of many truths that the two young men confront in the novel.

Finny refused to accept the war as being an actual event that really was occurring for most of his time in The Separate Peace. In his opinion, the war was being presented by the "fat old men" who ran the country and needed a way to control business and the youth of the nation.

The fat old men who don't want us crowding them out of their jobs. They've made it all up. There isn't any real food shortage, for instance. The men have all the best steaks delivered to their clubs now.

The shock that forces Finny to accept the reality of the war comes when Gene reports on Leper's mental breakdown. The transformation of Leper from a quiet, peaceful person in touch with the world to a frightened, crying rebel willing to go Absent Without Leave rather than continue in his assignment is so radical as to convince Finny that there must have been real, awful circumstances impacting Leper.

"Sure. There isn't any war." It was one of the few ironic remarks Phineas ever made, and with it he quietly brought to a close all his special invention which had carried us through the winter. Now the facts were re-established

The envy Gene has for his friend and roommate Finny shows up most of the time as jealousy in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. It is true that Finny is just one of those guys that everyone knows and is attracted to because he is innately good, despite his constant rule-breaking. He is someone who is good at everything, including getting out of trouble. It is not surprising, then, that Gene sometimes envies Finny; nor is it surprising that often that envy becomes jealousy and turns eventually into resentment.

Finny nearly always manages to escape punishment for breaking the rules, and Gene (who is innately a rule-follower) envies that. 

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.

Eventually, though, Gene's envy begins to grow into an animosity, and there comes a time when Gene begins to hope that Finny gets caught (and presumably punished) for his often outrageous lies. 

This time he wasn't going to get away with it. I could feel myself becoming unexpectedly excited at that.

When Finny breaks a school swimming record without any training and then does not want anyone to know, Gene finds it hard to believe that Finny's motives are pure, probably because he knows his own heart is not as pure. 

Was he trying to impress me or something? Not tell anybody? When he had broken a school record without a day of practice? I knew he was serious about it, so I didn't tell anybody. Perhaps for that reason his accomplishment took root in my mind and grew rapidly in the darkness where I was forced to hide it. 

These things all begin to fester and grow in Gene's mind, and soon he has moved from envy to jealousy and finally to resentment. When Finny keeps insisting that Gene be part of the Suicide Society, Gene assumes Finny is trying to keep Gene from studying so Gene will get grades as low as Finny's. It is not true, but Gene believes it. Finny just assumes that Gene will go with him to the tree, and Gene says,

But examinations were at hand. I wasn't as ready for them as I wanted to be. The Suicide Society continued to meet every evening, and I continued to attend, because I didn't want Finny to understand me as I understood him.

Ultimately, of course, this internal resentment turns to bitterness for just one moment, and Gene jounces the tree limb, sending Finny to the ground. 

What is apparent in this relationship is that Gene ascribes all of his own suspicions, enviousness, jealousy, and resentment to Finny, assuming Finny thinks and feels as Gene does. In fact, however, the two boys are nothing alike and Gene misreads everything about Finny. 

Whether or not Finny actually believes what he says is up for individual reader debate; however, what Finny says out loud is that there isn't any war. He says that it is being faked.

He stood up, his weight on the good leg, the other resting lightly on the floor in front of him. “Don’t be a sap,” he gazed with cool self-possession at me, “there isn’t any war.”

This is a bit of a shock to Gene, and Gene even thinks it might be the result of the drugs that Finny has been taking for his leg.

“I know why you’re talking like this,” I said, struggling to keep up with him. “Now I understand. You’re still under the influence of some medicinal drug.”

Finny counters by saying that he's not under the influence of anything—everybody else is under the influence of the war story. To Finny, things like the Great Depression and the current world war are nothing more than conspiracies that have been cooked up by the rich and ruling class.

"But they couldn’t use that trick forever, so for us in the forties they’ve cooked up this war fake.”

“Who are ‘they,’ anyway?”

“The fat old men who don’t want us crowding them out of their jobs."

