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Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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In the book, A Separate Peace, both Finny and Gene view the definition of friendship differently in their own special ways. Finny shows a lot of respect for his friend, Gene. Even though sometimes things always need to go his way, he shows deep care for Gene. Throughout the few chapters in the book, Finny shows that he truly loves Gene like a brother and is very caring towards his friendship with Gene. “If Finny hadn’t come up right behind me… if he hadn’t been there… I could’ve fallen on the bank and broken on my back! If I had fallen awkwardly enough I could have been killed. Finny had practically saved my life” (Knowles 32) Finny has a very deep understanding of friendship and is willing to go deeper. Friendship isn’t just about giving each …show more content…

He gets easily jealous by Finny’s each and every move. Insecurities have taken control of him and he has greater fears about himself. Friendship, for Gene, was a very natural thing and he had a perfect friendship with Finny until his thoughts on friendship had been destroyed by jealousy within himself. “I couldn’t say anything to this sincere, drugged apology for having suspected the truth. He was never going to accuse me. It was only a feeling he had, and at this moment he must have been formulating a new commandment in his personal Decalogue: Never accuse a friend of a crime if you only have a feeling he did it. And I thought we were competitors! It was so ludicrous I wanted to cry.” (Knowles 66) Gene had shaken the tree that Finny had been in, next to the Devon River. The Devon River symbolizes peace and somewhere they can go to feel relaxed. However, after the “incident” with Finny he had a different perspective of the river, which included a mixed feeling of guilt and fears. Gene had realized that he made a mistake and because of this mistake and shaken up feelings, his friendship went down the drain. Soon Gene also learns that friendship is all about trust and he broke that with his best friend, Finny. Even though their perspectives on friendship were completely different, they both realized that friendship is not all just about love but also needs a firm foundation of

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