A Separate Peace by John Knowles: The potentialities of great friendship

Now this book is an achievement even greater than Catcher in the Rye, in presenting adolescence as it is. It is a tale of friendship that is violated by the weakness of human nature, a story of greatest tragedy that pierced through my heart like an arrow. Finny’s death is hard, even for the reader. It was a fierce climax, against the otherwise peaceful background of the Devon school, their separate peace that gets broken because of Gene’s insecurity. It could have been the other way around, and I think this is essential to the theme: great friendships are actually possible. It is a matter of choice, dependent on what wins in the internal struggle between insecurity and trust. Finny last words voice his agony over the realization that Gene caused the destruction of his life and his death.

Tragic as Finny’s death was, one asks the question: who actually died? I think the answer is both, for they were really best friends from the start, and thus their lives were intertwined, conjoined. Finny’s physical death is also the emotional death of Gene, but what shortly follows is Finny’s resurrection in Gene, and Gene’s own resurrection as someone who has learned his lessons. Finny is the avatar of friendship – never did he fail Gene even in his ‘deathbed’. Finny even wanted Gene to join the ‘1944 Olympics’, equating such a participation as his own (I found that scene truly poignant). A Separate Peace has taught me the most important lessons in friendship – lessons I will never forget.