Gene is a character that, at first, was one that I could relate to in the ways that he always followed the rules and wasn’t the best at sports. This basically defines him as a geek or nerd or basically anyone who cares way too much about school and the rules to get out there and have fun. This is where Finny comes in, and with that, Gene’s jealousy and means to follow under peer pressure appear. All of a sudden, Gene’s competitiveness comes on top of the surface and begins to reveal his true colors. This is where I began to dislike Gene as a character because not only was he letting his insecurities rule over his friendship, but he was helplessly hurting himself along the way. Gene feels a need to show up Finny and get a chance in the spotlight, but jouncing the tree and subconsciously making him fall isn’t the way to go about it. I feel as if Gene needs to take a breather, do some yoga, or go take a hike. He needs to be one with himself and get out of the mindset that Finny is everything holy, because Finny has just as many problems as him.

Speaking of Finny, he had to be one of my favorite characters in the beginning because of his keen and manipulative ways of getting himself out of trouble. He’s the kid everyone wants to be because he carries a sense of control and confidence about him, even when he doesn’t know what he’s doing. However, when things don’t go the way he planned he goes through this mindset where he tells himself that all of this is unreal and it never happened. For example, Finny didn’t want to believe that Gene made him fall off the tree so he threatens Gene when he tries to justify it. Also, his impaired leg doesn’t allow him to be involved in sports or more importantly in the war, so Finny simply disregards the fact that the war is even going on, and continues to focus on how everyone else is living under a lie presented by big fat guys who sit around and eat steak. Finny might be a bit more psychotic than Gene, but either way… these boys worry too much about their own insecurities to focus about the things that they could improve on.

A Separate Peace is set in the time period of 1958 but flashes back to the years 1942-1943. During that time, the two main characters, Gene and Finny, attend The Devon School, an exclusive New England academy. World War II is going on at this time helping set the coming-of-age attitude expressed throughout the novel, and also the hidden tone of angst. This causes the boys to be more serious about what they’re doing at times, and value the days they have before the war. The war acts as a cloudy overcast that everyone’s either waiting for a storm to come out of or for the whole to pass by and let the sun shine through. Either way, the clouds are heavy and dark and rain war.

However, the boys don’t precisely let the war control what they do at all times, the boys continue to be mischievous, adventurous, and keep growing mentally and physically while the war goes on. They are allowed to do this because everyone there treats them as royalty. Well, not completely to that level, but they are pretty carefree when it comes to them because they pity the fact that they will soon be going off to war and ending their childhood. Being at Devon all the time gives the boys a sense of maturity and keeps them on track. Especially during the transitioning period between summer and fall which shows how suddenly everything can change. Just like a coin, one second your head is looking up and everyone’s on your side, and then the next thing you know, your head is facing down towards the ground alone and in a pit of pessimism. All in all, the setting and atmosphere of this novel continues to portray the solid adult-hood these boys are expected to blend into in their mere adolescent stage.

Obviously, this is a fictional book because the characters are all made up and leave no trace of history behind. Although this could very easily be a nonfictional story considering its time period, the very realistic personalities, and the state of mind Gene enters that has a psychological background. In some cases though, its fictional value does come through when Finny is characterized as being someone who gets away with everything considering the administrators of a school like Devon would presume to be very strict and diligent. Plus, the fact that Finny was only good at sports and later on had his legs broken by his friend causing the scene to be a tragedy is a tad fictional for my taste. If it had been more realistic, Finny could have broken other parts of his body or could have been better at more things than just sports. Altogether though, I can most likely see this novel as a realistic book mainly because of the common found psychological motivations underneath all of their actions.