Significance of Minor Characters in a Separate Peace

The novel, A Separate Peace has many important aspects to it. One of those aspects is its use of minor characters throughout the book. The book's minor characters are what make up a lot of the book. They are the characters that affect and help develop the main characters, Gene and Finny. The reader is able to find out how Finny is able to handle situations when Mr. Prud'homme confronts Gene and Finny on their dinner absences. You get a better idea of Finny's character when he goes for tea with the head master, Mr. Patch-Withers, wearing the school tie as a belt. You see how Chet Douglas affects Gene's studying habits when Gene finds the need to try and beat Chet in school marks. And you also get a deep understanding of Gene's emotional side when he runs away from Leper and his flashbacks of being at the military. In the beginning of A Separate Peace, in the summer session at Devon School, there was the substitute dean, Mr. Prud'homme, who checked up on Gene and Finny at their dormitory to find out why they missed dinner once again. So to avoid any trouble, Finny smooth-talks his way out of the situation by explaining that they were preparing for the draft. This seems like a fairly unimportant part of the book, but it does show you how Finny handles such situations. Most people would be nervous and not able to come up with an excuse, but Finny is able to quickly and slickly, dissolve the situation. Later in the book, we discover a little bit more of Finny when he gets dressed for tea with the substitute school head master, Mr. Patch-Withers and uses the Devon School tie as a belt. Finny, using the school tie as a belt indicates boldness and ingenuity and that he doesn't always stick to the rules. Later, when Finny and Gene are actually meeting with Mr. Patch-Withers, again you see Finny's expertise in handling stressful situations as you see Mr. Patch-Withers' contempt of Finny's inappropriate action. There is also Dr. Stanpole, who is the only link between