Sam Sibold’s Reviews > A Separate Peace > Status Update

I was very surprised to read that Finny died because of Gene. The internal conflict for Gene all lead up to Finny dying because of his broken leg, which was shocking. Gene makes a parallel to his time in the army. He says, "I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school" (Continued)

As the truth comes out about how Gene actually caused Finny's fall, Finny at first tries to cover for Gene, knowing Gene did it. On page 170, Knowles writes, "You were down at the bottom, weren't you? (Finny) he asked not in the official courtroom tone he has used before, but in a friends voice." This quote shows how Finny was trying to cover for Gene. I found it very weird how Finny could do something like this.

The third part of this story has brought some very interesting twists in the plot. At the end of chapter 10, Leper begins to tell Gene about what they were doing to him in the army. Gene suddenly bursts out and screams at Leper to stop telling the story. I was surprised when Gene did this. I think Gene did it because the story reminded him of what he did to Finny. I am excited to see what happens to Leper later on.

The telegram from Leper about escaping from the army was exciting to me as the reader. It pulled me in to a point where I wanted to read more to find out what was going to happen to Lepper, Gene, and Finny. Knowles uses this technique throughout the book while using language to draw you in. The telegram was fully capitalized which made reading it even more intense. I am excited to see the outcome of this situation.

On page 108, Finny pegs Brinker with the nickname Chaing Kai-Shek. At first, the nickname was not something I recognized. I did some research and found that Chaing Kai-Shek was a military leader and general of the Chinese military during WW2. I think they may have labeled Brinker with this nickname to show his power and superiority over the other students in relation to the power that a general has in the military.

At the beginning of part two of this book, Gene did something that seemed very contradictory of his characters normal actions. Gene gets in a fight with the crew team leader Cliff Quackenbush after an argument. I was surprised by this action that Gene took. I thought that Gene may have done something like this due to the fact that Gene was stressed and confused mentally over Finny and his situation.

Overall, this has been my favorite start to a book we have read all year. Knowles has created a somewhat stereotypical prep school in New England but has just as well given Devon a sense of uniqueness. I feel similar connections that Gene feels to Devon, and I am eager to find out what happens to Finny and Genes' relationship after Gene caused Finny to fall. I predict that their relationship will start to worsen.

When Gene "jounced" the limb of the tree causing Phineas to fall, I was very surprised. I thought about this incidence deeply and I came to one possible answer as to why Gene would do that. I think Gene wanted to see fail for once instead of always doing well. I think Gene was jealous of Finny and his ability to do everything well.

So far I feel very connected to this book. Knowles describes Devon school in such detail that I felt like I was on Devons campus while reading. I also think the scene in the beginning of the book about the tree is important. He describes this story with great detail and emotion. I think this story or location will play into the rest of the story.