Finny And Gene's Transformation In A Separate Peace

In 1941 the attack on Pearl Harbor caused the United States to go to war, which forced many American boys prematurely become men. The novel “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles set in an era about two best friends attending an all-boys private school on the east coast and their personal struggles during World War II. The main character Gene is a teenager from the south, who arrived at The School of Devon where he meets his best friend Phineas. Finny is an optimistic, athletic kid who introduces Gene to the school. In Finny and Gene’s relationship, they both compete with each other and deceive each other. At this time of age when boys begin to mature. Gene in the beginning of the novel is very paranoid, who then matures into a compassionate man who starts to accept his mistakes throughout his years at Devon. …show more content…
When Finny brings Gene to the beach Gene flunks his test and blames it on Finny. When Gene asks Finny if he “mind if [he] was head of the class” Finny sarcastically replies that it will “kill [himself] out of jealous envy”(52). Gene asked Finny this question because he’s succumbing to the belief that this was a conspiracy that Finny had planned to sabotage his goal of being best in the class so they are not even anymore. In addition to Gene’s paranoia, he came to believe that “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck [his] studies”(53). This example proves that Gene believes Finny set out to sabotage his goal, which causes Gene to push Finny out of a tree. This resulted in Finny becoming maimed. In the beginning of the novel Gene is very paranoid, but, later in the story, he starts to