character sketch on A Seperate Peace .

             Friendship is a bond that is held together by mutual respect and common benevolence. John Knowles explores this realm deeply in his novel, A Separate Peace. Phineas and Gene are best friends, but their friendship is challenged as Gene feels that Finny is superior. Finny, unlike Gene, has no inner conflict, but instead he mentally creates a perfect universe. When Gene finally unleashes his suppressed anger by use of violence, Finny is unable to accept it as intentional in an effort to sustain his perfect world. Unfortunately, he permits this hidden truth to fester until ultimately it destroys his mental paradise along with himself. Finny utilizes his idealistic views of life, genuine caring for others, and charismatic abilities to make people love him in order to preserve his inner utopia. Finny"s idealistic views of the real world are optimistic and show the naivete of his character. He has standards of perfection for life, and he is willing to sacrifice the truth to uphold th!.

             is perfection. This is true even when the truth is openly admitted, such as when Gene confesses that he "deliberately jounced the limb so you [Finny] would fall off" (Knowles 62). Finny simply denies it and even shows some anger by threatening to "kill you [Gene] if you don"t shut up" (62). This anger becomes the first step in the deterioration of his perfect universe. Finny cannot accept the fact that there are imperfect feelings in the world, such as losing, because "Finny never permitted himself to realize that when you won, they lost" (27). Furthermore, Finny has a genuine heart, which aids in his friendship with Gene. His sincerity and honesty significantly depicts how uncorrupt his character is. He sets aside certain rules to live by, of which he strongly believes to "Never say you are five feet nine when you"re five feet eight and a half" (26).