A Separate Peace Coming Of Age Analysis
A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a coming of age novel surrounding the experiences of a young boy from the South and his roommate while at boarding school. Gene Forrester is new to the boarding school culture, so when he arrives in his dorm room on the first day of summer term, he is shocked and in awe by his roommate, Phineas. Gene’s lack of self confidence is only made more obvious beside Finny, but this does not stop them from growing to be best friends. However, at boarding school the environment is extremely competitive, just like here at Hotchkiss, and it is hard to escape the competition between peers, and even your best friends. Adolescence is about finding yourself and creating an identity, but in a hyper competitive environment like Hotchkiss or Devon, this is a near impossible task. Competition, jealousy, and rivalry drive wedges between all relationships and push teenagers to become who they think they should be rather than who they actually are.
Every person, or at least every kid at boarding school, knows the …show more content…
It takes Phineas’s second accident for Gene to realize that he truly does love Finny and that nothing but Finny matters to him at this point. However, this realization comes too late. Gene’s jealousy which causes his friend to break his leg twice eventually leads to Finny’s death. In surgery, the marrow from Finny’s bone went through his bloodstream and caused his heart to stop. At this point, Gene realizes that his only enemy was himself and he finds that life has very little meaning without him. Gene “did not cry then or ever about Finny,” he didn’t cry even when he “stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston” because he “could not escape a feeling that this was [his] own funeral, and you do not cry in that case”
Every person, or at least every kid at boarding school, knows the …show more content…
It takes Phineas’s second accident for Gene to realize that he truly does love Finny and that nothing but Finny matters to him at this point. However, this realization comes too late. Gene’s jealousy which causes his friend to break his leg twice eventually leads to Finny’s death. In surgery, the marrow from Finny’s bone went through his bloodstream and caused his heart to stop. At this point, Gene realizes that his only enemy was himself and he finds that life has very little meaning without him. Gene “did not cry then or ever about Finny,” he didn’t cry even when he “stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston” because he “could not escape a feeling that this was [his] own funeral, and you do not cry in that case”