Free Essays - A Separate Peace Separate Peace Essays

A Separate Peace The theme suggested in the closing paragraph of the novel A Separate Peace is that people create their own enemy and then they defend themselves laboriously and obsessively against their imaginary enemy. They develop a particular frame of mind in order to allay the fear that arises while facing their nonexistent enemy. In the novel, the protagonist, Gene, tries to fight a war with his best friend, Finny, not realizing that the enemy he sees is not Finny but is his own insecurity. At the beginning Gene believes that Finny is actually his enemy who is trying to sabotage him. Gene thinks that Finny envies his academic ability just as he envies Finny's extraordinary athletic ability. That way he feels better; he lowers Finny to his evel so that they are "even, even in enmity. Gene's attitude toward Finny is a manifestation of his jealousy and lack of self-confidence. Finny, on the other hand is extremely confident. He never had the evil thoughts about destroying Gene's grades; he s too innocent to have such thought. Furthermore, Finny being a carefree person does not even care about his own grades, certainly not Gene's grades. Gene does not realize this, perhaps he simply does not want to admit the truth. He has created an enemy o protect himself from acknowledging that he is not completely satisfied with his character, or lack of character and individuality. Gene soon realizes that Finny is not trying to be his rival. However, this realization only makes Gene angrier with Finny. He is irritated at the notion that he is "not of the same quality as Finny, thus he cannot possibly compete with Finny. At this int Gene already knows that his enemy is not Finny, but he is not yet mature enough to see who his true enemy is. In his subconscious mind, he wants to destroy Finny, or at least bring Finny down to his level. He fulfills this desire by jouncing the sam tree from which he had almost fallen one time but Finny saved his life by reaching out and grabbing him. This time, Finny, who is standing on the limb falls off the tree and breaks his leg. Despite this incident, Finny continues to believe in Gene's loy ty. Later, Finny's death makes Gene look at his relationship with Finny again, in a more mature way. Gene concludes "[he] killed his enemy [at Devon]. This time, the enemy does not refer to Finny but to his jealousy and fear which were caused by the fl s of his character. Gene begins to see his own worth when he understands he cannot simply compare himself with other people to find his own value. Gene also realize that wars-both the wars there at Devon, such as between him and his imaginary rival, Finny; and the wars fought at other places, such as World War II-are caused "by something ignorant in the human heart." Gene feels "only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone. Other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere." This ignorance in the human heart is the weakness in human character, as in Gene it is his failing to recognize his own worth. They are afraid at e sight of the enemy, and they defend themselves by creating a particular frame of mind according to their characters. Therefore, in these wars, people use the defense they "constructed at infinite cost to themselves" to fight against an enemy they them lves create. In a sense, the battles they fight are against their ignorance. This internal conflict is essential in terms of people recognizing themselves and growing out of the shadow of their own weaknesses. In the novel, Gene's war is fought between mself and the desire to change himself. He sees the god-like Finny as an idol, and wants to become just like him. He follows Finny to jump from the tree, to swim in the sea, to break school's rules. However he cannot incorporate Finny's character into h own because it is against his nature. Eventually he comes to recognize his own value and his war ends. The last paragraph suggests that those who are seen as the enemies do not really exist. The defenses that people have constructed are as useless as the "Maginot Lines"; they only prevent people from analyzing their emotions and characters. People should view the enemy and the war in a more objective perspective, and try to understand themselves. Only by doing so can they eventually find their identity.