A Separate Peace

Gene was fighting an internal war and constantly blames Phineas for this. He wants to be like him as well. This is when the whole problem of jealousy comes to play. Gene bottles up his feelings about his friend until he reaches the point where he makes him fall from the tree and break his leg. The only time Gene felt at peace throughout this situation is when he put on Finny’s clothes. “The sense of transformation stayed with me throughout the night. That night I slept easily, and it was only on waking up that the illusion was gone, and I was confronted with myself, and what I had done to Finny,” A Separate Peace page 62. This quote shows us how Gene is so insecure about himself and how by being like Finny or pretending to be Finny, in this case, he felt better about himself and finally felt like he was complete. This, in my opinion, foreshadows how Finny and Gene are going to become one person and how Finny’s innocent self, is going to become the only trace of innocence left in Gene.

The reader sees Phineas as a “perfect” character. He is being described as being able to do everything naturally. However, one thing that doesn’t come naturally to him is the loss of innocence or growing up. For humans, losing innocence is part of growing up, which is part of life, part of a normal life. But, Phineas, who is the complete representation of innocence and staying innocent, doesn’t go through growing up as naturally. When he loses his innocence, he dies. The author, John Knowles, did this because he wanted to symbolize how innocence is beautiful, pure and near perfect but it doesn’t last forever; just like Phineas. “You want to break something else in me! Is that why you’re here, “ A Separate Peace page 184. After all that time, Phineas finally came to the hard realization of the truth, the truth about Gene. Once he realized this, he was no longer innocent therefore had to die in order for the author to get his point across.

It might seem like Phineas’ loss of innocence is all Gene’s fault, but truly it’s not. “We undressed, I put on some pajamas, but Phineas, who had heard that they were unmilitary; didn’t,” A Separate Peace page 20. This quote shows us how Phineas’ dream was to serve in the military. This proves to us that even if Gene hadn’t broken Phineas’ leg and ultimately led him to his deathbed, Phineas would’ve still grown up because of being at war. His character would’ve still died out because losing innocence is inevitable, especially living through war and surrounded by such a messed up and corrupt society.

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