POWER/SUBMISSION

Phineas/Gene Obviously Phineas is the dominant one in the friendship causing Gene to just go with whatever he says. This makes it harder for Gene to stand up for himself and say what he wants. Consequently, Gene’s identity gradually gets covered up by Phineas’ over-confident and poignant personality until the end when Phineas dies then do we see Gene. Their friendship is so off balance, it reminds me of a parent-child relationship rather than just two buddies having each other’s back.

Gene’s jealousy/Gene’s actions While Phineas is embracing his love of sports and adventure, Gene’s jealousy gets ahold of him and manipulates the whole reason as to why Phineas acts the way he does. Gene’s conclusion is that Phineas is secretly jealous of him and is distracting him from becoming valedictorian of his class. Clearly, Gene has become hysterical and only believes this so he feels like Phineas isn’t perfect and needs something from him like he does from Phineas. By allowing his jealousy to get the best of him, Gene stirs up negative thoughts towards his “best friend” and then subconsciously, he jounces on a tree limb causing Phineas to have a tragic fall. He might not have done it on purpose, but he did let his actions submit to the power of his jealousy.

Old fat men/Young fit boys  This goes along with Phineas’ theory of “The fat old men who don’t want us crowding them out of their jobs. [Who’ve] made it all up.” The old men carry all the power and responsibility, whereas the young men are expected to continue fighting and pick up the slack of the previous generations. Whether this is true or not, it is a legit theory that Phineas, Brinker, and at one point, Gene believed in. “He and his crowd are responsible for [the war]! And we’re going to fight it!” states Brinker as he refers back to his dad and his generation.

Broken leg/Broken dreams After Phineas experiences his tragic fall and injures both legs, he doesn’t submit to the limits of being crippled, but he does end up loosing his integrity. He obtains a selfish and dishonest sense towards the war after the accident because he doesn’t want to believe that he really is handicapped. He manipulates Gene into believing his theory and being on his side, against the war, so he’s not alone. However, all this time, Phineas was sending letters to try to get into the war secretly. Instead of finding a new profession or making things work for him, Phineas submits to what he was supposed to do before the accident causing him to be a miserable young man in the end.

Athletic/Brainy According to Phineas, sports mean everything to him. That’s his passion and basically his only reason to live. Well, I wouldn’t go that far but that’s all he does and all he wants to do. It doesn’t matter the game as long as it’s daring and consists of good tactics. Because he is so athletic and loves sports, he carries on with his life not taking a second to look at his studies. Phineas thinks poorly of himself when it comes to being book smart so he immediately puts the books aside and picks up the ball. In his world, being athletic is everything and being book smart is a bonus on the side.

I believe the title, A separate Peace, refers back to how we all have our own peace to reach in life. Whether it be within ourselves, with others, or with nature, it is a human truth that we will all find peace within life, or after. For Gene it was more than physically seeing Finny gone. For Gene, learning a lesson about why things are the way they are was his peace. Knowing that his friend, Finny, is in a better place than he would’ve ever been here on earth, brings Gene comfort. In addition, Gene finally grasps the meaning of war and see’s beyond the black and white lifestyle that’s provided for him. Gene states that his war is over ever since attending Devon. There we see that he’s gotten over his falsehood of lying about his background, and now he isn’t compared to anyone and may shine in his own field. All of this contributes to Gene finding his own peace. He accepts all that has happened and grasps the fact that he is now free, as is Finny.

Another conclusion I have made goes along the same lines, but is a tad more concrete. When I hear the word separate, I imagine that at a time two things were latched onto each other, like chains, and now they have become their own thing. Easily I can compare this to the relationship Gene and Finny had. Also, I think the author used this pun to point out that Gene was a part (or piece) of Finny, and now, he’s his own person who is at peace and not in pieces. Gene is a free bird now.