It was pretty good.
It's a classic, written by John Knowles.
The story is set in the 1940s during WWII. The story is told from a schoolboy named Gene. Gene is nearing the end of his senior year. He and a few other school boys share a room. They're relationships are similar to relationships of teens today. They just speak more formally.
Gene is very bright. He is close to being valedictorian. He wants to be first in his class so bad. Gene feels that his intellect is the only gift he has. His best friend Phineas, or Finny as he's called, is a carefree athlete. He's very popular, unlike Gene.
One night, Finny takes Gene out to the beach, which is against school rules. Gene goes anyway. They swim in the ocean and go to a bar. Gene realizes that he has a Trig. Test that morning.
He fails it. Gene claims that it's the first test he's ever failed.
Gene starts to get angry at Finny. He begins to think irrationally. He begins to believe that Finny planned to keep him out all night so he'd fail. He starts to hate Finny, but it's more than evident that his hatred is derived from envy.
The last day of summer session, the boys of his dorm go to the lake. The boys climb the tree and jump into the river. Gene and Finny climb the tree. Finny is out on the branch, preparing to jump. Gene's anger gets the best of him, and he bends the tree limb, causing Finny to fall.
Throughout the rest of the novel, Gene suffers from guilt. The boys of Gene's dorm, including himself, find themselves playing with an evil greater than themselves. An evil that is perhaps a contributor of the war overseas.
I think this book is very powerful and relatable, even to the youth of today.
One of the themes of A Separate Peace is War, but not a war with artillery,
Rather a war within one's mind.
Mankind is always battling something,
be it competition, love, poverty, or envy (like Gene)
It seems to be in our nature to keep fighting.
In highschool, like Gene's boarding school, many envy.
Many fight one another.
Many have low self esteems.
And a few don't come out alive.
Throughout the book Gene struggled with finding his true identity and purpose. He wanted to be Finny. He looked desperately for A Separate Peace of mind, that he had worth and he belonged, as himself.
Isn't that what we truly want, to be accepted for ourselves?
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