Finny's new attitude is shocking to Gene and readers; however, it makes a lot of sense, considering his injury. Finny's athletic prowess is far and away better than everybody else's ability. A major component of being a soldier is a person's physical abilities. Finny probably believed that he would dominate the battlefield in the same way that he dominated the athletic field. Now that his injury prevents him from being a top-tier soldier, however, he struggles with coming to grips with not being the best anymore. He likely had visions of heroic grandeur. Now he can't achieve those, and it is easier for Finny to convince himself that there is no war than to convince himself that he's okay with not being able to contribute. If there's no war, he can't fail at soldiering, after all.

Gene is the narrator in A Separate Peace, and from the beginning of the novel, he is both in awe of Finny (Phineas) and jealous of him. The two boys are similar in height and build, though Gene focuses on how Finny is better:

For such an extraordinary athlete—even as a Lower Middler Phineas had been the best athlete in the school—he was not spectacularly built. He was my height—five feet eight and a half inches (I had been claiming five feet nine inches before he became my roommate, but he had said in public with that simple, shocking self-acceptance of his, “No, you’re the same height I am, five-eight and a half. We’re on the short side”). He weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did, which flowed from his legs to torso around shoulder to arms and full strong neck in an uninterrupted, unemphatic unity of strength.

Their personalities are opposites. Gene is quiet and bookish, while Finny is outgoing and always surrounded by people. When Finny wears a pink shirt with confidence, even though no one else could have pulled it off, Gene says,

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.

Yet of course, there was harm, because this was no minor envy—this was a jealousy which would cause Gene to harm Finny by shaking the tree branch he was standing on above water, causing him to break his leg and ending his ability to play sports. While Finny is recovering, Gene stands in front of the mirror wearing Finny’s clothes (including the pink shirt), feeling like a nobleman:

But when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat I had become, no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas, Phineas to the life. I even had his humorous expression in my face, his sharp, optimistic awareness. I had no idea why this gave me such intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through the confusions of my own character again.

Gene must come to terms with who he is and what motivated him to ruin Finny’s life. He confesses to Finny, who is disbelieving, then hurt, and finally, forgiving. Unfortunately, Finny dies during surgery to correct his leg after a second break. Gene enlists in the Navy, and it is there that he is able to fully incorporate the things he admired in Finny into his own life and become a person he can be proud of.

Finny helps Gene understand that he is capable of envy, fear, bitterness, and even betrayal and harmful acts against another person.  After the tree incident, Gene realizes how petty and small-minded he had actually been when it came to Finny.  It shed light on the fact that he was incredibly insecure, and selfish.  It was a hard realization for him, as it would be for anyone.  Realizing our faults is a difficult process, and we often are in denial and justify our bad behavior.  Gene had been justifying his feelings for a long time, until the fall opened his eyes to the fact that it was him that was the problem, not Finny.

As the story progresses, Finny teaches Gene about friendship, forgiveness, unconditional acceptance, and trust.  Finny's trust of Gene gives Gene confidence and reassurance.  By the end of the story, Gene has to forgive himself for his weaknesses, and accept the damage that they have done to a good friend.  Finny is the person that teaches Gene a lot about himself throughout the story.  I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

Gene's flashback begins in the summer of 1942, about six months after the United States entered World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The boys in the summer session at Devon are very aware of the war that waits for them after graduation. Finny is among them. However, after Finny breaks his leg in falling from the tree and as the school year wears on, he assumes a different attitude toward the war, declaring that there is no war at all. According to Finny, the war is a fake, a plot by the "fat old men" of the world to secure for themselves the best of everything that is being rationed for everyone else. Thus begins Finny's denial of the reality of World War II.

In keeping this illusion alive, he draws Gene into it. Finny tells Gene that since Finny can't participate in the Olympics of 1944, he will train Gene to take his place. The training begins during the winter. There will be no 1944 Olympics, of course, because of the war, but both boys work hard to keep Finny's illusion alive and reality at bay.

At the conclusion of the story, it is revealed that all the while he had been denying the reality of the war, Finny had been writing to every branch of armed services in the allied world, trying to find one that would accept him despite his injured leg. No military service would accept him, however. Finny couldn't stand that all his friends and school companions would go off to war, leaving him behind. He told Gene, "I will hate it everywhere" if he were left out, unable to participate.

