Leper is the least important of the main characters, but his characterization still holds many important truths about war. Leper’s joining of the war makes it seem impossible to the other Devon boys that the war is even real. He was a timid, harmless, peaceful student. What timid student jumps at the chance to join a war? The Devon boys thought it was impossible for a war to be real if a peaceful student like Leper joined it by stating, “For a few days the war was more unimaginable than ever” (Gene 118). They joked about Leper’s involvement in the war, putting him in every important war headline in the news. “We talked about Leper’s stand at Stalingrad, Leper on the Burma Road, Leper’s convoy to Archangel; we surmised that the crisis over the leadership of the Free French would be resolved by the appointment of neither de Gaulle

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Bantam Books, 1959.

Finny’s characterization provides the innocent, childish side of the war. He immaturely believes that there is no war going on, due to the fact that he cannot participate in the war. While talking with Gene for the last time, he exclaims,

Gene is the more mature side of the war; he accepts it and knows that he will have to fight in it. Gene also is in two wars at the same time – World War II, and his personal vendetta against Finny. The conflict he has with Finny expresses one of the most important themes of the story: it is human nature to find an enemy in our life, and take steps to get rid of that enemy at all costs. This comes from Gene’s statement at the end of the story that “All of them…constructed at infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way – if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.” (Gene 196) Furthermore, Gene becomes very dependent of Finny. He feels destined to become a part of Finny, and even feels that Finny’s death is his own. “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.” (Gene 186) Another minor theme that comes from Gene is that what deceives him is his happiness. This was the deception that the war wasn’t real. Being innocent like this can lead to horrible things; Finny stayed innocent from his war with Gene and World War II and it eventually killed him. Gene’s most important opinion of war is that everyone creates their

Some topics in this essay:
War II, Finny Finny, Ottawa Chungking, Leper Leper, Soon Leper, Furthermore Gene, Giraud Lepellier, Separate Peace, Leper Finny, Moreover Leper’s, separate peace, world war ii, devon boys, war ii, main characters, war real, world war, war gene, war knowles, peaceful student, attitudes war,