Internal Conflict In A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace, Unit Test Hamza Eldohiri

The story “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, was written at the time and takes place during World War II when battles and conflicts amongst nations were evident. Each nation involved struggled and fought their hardest in order to satisfy the good of their nation. Not only is the setting in the story taking place during this time of quarrel, the story also demonstrates areas of self-conflict and an internal battle throughout. The characters in “A Separate Peace”, are described as experiencing this self-conflicting, internal battle. Gene (also the narrator) is specifically depicted as he goes through his battle in life. Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

At this point, Gene still contains his innocence, defined by the fact that he is accustomed to obeying and following regulations/rules. However, as he becomes more accustomed to Finny’s ideology and aspect of life, his innocence begins to struggle. Finny, being the popular person he stands, comes up with, and rules on the game of blitzball. These rules, are clearly made to target Gene. “There aren’t any teams in blitzball,” he yelled somewhat irritably, “we’re all enemies. Knock him down!”. This continuous targeting of Gene, mainly by Finny, makes it sensible that Gene would become reliant/revengeful. Therefore, if Gene were to dangerously act upon his emotions, he would kill his own