A Separate Peace ': Phineas' Escape From Reality

Phineas’ Escape from Reality In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Phineas has a personality trait of always refusing to believe the truth about matters and creating his own separate realities. An important example in the book is his theory that the war is all a hoax. Another prominent example is his refusal to believe that Gene jostled the branch and caused him to fall out of the tree. He maintains this viewpoint with minor, everyday matters, as well, such as playing cards and participating in sports. Although Finny realizes that the events occurring around him are real, his personality leads him to focus on what should happen rather than what does happen. Throughout the novel, Phineas develops a theory that the war is a ruse made up by “fat old men who don’t want us crowding them out of their jobs” (Knowles 115). This is not just a joke between him and Gene; it is part of what makes up Phineas’ character. He always chooses to accept whatever is preferable rather what is truthful. It is also possible that his theory about the war is caused by the fact that his broken leg prevents him from enlisting; if he cannot participate, then he refuses to accept it as the truth. Phineas does eventually inform Gene that, “I always knew

The first instance where this subject is brought up is when Gene visits Phineas’ house. Gene admits to him that he “deliberately jounced the limb,” to which Phineas responds, “Of course you didn’t,” (Knowles 70). Even when he is provided with evidence from Leper that Gene jostled the branch, he exclaims that he does not care what happened that day and storms out of the room (Knowles 175-177). Phineas refuses to accept that his best friend would deliberately cause him to fall out of the tree, so he ultimately creates his own reality in which he fell out of the tree simply due to