Finny gives up his pretense that the war does not exist when Leper returns to Devon after deserting the Army. The psychological damage done to Leper in boot camp makes it impossible for him to continue the illusion. Gene relents, also, but he tells Finny he liked the world they had lived in better than the real one.

Before his leg breaks in chapter 4, Phineas talks as if he knows everything there is to know about the war. He does this because he is excited to enlist. After recovering from a broken leg at home for awhile, Phineas returns to Devon speaking as if the war doesn't exist. For example, Phineas tells Mr. Ludsbury in chapter 8 that he is training Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Finny's goal is crazy because, at this point in the story, World War II rages on without an end in sight. Mr. Ludsbury tells the boys that all exercises are aimed at training boys for war. Finny replies with a solid "No" because he supposedly believes there is no war and that the 1944 Olympics are a reality. Gene is dumbfounded, but permits himself to be drawn into Finny's charade by saying the following:

This was my first but not my last lapse into Finny's vision of peace. For hours, and sometimes for days, I fell without realizing it into the private explanation of the world. Not that I ever believed that the whole production of World War II was a trick of the eye manipulated by a bunch of calculating fat old men. . . What deceived me was my own happiness; for peace is indivisible, and the surrounding world confusion found no reflection inside me. So I ceased to have any real sense of it (123).

This passage points out that Gene feels peace and happiness by accepting Finny's world without a war. By accepting Finny's reality, Gene can forget about his impending enlistment at the end of his senior year for a while and be happy. Once Finny's leg breaks a second time, however, he finally admits to Gene why he pretended the war wasn't on:

I'll hate it everywhere if I'm not in this war! Why do you think I kept saying there wasn't any war all winter? I was going to keep on saying it until two seconds after I got a letter from Ottawa or Chungking or some place saying, 'Yes, you can enlist with us' (190).

For two high school seniors who face a war at the end of graduation, life seems stressful and unpredictable. Therefore, by deceiving themselves about reality, Phineas and Gene find a separate peace away from the war. As a result, they are able to be boys for a little while before having to face the truth.

One could argue that Gene and Finny are not really best friends based on Gene's feelings of jealousy and anger toward Finny. During the summer session at Devon, the two boys certainly spend a lot of time together, and Gene admires Finny for his athletic ability, optimistic perspective, and charisma. However, Gene begins to envy Finny and cannot reciprocate his feelings when Finny says that Gene is his "best pal" towards the end of chapter 3. After Gene ends up failing his trigonometry test because he spent the previous day at the beach with Finny, he misinterprets Finny's intentions and vows to keep his guard up. Gene's low self-esteem and competitive nature prevent him from genuinely embracing Finny as his best friend. Gene even makes Finny fall from a tree by purposely shaking the branch, which leaves Finny incapacitated. While Gene does admire Finny, his selfish nature and lack of confidence prevent him from being best friends with Finny. While Finny views Gene as his "best pal," Gene views Finny as a superior athlete and his competition. Only after Finny suffers his serious injury does Gene begin to appreciate and view Finny as his best friend.

Finny's influence over Gene certainly plays a role in Gene not doing well on his test; however, it is mostly Gene's fault.  Finny did not force Gene to go on the trip to the beach--if Gene had just stood up for himself, he could have said no, and stayed home to study.  Gene as a bit of a weak character when it comes to saying no to Finny, and he needs to take responsibility for that, and not blame the amiable Finny.

Because of the beach trip, Gene does not have time to study, and does indeed fail a test.  Gene is super upset about this, and takes all of his bitterness out on Finny, concluding that Finny is distracting Gene on purpose in order to make him fail.  Why would Finny do this?  Because Finny is jealous of Gene's good grades (not a strong point for Finny), and wants to "level the playing field."  Finny is just as envious and bitter about Gene as Gene is about Finny.  At least, these are the conclusions that Gene draws.  Gene concludes bitterly that "Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies," and from then on, makes a more concerted effort to do well.

