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A Separate Peace


From this incident, Gene begins on his route to maturity, leaving his boyish ways of the summer session in The Devon School (an exclusive New England academy) behind, and preparing for his future as a man of war. No outstanding conflict arises after this, except for Finny's second accident, and thus we recognize this as the climax of the novel. The incidents preceding this focus more on the development of Gene's character as a graduate of the class of 1943 and as a best friend.
             The ending of this novel was not especially shocking, but that was not a surprise considering the lack of events that took place. One could not expect an elaborate, majestic ending for a novel with little action. Although I enjoyed the story, some descriptions were unnecessary and caused the story to become monotonous and repetitive. In addition to this, the book is a tragedy, which added to the dullness of the story line. I found that the pace varied and disliked the fact that the author would include a great amount of detail regarding the setting or certain characters, but he would cut the exciting parts short. In general, I found the ending to be satisfactory as it answered all the pending questions I had gathered throughout the course of the novel. It tied up all loose ends of the plot, like any resolution should. Lastly, what I enjoyed about the end was the narrator's associations of the characters in the novel with the different ways that people are at war with themselves.
             Characters.
             The main character of A Separate Peace is Gene Forrester. He is the narrator and protagonist of the novel. In the beginning of the novel he is in his thirties and is revisiting his high school. The story soon flashes back to when he was 16, in 1942, and an "Upper Middler- at The Devon School. He is thoughtful and excels in his academics through commitment and extreme motivation. He does not like his own personality, and thus tends to act like his best friend Phineas, most often referred to as Finney.


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