A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

People frequently betray others because of the evil in their hearts. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the pureness of the rakish Finny to portray the savage or bad side of the vulpine Gene. He also uses it to prove that peace is exceedingly difficult to acquire until a person accepts the ignorance in their own heart. That means that acceptance is the key to finding peace. Thus, Gene finds his peace when Finny forgives him and when Gene learns to forgive himself as well.

Gene assumes that Finny and he despise each other, until he becomes aware of how flawless Finny really is, which Gene loathes. Initially, Gene concludes that Finny wants to surpass him. He thinks that the both of them are enemies yet Gene truckles under Finny. Everybody at school adores Finny. The teachers love him, the students look up to him, and the athletes want to be like him. The gung-ho Finny has no enemies. Gene, however, sees through the cover of Finny and thinks they hate each other. The time when Finny takes Gene to the beach, he tells him that they are best friends. Gene does not return to the earnest gesture because he thinks Finny wants to ruin him. Gene grasps the idea they are “even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all” (Knowles 54). However, Gene has no proof that Finny returns the feelings of hatred. Gene feels he must exceed Finny, so he wobbles the limb. The animosity within Gene takes over, only now he becomes aware that the hatred does not return. Finny is flawless. He loves Gene like he loves everybody else. Gene creates a creature, envious and bitter, like himself. Finny turns into a defenseless child per say and becomes the fix of aggression. Nevertheless, Finny takes in the h...

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...h his life after remaining in dismay for many years. Upon his return, he perceives various inequalities. Upon his analysis of the academy, Gene is “changed, I headed back through the mud. Anybody could see that it was time to come in out of the rain” (Knowles 14). He assumes that if he closes the curtain on his past, it would diminish. Instead the memories rush out on him when he reopens the door and causes him to deal with his feelings all at once. The encounters of Gene during the novel, moreover with the parting of Finny aid to his maturity and development as a person. Gene apprehends that the only foe he has is himself. He becomes impeccable after he stops prevaricating and confronts and overcomes himself. . By letting out the evil and deducing his true being, Gene obtains his “separate peace.” As an outcome, Gene evolves into a doleful, but keen, man.