Whether or not Finny did that on purpose or not is up in questions still--Gene thinks it was, but as the reader it is hard to believe it.  Finny just seems like a nice kid who likes having Gene around; after all, in chapter three, he confessed that Gene is his best friend.  Eventually, Gene changes his opinion, but it is too late, after damage has been done.  I hope that helped; good luck!

The first really significant event is Finny's breaking the school swimming record and demanding to keep it a secret between Gene and himself. Then Gene, in an act of blind malice born of his own sense of inferiority to Finny, deliberately jounced the tree limb causing Finny to fall and break his leg. After this incident, other significant events follow in succession.

Gene goes to Boston to confess, but Finny won't let him, leaving Gene to deal with his guilt. Gene attacks Quackenbush, a result of his own guilt. Gene plans to enlist, but gives it up when Finny returns to school. Brinker confronts Gene in the Butt Room, hinting at the truth of Gene's betrayal of Finny. Leper returns to Devon after going AWOL from the Army. Gene visits Leper in Vermont and faces the reality of what the war has done to Leper. Gene and Finny both submit to the Trial that Brinker organizes in the Assembly Building, during which the truth emerges. Finny runs from the Trial, falls down the marble stairs, and breaks his leg again. Gene visits Finny in the infirmary, and they openly discuss for the first time what happened in the tree. Finny dies. Gene attends his burial but finds he cannot cry. Gene experiences the argument between Brinker and his father which gives him insight into the true cause of war. Gene leaves Devon after graduation. Gene returns to Devon fifteen years later, seeking understanding of the events that had occurred there and some final peace.

Gene wants to fit in at Devon School.  He is the typical outcast in a story of teenage angst.  He is from the South and does not have the aristocratic backing that the other boys have. In essence, he wants to be just like Finny who is popular, exuberant, and charming.

Gene's internal conflict with not being at peace with himself and who he truly is manifests itself in his relationship with Finny.  Thus, his dual attitude toward his "friend."  After Finny practically forces Gene to jump from the tree the first time, Gene thinks,

"What was I doing here anyway?  Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold on me?" (17)

At the same time Gene admires Finny's laid-back approach to academics and the ease with which he athletically accomplishes whatever he sets his mind to do, he hates himself, and therefore, Finny because he does not possess Finny's skills or personality traits.

In chapter four, after Gene flunks that first test of his life, he really buckles down and studies hard.  As a result, he does quite well.  He focuses, studies, learns, and even does better than Chet Douglass, who loves learning so much that he gets distracted by it.  Gene says of his efforts that

"I was more and more certainly becoming the best student in the school...I redoubled myself."

So, Gene actually does quite well after the bad test, and feels good about it.

You could say, possibly, that it was Gene's false delusion that Finny was trying to undermine him that drove him to such great academic heights.  Gene thought that he was in competition with Finny, so, worked harder.  He wasn't going to let Finny win.  However, there isn't much textual evidence of that conclusion; instead, there is more focus on how Gene thought that Chet was his main competitor.  More likely, Gene's suspicions of Finny released him from feeling obligated to tag along all of the time; it broke some of Finny's power over him, and that did indeed allow him to study harder. I hope that those thoughts helped; good luck!

I'm not sure where you are in the book, so I don't want to give anything away.  Finny's injury ends up being very closely tied to his feelings on the war, and we discover this later on in the novel.  But without knowing any specific details, it helps to think of Finny's personality.  He is a fun-loving guy who likes to be a leader, the center of all of the action, devising all of the schemes, and forging the way for everyone else.  With the war, Finny probably feels the same way; he wants to lead the charge, to be in the middle of it, to be the one who joins up and fights the battles.  It is just in his nature to want to be part of the action, any action.  So, to be injured, it's got to be a bummer for him.  He probably knows that it decreases his chances of getting into the war; because his leg isn't whole and strong, they might not accept him.  This would be hard for him to take-he is accepted to everything.  He can talk his way into anything, or out of anything.  But he knows that he probably can't talk his way into the war, because of his injury.  For once, things might be out of his control, and there is nothing he can do about it.  Because of this, Finny, instead of being positive about the war and all excited for it, will probably feel bitter towards it.  He might even be fearful and apprehensive.  If there is a war on, that he might not be able to join, well, then it's a dumb war anyway.  To cope, he might have to have a cavalier attitude, and pretend to not care when he really actually does.

