Separate Peace

A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is a book is about a group of friends in their high school years that are on a journey to reach manhood but have to deal with many problems on the way. The major problem is the fear of being drafted into the war. The main characters Gene and Finny are best friends but experience many issues on the way to becoming best friends. The other two kids in their group, Leper and Brinker are also facing many problems from the war. The story is a flashback with Gene narrating it, and is talking about his highschool years at the Devon School. The major thing it emphasizes is how the war completely changes the boys at Devon. Gene, Finny, and Leper pick up new characteristics as a result, that impact their lives. There are also problems like Finny breaking his leg and Leper becoming psychotic. These issues are mostly negative and make an interesting novel, with a lot of ups and downs.
Finny’s life goes from near perfect to terrible as a result of the upcoming war and important terrifying events. Finny also called Phineas is Gene’s best friend. When we first meet him he is happy, outgoing, and athletic. He is a great all around boy that everyone wants to be like. This is a quote from the beginning of the novel when they were about to jump of the tree. “He of course saw nothing the slightest bit intimidating about it. He wouldn’t, or wouldn’t admit it if he did. Not Phineas.” (Knowles 14). This passage shows that Finny isnt afraid of anything and that he will not back down away from something. He is self confident, outgoing, and brave which sums up his characteristics for the first half of the book. After breaking his leg and knowing about the war in the near future Finny’s life begins to change a lot. He starts to become nervous and afraid of life which we never see from him earlier in the book. When he finds out that Gene actually does push him off the tree, things take a turn for the worse. “ The words shocked Phineas into awareness. He