It seems, especially in this novel, that the expectation of things always contrast dramatically with reality… (and we even see that Finny, to solve this problem, simply makes his own reality and other characters also have their own coping methods).

1) Leper, when he sees the snow patrol, he expects it to be a wonderful nature experience that will allow him to travel the world, but he discovers when he gets there that it’s a grueling and psychologically torturing thing and it literally drives him insane. this reality is such a rude awakening that he runs away from the army to avoid being given a section 8 discharge.

2) In the beginning of chapter four, Gene awakes on the beach and waits for the sunrise. He was expecting a “gorgeous fanfare over the ocean,” but got instead a ghostly grey thing. This foreshadows and symbolizes his and Finny’s entire relationship that all seems wonderful and when Finny suggests anything mischievous, Gene easily goes along, not thinking anything of it or its consequences, but later they both discover that the second tidal wave of the war (the first they ducked under by refusing to admit it was real) has built momentum and power and strikes them with all its force, worse than the first would have.

3) At the first of the book, we as readers were expecting the athletic and leading Finny to be one of the best soldiers in the war, but when he breaks his leg, this all goes down the drain, and in fact even his athletic career is over. Seeing as this was basically the only thing he showed promise in, his life doesn’t really have a point anymore. He tries to compensate for this in his leadership abilities, but this just makes the circumstances worse for everyone in Devon because Finny can only lead astray.

4) Gene also, in his teenage mind cannot grasp the reality of most situations and blows them way out of proportion. For example, the fact that Finny took him to the beach turns into Finny sabotaging everything Genes’s worked for academically and the determination of becoming equal with Finny, and this leads to the accident at the tree. I think he looks back on it and realizes what a child he was… at least I hope he does.

5) The entire war is thought of as a hoax that is run by fat old men and is of no consequence. The boys even convince themselves that the ’44 Olympics will still occur and they train vigorously for it, never once openly considering it a possibility that the war would affect it. In this they completely ignore reality and simply accept expectation as truth.

The novel “A Separate Peace” is one that tries to depict the normal life of a typical army academy student and the psychological effects of being forced to suddenly mature  at an early age.

However, it merely comes across as a bunch of uber immature middle schoolers squabbling about who should be more popular; the guy with the fun things or me because I said so?  I understand that there is a lot of pressure on these young boys to protect their country and they should be allowed a childhood, but there was no way any of them would have been of any use, because Gene would be too hormonal and catty to work productively with any one (he acts as though he’s a high school girl, telling her friend that shes so pretty and perfect to her face then secretly hating and plotting against her in reality), Finny was too much of a “free spirit” and a turncoat, Leper was too much of a dreamer, and Brinker was too much of a rule follower. I suppose it was all to give the effect of the different personalities of a war, but they were so exaggerated that it all became so ridiculously elementary that it lost its intensity.

Also, the ending chapter from Gene is so deep and out there that it becomes hard to grasp after and entire book of immaturity and flip-floppy hormones. And even then, Gene still considers Finny his greatest enemy, yet glorifies him as his God when he was just a foolish boy who knew nothing of life or wisdom- all he knew were his own lies, yet Knowles conveys this as a winning flaw, which seems to be one of the “life lessons” of the book. We do not get the resolving satisfaction from Gene of the discovery of the truth, only that he feels he was right the whole time about Finny, even though he had two completely contradicting feelings towards it. Yet he still thinks he has “peace” with the entire thing! This leaves the reader in the state of bafflement, disconnected from Gene for now the entire book, which creates such a sympathy void that it becomes a pointless read.

Also, the death of Finny is so abruptly dropped in that it more of an “oh okay” than an “OH MY GOSH WHAT?” In my opinion the second is more favorable and is harder to evoke. It is also such an anticlimactic way to die that Finny becomes even more disliked in the readers mind and gives Gene more room to increase his non-relatable insanity.

So although is was well written and there were no plot holes, there was such a high factor of ridiculousness and immaturity that it was hard to comprehend seriously.

“All  others [besides Finny] at some point found something in themselves pitted violently against something in the world around them.”

This quote embodies the whole book because it states so accurately the whole agenda of every person in Devon, besides Finny whose only plan was to have fun, which is what got him killed. It means that all people have their own goal and most cant share it with another, especially if they’re as young and immature as the boys at Devon. On top of that, the goals of this bunch rage from murder to power to no responsibilities and can’t be labeled as any kind of real life long or productive goals. This just goes to show you how selfish and immature they are and that they wont ever be outstanding members of society if the remain this way.

