“In war films of the buddy type the deadliness of war is not glossed over. But it is portrayed not in the death of the enemy who are often faceless or even unseen, but in the death of the comrades and buddies” (Tribunella). Mark Simpson says that often times in war films, seeing one’s comrade in the state of death is hard for a person live through, and therefore loses his boyish innocence. In the same way Gene is overcome by sadness when he gazes upon the dead body that once housed the life of his good friend Phineas. John Knowles reveals the loss of innocence in A Separate Peace by contrasting childish fun with the war. Phineas is a young, free spirit. If he knows anything of war he does not acknowledge that, but instead fills his mind with
