Journal Number 3 - A Seperate Peace

            The final chapters of the novel were marked with numerous instances of the boys’ quest for the truth, and the avoidance of it as well.

            At this point in the novel, things have progressed quite well. Finny and Gene were continuing their friendship and Gene was making progress with his physical training. They organized a Winter Carnival and it was going swimmingly until they received a telegram from a friend who had left Devon to enlist. His name was Leper and the telegram brought news that he had “escaped”. Gene soon set out to find out, travelling to Leper’s home to learn the story. When he arrived he saw that Leper was not well and that he had left the Army to avoid dishonorable discharge for mental health issues, a death sentence for any future jobs. Leper was always a nervous kid, Gene noted, but he was past the point of no return when Gene saw him. Gene upset him and left in a hurry.

            Upon his return to Devon, Gene met up with Finny and the boys. The whole time that Leper was gone before hearing the news of his desertion the boys spent a majority of their free time examining the news and inserting Leper’s name, putting an identity to their faceless war. Not until they heard of his escape did they believe that there was actually a nasty conflict. Only one refused to accept the war.

            Finny, crippled from his broken leg, refused to acknowledge the war, or any war for that matter. In a school where all the rest of the boys were looking for the truth, Finny stood out. Any time Gene would begin to talk of the war or share a picture of Eisenhower and Churchill Finny would respond with statements of the farce that was Finny’s World War II. To the Churchill and Eisenhower picture, Finny said that they were meeting to plan the next fake war and how to best provide fake information for the presses. His denial of an outright truth (to Finny anything that was read in a book, taught by a professor or written in the newspaper was false; only word of mouth was fact, as long as it didn’t involve the war) was revealed with the bringing out of another truth.

            Even before Finny returned to Devon, Gene faced the same question numerous times.  He was often asked in the Butt Room (the depressing basement room where the boys went to smoke) what happened on that day at the tree. He often quickly turned the story into a joke, adding false details about affairs with Finny’s sister and national espionage; but the boys were not convinced. Only a few weeks after Gene’s meeting with Leper, the boys took Gene and Finny from their rooms to an information gathering session. In this session, Gene and Finny were held on trial. Finny’s memory was prodded to the details of the scene: “Was Gene in the tree? Did he push him?” Both boys’ memories were similar to the scene, but neither were sure (well Gene hid the truth) if Gene was actually in the tree. Lucky for Gene, the only person who would remember such a detail was Leper, but his luck ran out when it was revealed that he was visiting Devon that night. Once Leper spoke on trial, the truth came out: Gene had shook the branch. This shocking truth shook Finny to the core, and he hobbled out of the building… until he broke his leg again.

            The truth that had been hidden from him for so long, Finny’s relationship with Gene was drawn into question. Gene was worried about this fact, but he decided to visit Finny at night in the Infirmary. More truths were revealed when Finny told him that he had a suspicion that Gene had caused his accident. He went on to explain the reason that he denied the war’s existence, he wished more than anything to be a part of it. He went into detail of the pain of getting denied service by every military, even Canada’s. His denial of the harsh truth of being crippled was almost as blind as Gene’s.

            During the surgery to fix Finny’s second break, he died. His heart stopped, and one could argue that it was broken by a wicked combination of his friend’s act of violence towards him and his denial to join the war. Gene, though, continued to deny his involvement in the injury he caused to his best friend. Worse yet, when he acknowledged the fact that he had, in fact, caused the death of Finny (albeit indirectly because he would have died in combat as a result of “acting Finny” anyway) he turned his denial towards their friendship. The entire novel followed Gene in his jealousy of his best friend, which he in turn acted upon, but in the end he revealed that he had not killed his best friend but his enemy. A startling view of a boy’s avoidance of the truth, but it is also startling to know that this view isn’t that far off…

            The truth was an important part of these last chapters--- whether it was the quest for it by the other boys, the denial of it due to its staggering reality, or the outright denial of it because of petty jealousy. The truth prevailed over friendship and growing up, stark contrast to a typical novel written about teenage boys.

Journal Number 2- Seperate Peace

Finny’s falling from the tree marked a turning point in the psyche of Gene. At this point in the story Gene realized that Finny was not jealous of him and his academic excellence. This realization, found when they were on their way to a Society meeting and Gene wanted to continue to study his French, filled Gene with anger and frustration. While he acted upon it by stepping on the branch to make it bounce while his friend was precariously perched above the shore, Finny is not the one that Gene should be mad at. In fact, as the story develops through the ninth chapter, it turns out that he will begin to turn into a Finny because the old Finny is no longer.

