Power/Submission

1. Brinker’s actions – Brinker likes to be in power whether it be serving on a committee or influencing his fellow students. He is a student politician. However, Brinker also follows no matter if they’re ineffective or inefficient. Though he has influence over students, he is doing what the Devon School wants. He is creating obedient followers of Devon and its rules, not himself.

2. Gene/Finny – In this friendship, Gene submits to Finny’s whims and Finny holds the power. Even when Gene would prefer to study, he chooses to follow Finny to the river. As well, Finny still holds power over Gene after breaking his leg and it is why Gene feels peace when Finny is gone.

3. The War – Each person’s view of the war depends on their perspective. For old men like Mr. Hadley, the war is an opportunity to create stories, achieve honor, and hold power. For boys like Finny, the war demands submission to new sets of rules.

4. The Jumping Tree – The jumping tree is a place where Finny can show-off and therefore spread his influence over the other boys, having them awe at his feats. However, the tree shows its own display of power when Finny falls. The tree becomes a place where boys are made into heroes among their peers and a place where they are defeated.

5. Leper’s Actions – Leper is laid back and lives in his own world. He enjoys nature and though he doesn’t deny the war’s existence he lives life as if it doesn’t exist, preferring to search for beaver dams while others contribute to the war effort. However, Leper eventually succumbs to the war, enlisting when he’s shown the prettier side of it. He had more power over his life than anyone but gave it up for the war.

“I did not know everything there was to know about myself, and knew that I did not know it.”

This sums up what every teenager feels and that includes the boys at Devon. At the school, the boys must create an identity for themselves. For Gene, he has trouble finding who he is and decides to attach himself to Finny, a confident athlete with a strong personality. But Finny has his own share of trouble. When he breaks his leg, everything he made for himself no longer matters. All the time he placed in sports is gone and he cannot even enlist in the war, a war he’d been preparing for throughout school. As for Gene, being wrapped up in Finny, he searches for his identity within Finny. Yet, when Finny is injured, Gene is lost once more in who he is. Everyone experiences this identity crisis, searching for who they are, and most of the boys at Devon center their search around the war. Leper enlists despite the war being against everything he’s known to be, quiet and laid back. As well, Brinker enlists into the Coast Guard, utilizing his political skills without being forced onto the front lines for certain death. Still, their positions are relatable as I know as a teenager it’s tough to create yourself with so many choices along the way that form you.

Without reading the book, the title A Separate Peace hints that there will be some form of peace that is isolated and unique from the rest of the world. This is achieved at the Devon School. Outside of the school, the war rages on, but within Devon the war seems fictional. The war is distant and though the boys have seen news reels that show fighting no one can imagine witnessing that fighting in person.

Focusing on Gene, his separate peace goes beyond the war. Gene invests himself in Phineas, an athletic rule-breaker. Though they seem opposites, Gene becomes an extension of Finny. As they’re friends, it seems strange that Gene hurts Finny, but when he does he feels relieved and peaceful. Gene sees Finny as his friend and enemy. As well, while Finny is gone recovering, Gene feels a peace fall over Devon and he tries on Finny’s clothes, feeling complete when he does. Once Finny returns, he seems to be defeated as if Gene has won a silent war over him. Gene takes on Finny’s desires and dreams as if they share one life.

Gene’s separate peace is achieved when Finny dies. The competitiveness Gene felt can be put to rest since it was as a part of himself died with Finny. His guilt also went with Finny and Gene can finally become his own person.