AN OVERVIEW OF A Separate Peace ublished in 1959 John Knowles s A Separate Peace relates the coming of age of 16 year old Gene Forrester a student at the Devon School a boarding school in New England during World War II 1939 1945 Gene's journey into adulthood is set in motion by his relationship with Finny his best friend The novel opens with an adult Gene visiting the school and reflecting on how it seems newer and yet somehow museum like Gene slogs across muddy playing fields in the rain to find a tree that looms large in his memories To his surprise the tree is much smaller and feebler than he remembered 12
ar Gene climbs into the tree about to make a terrifying leap 13
The Summer Session The narrative then switches to Gene's story as a 16 year old during the 1942 Summer Session at Devon Young Gene stands at the base of the tree with a group of boys and his best friend Phineas also called Finny Finny climbs the tree to a high branch and then jumps into the river below Afterward Finny convinces Gene to jump too even though Gene is secretly terrified Returning to jump from the tree again at Finny's insistence Gene nearly loses his balance and Finny steadies him When later reflecting Gene thinks Finny may have saved his life But he also blames Finny for making him risk his life by jumping in the first place One summer day Finny convinces Gene to break school rules and bike to the beach several hours away While swimming Gene is overtaken by a wave Gene and Finny sleep on the beach and in the morning return to Devon just in time for Gene to take a trigonometry test It is the first test he ever fails Boyhood Rivalry That night as he catches up on his homework Gene begins to suspect Finny is deliberately sabotaging his studies with constant distractions He thinks Finny a 14
natural athlete but a poor student wants to be better than him These thoughts of rivalry drive Gene to work even harder at his studies At the end of Summer Session Finny tries to pull Gene away from studying for his French exam to watch their friend Leper Lepellier a known coward jump from the tree Gene is sure this is merely another attempt by Finny to sabotage his academics He snaps at Finny Surprised Finny says he had assumed academics came naturally to Gene just as athletics came naturally to Finny Now he insists Gene stay behind to study With bitterness Gene realizes Finny had never been jealous Gene admits Finny has always been the better person Finny's Fall Gene goes to the tree with Finny who insists they jump together Finny makes his way out onto the branch Gene follows but he purposely jounces the tree limb Finny looks at Gene with surprise then he falls onto the bank below Before he leaps from the limb into the river Gene notes with some satisfaction how awkwardly Finny falls 15