            Gene was always jealous of Finny, a typical teenage boy emotion. He wished to be as skilled in academics as Finny was in athletics. Gene wasn’t able to understand why Finny was so easy to forgive him for the incident, even when he nearly admitted to causing it out of anger. Gene doesn’t understand why Finny was not willing to share the fact that he was such an incredible athlete that he was able to break a record without training. Jealousy is a typical teenage emotion, and Knowles does an incredible job of portraying it through Gene’s relationship with Finny.

            Finny experienced a palpable change with the injury, although he did retain some traits that make him noticeably Finny. Obviously he was no longer able to do sports, but despite this he wasn’t angry with Gene. Even in the hospital and laid up at his own home, Finny always gave Gene his unique form of friendship. When he returned to Devon (an interesting day for Gene) instead of feeling sorry for himself and moping about not being able to do sports his only complaint was that there were no longer maids. Hobbling around the campus on crutches and slipping on the snow and ice and still his only complaint was the maids. He doubled his efforts in school with the guilt-driven help of Gene and he adjusted his goal of making the Olympics to instead help Gene get there. This was one of the main points that Gene notices his transformation into Finny.

            A surprise phone call from Finny on the first day of school began his change. When Gene revealed that he was planning on overseeing a sport instead of participating Finny spoke up and told him that because he was unable to means that Gene must. What Finny was not aware of was that Gene was incredibly guilty and short on the phone call because he knew that if it were not for his anger and jealousy, Finny could be participating in all the sports at Devon. Gene’s reaction when Finny told him to play sports: “I lost myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: become a part of Phineas.” When Finny returned to the school this purpose was only intensified. Not only did Gene tutor him and help him get around the school, but Finny made it his new goal to get Gene to the Olympics, working him out every second that he could. Finny still does not know that if it were not for Gene he may have been able to reach the goal for himself, but Gene’s guilt has put his goals in the hands of Finny. The life that he ended for someone else was quickly becoming his own.

Journal Number 1- Seperate Peace

Five chapters into John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, and it appears to have an interesting perspective into the psyche of adolescent boys. The main character and speaker, Gene, has struggled with juggling school at Devon- a boarding school preparing the boys for military service during World War II- his friendship with Finny and his jealous, love-hate relationship with Finny.

            Finny is Gene’s best friend and arguably the school’s most gifted athlete. He created a club with Gene which he called the “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session” because of the initiation process of jumping from the smallest limbs of a tree overhanging a river. Gene is reserved while Finny is much more daring, goading Gene into jumping with him. The best friends are the only boys in the junior class that have dared to jump in, making them the leaders of the Society. It is important to note that the first jump of the Society (they jump in to mark the beginning of each daily meeting) was almost a disaster. While up on the limbs, Gene stumbled and almost fell. Finny caught him and they jumped in. While the reader would argue that Gene should be indebted to Finny, Gene believes that the life saving act is balanced out by the fact that Finny forced him to go up there. He would have been saved if Finny were there or not. This is the first example of the intrigue of the teenage boys mind.

            Finny is an interesting contrast to Gene at this point in the story. Gene is in the top two of his class academically. He works everyday to ensure that he stays there, and he really wants to be valedictorian. At first he disagrees when Finny points this out, but he realizes that he does, in fact, feel this way. Although he never admits it, he wants to match Finny’s athleticism and lack of fear. Every time the Society meets Gene is scared to jump, but Finny doesn’t know. Finny suggests they take a day to go to the beach. Gene has a trigonometry test the next day, but he doesn’t say no and Finny never asks. While Gene is too afraid to deny Finny, Finny likewise never takes Gene’s thoughts into account. Gene wants to be valedictorian because of the speech and recognition he will receive. In direct contrast to that, Finny and Gene are in the pool and Finny breaks a longstanding record. To Gene’s surprise, instead of sharing the feat with the student body, Finny insists on keeping it a secret. Finny was content with knowing that he had broken it, rather than everyone knowing that he broke it.

            Gene was extremely jealous of Finny, and all he hoped was that Finny was jealous in the same way. Finny was such an incredible athlete, creating a game that he would excel at, his courage on the tree, breaking the swimming record, ability to escape trouble with ease. Gene only hoped that Finny was equally jealous of his academic prowess. Finny began to try as a result of the trig failure he had caused for Gene. In turn, Gene believed that this was a sign that he was jealous too, because Finny admitted to not being able to get anything better than a B. When the Society meetings continued to happen during the time of finals, Gene believed that this too was a sign of jealousy. If Finny could not raise his grades, he could just as easily damage Gene’s. This, as the reader soon learns, is not the case. This jealousy leads to a potential turning point in the story, when Finny falls from the tree.