Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

“Who so would be a man, must be a nonconformist.” In the novel A Separate Peace written by John Knowles brings us back in time to Devon School in New Hampshire. Gene Forrester is top student of his class at Devon school and cares about many things such as fitting in with his best friend Phineas. In the novel, Gene loses his best friend to his jealous actions and suddenly jealousy turns to hatred. The envy Gene has for his friend and roommate Finny shows up most of the time as possessiveness. Gene’s envy begins to turn into animosity, and there comes a time when Gene commences to hope Finny gets caught for his outrageous lies. “Later, he wants to become Phineas, as when he tries on his clothes and feels confident” (Alton). Forrester wanted to be just like Finny. He even got to the where he was letting Phineas talk him into doing anything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny soon affected him emotionally. “Phineas, too, feels their connection: after the accident, he informs Gene that he must become an athlete in Finny’s stead” (Alton). Gene’s movement from innocence to experience, as he progresses from his ignorance of humanity’s tendency towards thoughtless yet harmful actions to recognizing his own potential for such acts. Gene’s envy and …show more content…
At the end of the novel, when Finny died, Gene felt no remorse for what he had done. “I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston” (Knowles 194). Gene felt as if Finny was his enemy during the time at school. When he graduated Finny was dead and he felt like he killed his enemy. Gene revealed his guilt when he returned to Devon School to the marble stairs and the tree. “There was nothing else to notice; they of course were the same stairs I had walked up and down at least once every day of my Devon life. Forrester reminisce on the stairs where Finny fell. The stairs that