A Separate Peace: Finny - How Things Change Essay

Finny is a manipulative person to others and makes them do what he wants no matter what task they have to do. He doesn’t seem to care too much as long as it works out for him. Finny never gets

Even though the accident is not his fault at all, he does not blame anyone but himself. Finny 's point of view on the whole situation is very grown up. Finny seems as though he will never grow up; his immaturity is shown through his habit of always coming up with strange things to do just for fun and his silly disbelieving ways of the war 's existence: “"But there 's isn 't going to any Olympics in '44. That 's only a couple of years away. The war-" "Leave your fantasy life out of this. We 're grooming you for the Olympics, pal, in 1944." (Knowles 117).” Inside he is suffering with the hurt and anger of being denied from the one thing that he wants to do the most: fight in the war.They have to face adulthood, and in order to do that, they have to become adults. This is an excellent example of how the war suddenly makes the boys grow up into men.

Education is not really one of Finny’s favorite things, he is more like the outgoing friend of the group. In the novel, “A Separate Peace”, Gene has a thought about Finny and his education. The quote says “If I was head of the class on Graduation Day and made a speech and won the Ne Plus Ultra Scholastic Achievement Citation, the we would have came out on top…”(Knowles, 52). If you think about it, Finny could be head of the class and graduate and win the prizes if he would put a little

8. How does Finny react when Gene tells Finny what actually caused the fall? Gets angry – refuses to believe him – tells him “I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up!”

Finny suggests that him and Gene should do a double jump, and right as they are about to jump, Gene bounces the limb and Finny falls. This is completely out of jealousy.

Therefore, Gene hits him hard across the face. This is his “first skirmish of a long campaign” that he fights “for Finny” (79). He feels guilty for what he has done and wants to redeem himself by defending Finny’s honor. During the end of the novel, Finny falls down the school’s marble staircase and breaks his leg once again. Gene goes to the infirmary to visit him, but Finny yells at him, telling Gene that he does not want to see him and forces him to leave. In doing so, Finny falls from the bed and it takes Gene “just control enough to stay out of his room” and “let him struggle back into the bed by himself” (185). Gene resisting the urge to help Finny back to his bed exposes Gene’s new compassion. It reveals that Gene now feels like Finny was a genuine friend and that Gene now cares for, contrasting to his feelings for Finny in the summer session. He thinks about what Finny would do for him if he was in his situation, showing that Gene empathizes with Finny.

Once Gene told Finny that he purposefully jumped in the tree to make Finny fall, Finny had to realize that the perennial friendship he believed he had with Gene, may have been built on lies. In the book, Finny’s first expression after being told that Gene caused his fall was actually a facial expression; “he looked older than I had ever seen him” (Knowles 99). This shows that as Finny heard his best friend admit to wanting to hurt him, the only person he had put his full trust in. Even though we don’t get to see what Finny is actually thinking, it is safe to infer Finny felt naive, and was completely shattered. Finny’s trust in Gene and throughout the rest of the novel, their friendship is never restores until the last few pages. Towards the end of the book, Finny completely loses his innocence when he finally admits that the war was actually occurring. In the book, once he sees Leper hiding and decides that he is crazy due to the war. Finny then says, “‘then I knew there was a real war on’” (Knowles 241). Throughout the novel, Finny stood very firmly on his belief that the war was fake -- that no one could hate each other that much -- but once he decided to admit that it was real, it was like his hope had gone

Gene’s trust towards Finny first subtly comes through after returning from Leper’s house. “I wanted to see Phineas, and only Phineas. With him there was no conflict except between athletes… This was the only conflict he had ever believed in.” (Knowles, 152)When Gene returns from Leper’s house, all he wants to do is see

Gene and Finny had started off great in the beginning of the novel. When Gene came to Devon, Finny and his fellow friends accepted him and took him under his wing. For instance, all the boys

But in a week I had forgotten that, and I have never since forgotten the dazed look on Finny’s face when he thought that on the first day of his return to Devon I was going to desert him. I didn’t know why he had chosen me, why it was only to me that he could show the most humbling sides of his handicap. I

Near the end of the novel, Brinker organizes a mock trial in which Gene is accused of causing Finny’s fall. Throughout the trial, Finny adamantly denies Gene’s involvement, claiming Gene was not even on the tree when he fell. However, the arrival of Leper, a fellow classmate, causes him to doubt himself. Leper is an innocent schoolboy who joins the military but deserts after going insane. He returns to Devon Academy, where he is invited by Brinker to shed light upon the incident, which he does by revealing Gene’s involvement in Finny’s fall. Finny, unable to handle the truth, emotionally retreats from the room as he shouts “You get the rest of the facts Brinker….you collect every f---ing fact there is in the world!” (Knowles 177). Finny reacts emotionally to the truth because accepting it would mean accepting his closest companion is no longer to be trusted. This is particularly scarring for Finny because after his theory about the war is shattered, he becomes dependent on Gene’s loyalty and candor: “Christ, I’ve got to believe you, at least. I know you better than anybody” (Knowles 163). In both cases, Finny’s innocent beliefs are shattered by Leper, who illuminates the reality of the world’s evils and consequently destroys Finny’s blissful ignorance. Leper symbolizes the unadulterated truth; he is unencumbered

in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long

Despite some critics consideration of Finny as naive because he fails to realize the reality in the war, he truly desires a life without confrontation. During the boys’ conversation of the infamous war, Finny relays his emotions towards the topic when he describes the war as fake and a conflict created by “ ‘fat old men’ ” (107/115). Although the war prowls around at Devon and damages souls like a savage beast, Finny’s reluctance to accept such a violent act reveals his humanitarian effort to truly keep peace within his community, school, and country. Finny’s innocence also manifests when he remains friendly to his peers within the Devon School. Gene recounts how Finny’s kindness blooms as he believes that “only [Finny] was never afraid, only [Finny] never hated anyone” (204). Gene’s statement proves true since Finny never hurts anyone in his lifetime. Gene ironically does the opposite when he causes the death of

Historical events can play an important role in a person's life.  In A Separate Peace, the whole atmosphere at the Devon School changed as World War II progressed.  The boys either eagerly awaited the draft, enlisted in the area of war they wanted, or did not want to go at all.  The students at the school created new activities for enjoyment since the customary past times could not be played due to a lack of materials.  When a friend "returns" from the war, the boys at Devon got a real sense of what the war was like.  The boys learned that going to war was not all fun and games like they had anticipated.  The influence World War II had on the characters in A

Finny is out of school for a while and Gene admits that he caused this on purpose and Finny is distraught about