Character Analysis: A Separate Peace By John Knowles

Enemies are not seen, but the inner conflicts arisen makes certain people seem like rivals. With high self-conflict, many people may strive to attain a better form, a better identity, the alter ego. This alter ego is a better version, where inner conflicts are nonexistent and innocence proves to rule the mind. In order to finally become an adult, innocence must be lost, as well as the alter ego, this allows a person to gain enough experience to achieve clear vision. The book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is about a young teenager, Gene, who is coming to age. Gene is jealous yet loves his best friend, Phineas, who seems utterly perfect. Phineas represents innocence and the friendship they share; Phineas pulls Gene into a vision of innocence,

and near the end of the novel he tragically dies. Gene, near the end of the novel, states that he killed his enemy at Devon, but he is ambiguous about who his enemy was. Gene’s ambiguity sparks debate on whether his enemy was his actual best friend, his egotism and harshness, or his alter ego and innocence. Gene “kills” off his own rival, and he since his innocence is removed, he sees more clearly, Gene kills his own alter ego at Devon; by killing his alter ego, he truly does find inner peace with himself, gains maturity, and comes to appreciate himself more.
Gene “kills” Phineas, and Phineas was a representation of an alter ego, or a better form of Gene, and innocence.

In the beginning, Gene says to himself, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little,” (Knowles 18). This is the very beginning of Gene thinking Finny as a threat, and slowly thinking of him as an alter ego. Gene slowly realizes that Phineas is everything he isn’t so this provokes him to start considering Phineas as an alter ego. Guilt ridden when Phineas falls from the tree, Gene tries to abandon his identity for his alter ego, “I spent as much time as I could alone in our room, trying to empty my mind of every thought, to forget where I was, even who I was. […] I decided to put on his clothes. […] This gave me such intense relief […]. I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again,” (Knowles, 53-54). Gene does this to dispel some guilt about Phineas by trying to become his alter ego. This also shows Gene slowly transitioning from his identity to his alter ego. He then shows how much he wanted to be his alter ego, Phineas, “…I lost part of myself to him [Phineas] then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas,” (Knowles, 77). This is when Gene loses himself in his alter ego; by doing this he blurs his identity.

When he loses himself to Phineas, his vision on the world is blurred by the fact that his alter ego is hindering him and not allowing him to grow up. After the death of Phineas, Gene comments during the funeral that, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case,” (Knowles, 186). When Phineas dies Gene feels part of himself, his alter ego and his innocence die as well. The death of his alter ego will finally allow Gene to reach maturity and get rid of his innocence. Not only did Finny represent Gene’s alter ego, Gene also shows better understanding and clearer vision afterwards.
After the death of Phineas, Gene becomes more perceptive, which he could never have been when he had his alter ego.

Some of his final words in the novel are, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone,” (Knowles, 196). This is his reflection on his life at Devon, and his realization that everyone will find an enemy and fight against it. If his innocence and alter ego were still lingering, he will not be able to come to clear vision about the world itself. His maturity and clear vision is shown through this statement because it represents a deeper understanding of inner conflict. He also comes to a realization about Phineas, “Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. … All of them, all expect Phineas [had enemies],” (Knowles, 196). He realizes that Phineas was different because he had no enemy. He realizes why Phineas had some sort of aura which made Phineas attractive as a friend and alter ego. This aura represented innocence and a world without war, just like how Phineas was able to convince Gene there was no war too. With his clear vision he finally realizes how different Phineas was and why he was not able to survive; only people who have lost innocence are able to survive. When Gene’s alter ego dies, he obtains clear

vision, and can finally gain a separate peace as well.
When Gene is able to get rid of his alter ego and innocence, he manages to gain his own separate peace and he finally reaches maturity not only that, he appreciates his own self-worth. The first time he is maturing is actually before Phineas’ death. In the hospital, he admits to hurting Phineas when he fell from the tree, he tries to apologize and says, “‘No, I don’t know how to show you, how can I show you, Finny? Tell me how to show you. It was some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside me, something blind, that’s all it was.’” (Knowles, 183). With this admission, he finally shows some maturity and he is finally becoming honest with himself which shows a slow appreciation for himself. Gene also shows maturity through this by confronting his alter ego and enemy. He also demonstrates maturity by depicting his thought process, and he also shows his new sense of adulthood. He also has a sense of maturity when he goes to visit Devon again, “There was a couple of places which I wanted to see. Both were fearful sites, and that was why I wanted to see them,” (Knowles, 2). By facing his fear, he shows maturity. He also shows maturity by re-confronting and forever dispelling his alter ego and innocence. The last place he visits at Devon is the trees by the river and he states, “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence. Changed, I head back through the mud. I was drenched; anybody could see it was time to come in out of the rain, “(Knowles, 6). Visiting the place where his alter ego gets hurt, Gene earns a sense of peace and proves his maturity. He finds his separate peace by revisiting the places where his life drastically changes. By admitting he was wrong, and revisiting the places he feared, Gene proves to have matured and earned a separate peace.
When the physical form of Gene’s alter ego was killed, and after that he gains clear vision, this shows Gene’s alter ego was killed at Devon. Afterwards, Gene finds his maturity and peace. Gene never realized how much his self-conflict hurt him. Only until after he was rid of this is when he gained a separate peace. Enemies don’t just have to be egos, they can range from intelligence to anger, and all these issues can lead to inner conflict. Inner conflict can cause self-denial, hatred, emotional turbulence and even self-harm. Resolving self-conflict can help self-confidence, appreciation of others, health, and helps contributions to the world. People are not perfect and without realizing this, self-conflict is very likely to happen. What a person must realize though in order to attain peace is that self-conflict must be destroyed and prevented.