I hope that those thoughts help; keep reading, and you will see exactly how Finny does deal with the war.  It is an interesting reaction, but it fits with his character, and my thoughts above.

The backdrop for A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is World War II, but it is also a hovering presence in the lives of every character. The teachers at Devon school this year are only old men because the younger men are off to war; all older boys are training for war as well as studying their lessons; the younger boys are trying to act normal in a world which is anything but normal. The relationship between Finny and Gene is a kind of microcosm of the war that is raging in the world outside of Devon school. Even more, once Finny is hurt, a new war rages inside Gene.

There is no exact parallel between the boys and specific countries or people (as is true in works like George Orwell's Animal Farm); however, their relationship is similar to a war. Finny is the boy who goes through life relatively unscathed by everything that happens around him; he is naturally athletic and charismatic, and he loves his life and his friends. His motivations are fairly transparent: he wants to have fun and he wants his friends to have fun with him.

Gene is Finny's roommate; however, unlike Finny, he has to work to achieve his successes (which he does). So much of the time Finny's desire to have fun and include Gene is in direct conflict with Gene's desire or need to study or fulfill his obligations. Gene is resentful about many things: that Finny never gets in trouble despite his consistent rule-breaking, that Finny just assumes Gene wants to do all the things he likes to do, and that Finny is so careless about so many things he thinks are important, like his studies. 

This resentment festers and Gene convinces himself that Finny is deliberately trying to sabotage Gene in his endeavors; finally Gene's resentment and distrust erupts in a kind of sneak attack--the first shot in a one-sided war. Both boys are on a tree limb (at Finny's insistence, of course) and Finny wants them to jump together; Gene does not want to do this but has been pressured into this situation. So he takes action:

Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud. It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear of this forgotten.

Finny has to go home to recover, but the war continues. This war is fought only by Gene as he tries to reconcile what he once believed about Finny and what he now suspects is the truth: Finny never felt anything but loyalty, friendship, and love for Gene, and everything Gene felt was a fabrication created by his own doubts, fears, and unreasonableness. 

Finny will never be the same; Gene will do what he can to make it right, but it is a lost cause. Though Finny ultimately forgives him (they come to a rather uneasy truce), Gene does not forgive himself until fifteen years have passed and he returns to Devon school. He knows now that he fought his friend out of fear. He did enlist in the actual war but says,

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.

Gene plays along with Finny's assertion that the war is not real because it helps him escape reality, just as it helps Finny escape his own reality. Throughout the novel, the war moves ever closer to Devon, and each of the novel's main characters deals with it in his own way. After Finny is injured, he denies the reality of the war, even while trying to find some branch of the military that will take him. Finny hates the idea that he will be left out and left behind.

Gene goes along with Finny, just as he always has. Gene has always deferred to Finny, first out of insecurity and later out of guilt. Gene is responsible for Finny's injury and lives with that guilt every day. By losing himself in Finny's illusions, Gene can avoid, at least temporarily, dealing with himself as well as the dangerous future each of the boys faces. Gene trains faithfully for the Winter Olympics of '44, keeping Finny's illusion alive.

It is Leper's emotional breakdown, however, that even Finny can't ignore. Finny gives up his efforts to push the war away:

When I heard that about Leper, then I knew that the war was real, this war and all the wars. If a war can drive somebody crazy, then it's real all right. Oh, I guess I always knew, but I didn't have to admit it.

It is only after Finny admits the reality of the war that Gene reluctantly gives up their mutual illusion:

I wish you hadn't found out. What did you have to find out for!

For a while, Gene had been able to escape from his own fear and guilt by living in the world that Finny had created for them, but illusion can be sustained for only so long. Gene regrets its loss.

Finny refuses to accept that there is a war because his injury prevents him from being able to participate. Of all characters, Finny would have been appropriately suited for war because of his athletic ability, however having his leg broken has created a long-term injury that will forever keep him from war. Externally, Finny doesn't let the other boys know that he has this feeling. Internally (readers later find out), Finny has been writing to different countries hoping for a way to be involved in the war.

