Analysis Of The Novel 'A Separate Peace' By John Knowles

War Within Yourself
The tragic novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, apprises a story of Gene, an individual who fights his inner battle between love and envy for his best friend, Finny. The film and the novel’s events are comparatively similar, but there are also many differences between the two sources. Many significant characters do not appear in the film that are present in the novel, and many symbolic plot events are relatively similar in the novel adaption.

To begin, many characters that are in the novel, are not present in the film. In the beginning of the novel the narrator, Gene Forrester appears as an adult looking back on an incident from a grown-up perspective. Fifteen years later, Gene returns to Devon School, and visits

A similar event that takes place in both sources is when, Gene is induced by Finny to jump from the unsafe positioned tree. When Finny convinces Gene to jump from the tree once more, Gene deliberately shakes the branch, causing Finny to fall, which shatters Finny’s leg. The doctor informs Gene that “sports are finished for him, after an accident like that” (63). Finny is a skilled athlete and because of his fall from the tree, his dreams of playing sports are destroyed. Finny is good at everything and is very clever on how to handle a situation. Due to Finny’s irresistible charm, Gene begins to envy him which eventually turns into a grudge. Similarly, in the film, Gene’s jealously for Finny leads him into intentionally making Finny fall from the tree. Throughout the film, Gene continues to assume that Finny does not want Gene to succeed. But, that is not true, Finny just believes that Gene will come along everywhere. One night, when Gene is studying for a French exam, Finny enters and wants Gene to come to the tree to watch Leper jump from it. Gene begins to argue, but eventually agrees to join Finny. Finny suggest that himself and Gene should jump together. The audience notices that Gene knowingly causes Finny to fall from the tree because of the growing jealously he feels for Finny. After Finny’s fall, Gene is overwhelmed with guilt and fear which is portrayed evidently in the novel and the film. Moreover, another similar event that takes place is when Finny passes away. In the novel, after Finny’s surgery, Gene finds out that Finny is dead. Dr. Stanpole, the physician, who performed surgery on Finny’s leg informs Gene how Finny died. Dr. Stanpole explains, “the marrow must have escaped into his blood stream”, as Gene tries to control his emotions, Dr. Stanpole continues, “and gone directly to his heart and stopped it” (WRITE PG NUMBER FROM THE BOOK). After this