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Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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In John Knowles', A Separate Peace, he shows us that friendship is a battle that expresses your true identity and is held together by rivalry. It requires commitment, love, and loyalty from both parties. Finny and Gene have major ups and down all throughout the novel but always find a way to make it through the rough patches and settles things calm, cool, and collectively in the end. The boys faced many problems such as Gene making Finny fall off the tree and also when Finny tried to make Gene not do well in his academics. This book teaches that friendship is a very strong bond. This strong and limitless bond ties together this entire story. A very important battle of Finny and Gene's friendship was when Gene felt that Finny was deliberately …show more content…

Gene becomes his most petty and vicious self. This is a battle for Finny and Gene because both of them battle with and come to learn their true identities. Gene realizes what he has done and feels terribly guilty. He is worried that Finny is going to realize that his fall was because of him. He is also worried that once Finny sees his face he will automatically accuse him. However surprisingly, Finny does not accuse him but explains that he lost his balance and reached back to grab on to Gene. Gene takes this as Finny wanting to drag him down with him. Gene turns this back against Finny because he is afraid of the truth. Once Gene admits to what he really did, Finny refuses to believe it. This is because he has a hard time accepting reality and he thinks that Gene is his best friend and he doesn't want to lose that. This is an expression of his loyalty to Gene. Surprisingly, even though Gene commits this awful act their friendship still stands …show more content…

When Finny sees Gene through the window of the hospital he makes the assumption that Gene is there to hurt him again. Finny is so angry when he sees Gene in his window. But the very next morning, Finny acts as if it had never happened and was ready to forgive him. Gene and Finny are once again tested against all odds. When Gene is notified of Finny's death he doesn't cry or show very much emotion. At Finny's funeral, Gene feels that in a way it is his funeral too because it is the end of an era. It is the end of the friendship between Finny and

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