A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is a coming-of-age novel by John Knowles, published in 1959. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", published in the May 1956 issue of "Cosmopolitan", it was Knowles's first published novel and became his best-known work. Set against the backdrop of World War II, "A Separate Peace" explores morality, patriotism, and loss of innocence through its narrator, Gene. Plot summary. Gene Forrester returns to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly veiled portrayal of Knowles's alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy), 15 years after he graduated, to visit two places  he regards as "fearful sites:" a flight of marble stairs, and a big tree by the river. First of all, he examines the stairs and notices that they are made of marble. Then he goes to the tree, which brings back memories of his time as a student at Devon. From then on, the novel follows Gene's description from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1943. In 1942, he is 16 and living at Devon with his best friend and roommate, Phineas (nicknamed Finny). World War II is raging and has a prominent effect on the story 's plot and characters. Despite being opposites in personality, Gene and Finny are surprisingly close friends. Gene's quiet, introverted, intellectual personality is a character foil for Finny's extroverted, carefree athleticism. One of Finny's ideas during their "gypsy summer" of 1942 is to create a "Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session," with Gene and himself as charter members. Finny creates a rite of initiation by having members jump into the Devon River from a large tall tree. Gene and Finny's friendship goes through a period of one-sided rivalry during which Gene strives to outdo Finny  scholastically as he believes that Finny is trying to outdo him athletically. The rivalry begins with Gene's envy toward Finny. It climaxes and ends when as Finny and Gene are about to jump off the tree, Gene impulsively jostles the branch that they're on, causing Finny to fall and shatter his leg, which permanently cripples him. Because of his accident, Finny learns that he will never again be able to compete in sports, which are most dear to him. Finny's "accident" inspires Gene to think more like his friend to become a better person, free of envy . The remainder of the story revolves around Gene's attempts to come to grips with who he is, why he shook the branch, and how he will proceed. Gene feels so guilty that he eventually tells Finny that he caused the fall. At first, Finny does not believe him, but then comes to feel extremely hurt. World War II soon occupies the boys' time, with fellow student Brinker Hadley rallying the boys to help the war effort and Gene's quiet friend Leper Lepellier joining the Ski Troops and becoming severely traumatized by what he sees. During a meeting of  the Golden Fleece Debating Society, Brinker sets up a show trial of sorts and, based upon his shaking of the branch, accuses Gene of trying to kill Finny. Faced with the evidence, Finny leaves shamefully before Gene's deed is confirmed. On his way out, Finny falls down a flight of stairs, the same ones that Gene visited at the beginning of the novel, and again breaks the leg that he had shattered before. Finny at first dismisses Gene's attempts to apologize, but he soon realizes that the "accident" was impulsive and not premeditated or based on anger. The  two forgive each other. The next day, Finny dies during the operation to set the bone when bone marrow enters his bloodstream during the surgery. After they graduate, Gene and Brinker enlist in the Navy and the Coast Guard. Gene observes that many people lash out at others to protect themselves from their own insecurities. The only person he knew who did not do that was Finny, the only person Gene knew to be truly honest, and the only person he knew never to have an internal war to fight. Back in the present, an older Gene muses on peace , war, and enemies. Themes, motifs and symbols. "A Separate Peace" contains many themes, motifs and symbols, which occur throughout the book. Some of them are present throughout the book, like the tree Finny falls off and the presence and significance of sport. Other themes exist as part of Gene's consciousness and his relationship with Finny, such as the threat of codependency and the creation of inner enemies. In addition, there are many ambiguous factors that remain unresolved, such as the reliability of Gene as a narrator and whether Gene was responsible for the fall. Co-dependency and identity. The  central relationship between Gene and Finny is a model of codependency. After the fall, the two become reliant on each other for fulfilment. Gene's submissive nature leads to him lacking a strong identity without Finny. Finny, with his free, sport-loving spirit, can only be fulfilled by experiencing the sport through Gene after the fall. That is furthered by the characters' notion that World War II is merely a conspiracy, which creates a private illusion for both Finny and Gene to exist in together. Towards the end of the book, after Finny's death, Gene notes that he feels  Finny's funeral is his own, as so much of his identity rests upon Finny. Athletics and blitzball. Athletics comprise a key part of Finny's personality. He views them as an expression of achievement and believes there are no winners or losers. That is epitomized by Finny's breaking of the school swimming record, which he does not feel the need to publicise, and Blitzball, a game that Finny spontaneously invents that has no winners or losers, which Finny excels at as it requires pure athleticism rather than focusing on defeat of opponents. Summer and Winter Sessions. The Summer  Session at Devon High School is defined by freedom, lack of rules and little academic study. This symbolises innocence and youth, which is "lost" when Finny falls from the tree, giving lead to the Winter Session. The Winter Session is defined as the polar opposite of the Summer Session: tight rules, rigorous study, little freedom and a cold and unforgiving atmosphere. The Sessions represent the shift from carefree youth to adulthood and maturity, which occurs throughout the novel. Finny's fall. Finny's fall from the tree marks the climax of the novel. It is both a literal and a  symbolic fall. The literal fall has a knock-on effect of no sports for Finny, which leads to a loss of independence and identity. The symbolic fall represents a fall from innocence and from youth, and the beginning of the end of Finny and Gene's friendship. The fall can be interpreted as having biblical allusions; like Adam and Eve, Finny and Gene existed in a carefree, idyllic setting, epitomized by innocence (like Eden), which is tainted by a force of darkness (the snake or Gene's growing resentment) and then is shattered by a fall from innocence (the fall  from the tree). Implied homoerotic undertones. Various parties have asserted that the novel implies homoeroticism between Gene and Finny, including those who endorse a queer reading of the novel and those who condemn homosexuality as immoral. For example, the book was challenged in the Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy sex novel" despite having no substantial female characters and describing no sexual activity. Though frequently taught in US high schools, curricula related to "A Separate Peace" typically ignore a possible homoerotic reading in favor of engaging with the book as a historical novel or coming -of-age story. Knowles denied any such intentions, stating in a 1987 newspaper interview:Freud said any strong relationship between two men contains a homoerotic element... If so, in this case, both characters are totally unaware of it. It would have changed everything, it wouldn't have been the same story. In that time and place, my characters would have behaved totally differently... If there had been homoeroticism between Phineas and Gene, I would have put it in the book, I assure you. It simply wasn't there. Adaptations. The novel has been adapted into two films of the same  name. The first, starring Parker Stevenson as Gene and John Heyl as Finny, with a screenplay by Fred Segal and John Knowles, was released in 1972. The second, directed by Peter Yates, with a screenplay by Wendy Kesselman, was released in 2004.