Finny's denial demonstrates a truth of human nature. Those things we care about the most can consume us to the point that we will lie to ourselves or others.

As Gene and Brinker returned from working in the railyard, Brinker, completely disgusted with the oblivious attitude of Leper and the humor of shoveling snow while the war was raging, announced his intentions to enlist the next day. Gene, after serious consideration with himself, decided to join Brinker in doing so. "I owed it to myself to meet this crisis in my life when I chose, and I chose now."

Feeling positive about having made this momentous decision to take control of his life and his fate, Gene came up the dorm stairs looking forward to the new adventure that he would begin the next day. His anticipation lasted until he opened the door to his room and discovered that Finny had returned.

The next morning, as Brinker learned of Finny's return when he came to ask Gene when they should go enlist, Gene came to understand that he wasn't going anywhere after all. To his astonishment and surprise, Finny wanted and needed him.

He needed me....there was no mistaking the shield of remoteness in his face and voice...The war then passed away from me, and dreams of enlistment and escape and a clean start lost their meaning for me.

Finny's anger in Chapter 12 is a combination of all his frustration concerning his broken leg, missing out on the action of the war, and his fear of being left behind by his friends.  He unleashes all of this anger toward Gene, who only the night before had been the subject of Leper and Brinker's inquiry concerning Phineas' accident.  At the end of the night, Finny had been so upset about the notion that Gene had purposefully jostled the branch that he had bolted from the room and consequently slipped down the stairs reinjuring himself.  Finny feels betrayed by his best friend, and his reaction to Gene reflects the depth of his hurt and anger. 

This part of the plot shows us the fear and pressure Gene feels at school and how his mind is working. Gene is very insecure and fearful. He does not have a strong sense of self-worth or self-respect. For Gene, academic achievement represents both of these. He works very hard to be a class leader in academics because in this way he can prove to himself that he has value. When Gene feels he isn't studying enough, he starts to worry and blames Finny instead of accepting responsibility for the choices he has been making. Also, Gene can feel justified in his jealousy of Finny if Finny were jealous of him. Choosing to think Finny is sabotaging his grades serves Gene in both ways.

Gene begins to suspect that Finny is undermining his private attempt at becoming the top student of the class as Finny repeatedly draws Gene away from his studies. Gene responds by dedicating himself to his own private, indirect competition with Finny. 

If Gene should graduate at the top of the class, he will have won the competition between the two of them...

Insisting on an overnight trip to the beach on the eve of an exam, Finny seems to be intentionally ruining Gene's grades and waging a subtle campaign of envy and competition with Gene. 

Gene discovers this is not the case when he gets angry and finally voices his thoughts to Finny. 

He is astonished, however, when Finny, with complete candidness, expresses surprise that Gene actually has to study.

Finny then tells Gene that he should study and should not go to the evening meeting of the Super Suicide Society. Finny's sincerity is clear and Gene sees that he is the only one engaged in any private competition.

During most of the time covered in A SeparatePeace, the boys are not fazed by World War II because they are living at their school and most of them are too young for military service. The principal characters of Gene and Finny are sixteen during the main period covered. They know that their time is limited until they turn eighteen, graduate, and either enlist or are drafted. There is also a possibility that the war will end before they reach that age.

Gene remembers how the faculty, who are substitutes and too old to serve, treated them indulgently, perhaps because they reminded the men of normalcy. He reflects:

We registered with no draft board, we had taken no physical examinations. We were carefree and wild, and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to preserve.

However, the lack of interest is not complete for them all. Finny does become very interested in the war but then pretends not to be concerned. His injury preoccupies him because it will keep him from serving; therefore, he keeps secret his efforts to enlist.

This question astutely draws attention to the way in which this great novel can be considered a war story. However, what is interesting about it is the way that war dominates its pages even though we never see soldiers facing the reality of war on the battlefield. Instead, it focuses on male adolescents who do not know the horror of conflict. The main characters of this novel show the ways in which boys who were approaching the age of being drafted were obsessed with the war.