Throughout the book, there were always characters who are stuck in their own world and they’re not afraid to show it. For example,  Gene has his eyes are focused on Finny’s back and his goal of life is to beat him; that is his driving motive, the fuel for his hatred. And suddenly when Finny dies, it is gone and he has an unfamiliar “peace” in his life. Also, all Brinker can think of is finding justice (and just over all butting in) in Finny’s and Genes incident and manages to only stir up trouble for them. His enemy is the “injustice” that he feels he must conquer, whether its his business or not. For Mr. Ludsbury it is his need to excel, and for Quackenbush, his need for domination, but they are all just pointless lifestyles that bring no satisfaction or progress for “all of them constructed at infinite cost to themselves this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier; if he was indeed the enemy.” Even Gene, free of his burden, cannot come to a resolution in his life for he is still glorifying his conquered enemy.

Gene, who is recanting the story, is an insecure follower, no matter how much he’d like to think he was independent. In reality, he needs Finny to contrast him, motivate him, and supply him with his reputation of being an upper-dog. Gene is somewhat pathetic and becomes very much a paranoid individual is that constantly flipping between the overwhelming need to impress Finny, and the need to kill him for his “treachery.”

Finny is extremely charismatic and a irresistible leader with an unshakable hold on all of his peers. He can even use his pursuasiveness over his superiors in order to avoid any reprimands that are surely deserved since he is an impulsive rule-breaker. However, I do not believe that he is cold-natured and evily manipulative like he could be, he simply know he can so he does, merely to break some rules and have fun.

Leper is a quiet and meditative individual who is usually barely noticeable in the scene and is always set off to the side, never one to steal attention. He is the type to separate himself from the crowd, especially towards the time of his departure. His out-there demure makes him the easiest to look down on but this same thing also makes him numb to anything that may be hurtful like his nickname Leper that so acurately describes his social-outcast situation. Also, although he is the most unexpected candidate for the war, he is the first to actually partake in it. This is a huge shock for the entire school but only furthers Leper’s uniqueness.

The major change in this novel occurs in chapter four just after Finny and Gene’s adventure to the beach. The change occurs in Gene when he returns after the long night of goofing off… and of neglecting to study for a trigonometry test. This causes Gene to flunk it, and just after, he convinces himself that Finny is absolutely out to get him and destroy the only thing he excels at; his academics. This seed of doubt suddenly bursts into bloom and it forever afterwards, Gene’s opinion of Finny is corrupted and he never fully trusts him again, although he tries to convince himself that he does. Even when recanting the story from years later, he still clings to this fantasy, as if to keep him sane. He tells himself that since Finny is great at sports and poor with school, Gene must excel in school since he isn’t particularly skilled in sports in order to balance things out between them- in order for them to be “equal” in Genes eyes. But he soon comes across another revelation; “Now I knew that there was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he.” It is here that he realises that he will never be on the same level as Finny and that he could never even compare himself to him for they were not even in the same league. He will always be his lieutenant and nothing more, as long as they’re together.

“A Separate Peace” by John Knowles is set in an all boy’s school in New England called Devon. Devon its self is old and beautiful and has (at least at first) a peaceful feel to it. The boys are all very comfortable here and have time to goof off and be boys in their little world outside of that war. But as the book progresses, it becomes the place of great tragedy, even for the people who have left Devon behind (like Leper).

It is around the time of world war two that the boy’s go through those fateful years with each other and discover the meaning of responsibility- a time that forced the young boys of all the world to the thrown into the grueling fear of the war and the boys at Devon are certainly no exception. The boys are all very immature at first in this war, and a couple refuse to even believe in it, but they all discover that it is all very real and dangerous, and its effects are not to be taken lightly. The time period did not allow the boys to escape their responsibility and this is the only thing that had the power to do such a thing.

The book is fiction although it conveys a very realistic idea of what war is and its very possible effects on the mind of the youth. It strikes a chord of relatability, but also sympathy in its harsh, yet possible dramatic turn of events. Knowles tries to achieve this by balancing the extreme with the realistic by creating a believable setting and combining it with many compounded small tragedies, that are all likely but the fact that there’s so many of them adds a sense of despair that is not shared by the matured characters.