The main theme that I saw in A Separate Peace was finding your identity. Throughout the novel, two characters, Gene and Finny, showed several examples of the theme because both of them had trouble figuring out who they were apart from each other. Since Finny had such an outgoing, chivalrous personality, Gene felt encumbered by him, unable to be his own person, only Finny's best friend. He even started to think of himself as an extension of Finny. So when Finny was injured, it profoundly effected both of them. Gene had to learn who he was without Finny, and Finny had to learn who he was without his athleticism and goals. Even several months after the accident, he still had issues learning who he was because he began living his dreams through