What is interesting about the war effort is that none of the characters seek to avoid military service. This is shown in the reaction of the major characters: military service was not questioned. What was debated is the timing of being called and the branch of military in which they wanted to serve. Therefore, the focus of this novel is not so much the actual war as such but its impact on those who anticipated serving in it. Note what the author himself wrote about the impact of war on his life:

The war was and is reality for me. I still instinctively live and think in its atmosphere.

This is why the novel clearly is full of references to war and the adolescent boys think and breathe the war to such a great extent, that even their games are reminiscent of war and allude to it. Even Finny's decision to ignore the war and pretend it is not happening is shown to be something that changes as the characters lose their innocence and are forced to accept the brute realities of life. The way in which each of the characters has to come to terms with war and what awaits them indicates the sense in which this novel is a coming-of-age work that focuses on the development and maturity of these characters.

Finny, in reaction to the fact that he can't get into the war because of his leg, concocts a fictional scenario about how the war wasn't real, but just some fat old men conspiring in a room together, in order to get all of the good food and supplies, getting fatter and richer off of the profits.  The rationing that occurs during the war as seen as suspicious, and a way for the rich men to get all the good stuff for themselves and leave the rest of the world without.  Finny states,

"There isn't any real food shortage, for instance. The men have all the best steaks delivered to their clubs now."

So, is there any truth to this conclusion about war?  In every war, there are certainly people that profit; in fact, people have been made millionaires by wars, either through the legal market, or the black market.  Think of tire manufacturers, clothing factories, railways and other resources that wars throughout history have relied heavily upon in order to function.  Soldiers need uniforms--clothing companies get rich off of the contracts. They need weapons--artillery companies get rich.  On the black market, people who can get their hands on rationed goods make a killing.  So, in that sense, there are definitely people profiting from wartime.

As for the deeper root of the conspiracy, that it was just a bunch of political figures that invented the war, if you look at it as them being the ones responsible for declaring and manuevering wars, there is some truth to that.  Hitler certainly aimed to create wars and dominate, and manipulated circumstances to have that happen.  Often, wars haven't been initiated by the people, but by their leaders in conjuction with the leaders' ambitions.  I hardly think that they made the wars up, however.  They were real, unfortunately.

I hope that those thoughts helped a bit; good luck!

In John Knowles' A Separate Peace, Gene responds to his best friend's admission that he wants to be a part of the war by comforting him. Gene, however, comforts Finny in a way that only a best friend could--by telling him that he'd mess it up anyway! Finny was so afraid of being left out of the war due to his wounded leg and inability to walk without a crutch. Finny never wanted to be left out of anything challenging or adventurous, so the thought of not being able to rise to the occasion forced him to downplay the importance of the war. At times, he'd even tell people that the war probably wasn't even happening! Gene understood Finny's needs and desires to be involved, as well as his desire to be the leader and the best at everything he did. So, Gene told Finny that even if he were not wounded, and he went off to war in full health, he'd mess it up anyway. Gene said that Finny had such an influential character that he'd probably forget who the enemy was because he'd make friends with everyone. True or not, Gene comforts his friend during a time of weakness and proves to have grown up in many ways as opposed to how he acted at the beginning of the book.

In my opinion, Gene was more about emulating Finny than identifying with him.

He did compare his size and appearance to Finny in chapters 1 & 2 to the degree that he noted there was only about 10 pounds difference between the two of them. He thought he had discovered like interests in sports, but after time sought to create his own identity which drove him to become a fanatic about his academics.

Like Finny with sports, Gene excelled academically. Gene sought to have a skill wherein everyone on campus would look to him about that skill. This is how they treated Finny.

Unlike Finny, Gene had a mediocre character. Although Finny valued who Gene was greatly, he didn't have the magnetic character Finny possessed. I think he was jealous of that and looked for ways to have others show interest in him.

By the middle of the novel, after Finny's leg had been broken, Gene agreed to train for the Olympics to let Finny have his moment of glory at least through someone else. I think this is an effort to emulate Finny although Gene knew he would never be as good as Finny.