A Separate Peace, By John Knowles
Friendship can change people’s lives for better and for worse. In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the main characters, Gene and Phineas, have a complicated relationship which changes both of their lives. Gene is better off having been friends with Finny because Finny’s death causes him to accept responsibility and reality.
Preceding Finny’s death, Gene does not admit responsibility for Phineas’ fall. Gene decides to tell Finny that the fall was his fault, because he thinks that is what Phineas would do in this situation. Once Gene tells him, Finny gets extremely mad, and Gene thinks that he needs to pretend that he was making it up. “Now I had to get out of there. There was only one way to do it; I would have to make every move false. ‘I’ve
Preceding Finny’s death, Gene does not admit responsibility for Phineas’ fall. Gene decides to tell Finny that the fall was his fault, because he thinks that is what Phineas would do in this situation. Once Gene tells him, Finny gets extremely mad, and Gene thinks that he needs to pretend that he was making it up. “Now I had to get out of there. There was only one way to do it; I would have to make every move false. ‘I’ve