as he had always done with Finny. He must learn
to listen to himself rather than to others. These were just a few of the many problems
there were in his relationship with Finny. He must face reality and acknowledge the fact
that he isn't as great as Finny, that he is his own individual person and that Finny
isn't as perfect as he thought. Gene must accept the guilt for Finny's difficulties after
his injury and must help Finny as a punishment and act of repentance for his deed. Gene
does this by giving a part of himself to Finny as we see with the case of sports
throughout the rest of the novel - how Gene becomes Finny when it comes to sports.
Although the above are all of great importance, the greatest hurdle Gene must overcome is
learning to live with what he's done. This painful step is the one which will allow him
to completely mature.
The final stage of Gene's maturation is his self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. He has
to accept that he isn't perfect and that he, like any other normal being (even Finny),
has faults. Accepting that his innocence has been lost helps Gene move on into another
part of his life and realize that he can never return to the days of his innocent youth
again. He can now become a man, enter the war and adult world and leave his youth behind.
Forgiving himself is the step which allows Gene to lead a normal life and enter society.
He must finally forgive himself completely for his blind act and allow himself to come in
out of the rain. By accepting as well as forgiving the person that he is, Gene enables
himself to move on and join the adult world.
Gene's maturation is a painful and difficult process that reveals a darker side of Gene
that he doesn't necessarily wish to see. However painful, Gene is made a better person
during his maturation through his suffering. Through his pain and awful revelations about
himself, Gene matures from an insecure child to a self-knowledgeable adult.
The significant quote that I chose for A Separate Peace, is when Brinker says to Gene:
There is a war on, here's one soldier our side has already lost. We've got to find out
what happened. This remark relates to me because is determining and shows leadership. He
is determined to find out what happened and he will do whatever it takes to find out even
if he has to break up a friendship. I would have done the same thing. If I had a friend,
and he or she was intentionally pushed from a tree because someone was jealous of him or
her, I would become angry and agitated until I got to the bottom of it.