World War II influenced the boys in A Separate Peace, by John

Knowles, by making them grow and mature more quickly than they would

have had there not been a war. The war made some boys stronger and

readier for whatever life would bring, while in others it disabled

them to the point that they could not handle simple tasks. These boys

are only a small percentage of the casualties brought about by World

The maturing influence of the war on Finny was a considerable

one, even though it did not seem to the other boys that he was growing

up at all. Gene's jealousy leads him to the point where he has to

destroy Finny's greatest asset, his skill in sports, just so that he

does not have to be the "popular guy's friend. Gene knocks Finny off

the tree limb and breaks his leg. Everyone at Devon except for Finny

suspects that Gene caused Finny to fall off the branch, not Finny's

loss of balance. Finny's outlook on the whole situation is very grown

up. He did not blame anyone but himself, even though it was not his

fault at all. Finny seems as though he will never grow up because he

is so immature, with his silly denial of the war's existence, and his

Leper had to grow in order to handle the pressure of the war. But, in

The third, and last, character that shows growing from the war

men. They had to face adulthood, and in order to do that, they had to

he escapes. Escaping is not a very good example of how much Leper

faced with the pressure of a war and shortages of everything, and so

peace within himself before he ever sets foot on a battlefield.

bad it would be, and how much courage it would take.

he did not want to. It takes almost the whole novel for Gene to

building lives on their own. They were just forced into a situation,

time in the army, Leper goes crazy, and is labeled as a section eight

grew, but it does show that a kid can grow up only so fast.

excellent example of how the war suddenly made the boys grow up into

not his fault that he does not mature as quickly as some of the boys,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Devon Finny, Finny Finny, War II, Gene Brinker, John Knowles, world war ii, World War, gene feels, Separate Peace, mature quickly, world war, separate peace, pressure war, war ii,
Approximate Word count = 814
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)