A Separate Peace
In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a schoolboy and his friend go through a dramatic struggle that demonstrates the idea that when opposites attract there could be dire consequences. Finny an all around athlete and popular kid has a misfortunate accident when he falls from a tree. Gene a thorough student is annoyed at times with Finny's wild attitude. Finny is forced to come back to school in a cast and conquer Devon, a New England boarding school, once again. Gene and Finny both benefit from their differences in sports, schoolwork, and following the rules, but they also lose a piece of them and get lost. Finny is naturally talented when it comes to sports, unlike Gene. Gene is in good shape, but he has to train hard to stay fit. Finny, on the other hand, breaks the school swimming record without practicing months beforehand. Gene would have to work hard for months to even begin to think of breaking that swimming record. When Finny has an unfortunate accident, they help each other.
Schoolwork also displays their differences helping, but weakening themselves. Gene is a conscientious student and cares a great deal for getting that "A". When faced with the decision of whether or not to cut class to go to the beach, Gene's conscience kicked in. "Going there risked expulsion, destroyed the studying I was going to do for an important test for the next morning." (p. 37) Finny could care less about his grades with his care-free attitude. Finny helps Gene by teaching him the valuable lesson to "live a little." Gene's attitude towards Finny influences Finny when he comes back after his injury. As a result Gene becomes lazier and more like Finny and Finny is getting more eager to get out of his cast and into the snowball fights. Finny is forced to coach Gene to break records when he can't. Everyone seems to have different morals when it comes to following rules. Gene is a perfectionist who believes the rules are meant to be followed. Finny is not a perfectionist and believe
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Approximate Word count = 673
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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