Themes in "A Separate Peace"

           I am continuing to read A Separate Peace by John Knowles. A lot has happened since I wrote about the book in my last blog post. The story revolves around Gene, the main character who is visiting his old boarding school. While on the campus, he starts to reflect on his time spent with his best friend/roommate, Finny. Together, while at the school, the two boys set up a group called The Secret Suicide Society of the Summer Session, while they're in the summer session before their senior year. At the beginning of each nightly meeting, Finny and Gene, the founding fathers, would jump off a tree into a river. One night, Finny, who is the best athlete at the school, falls on a branch while jumping off the tree, and he breaks his leg. This causes a shift in his and Gene's relationship. There are many themes in this book, and I think that the biggest ones are friendship, competition, and change.
           First of all, friendship is a huge theme in A Separate Peace. The whole story revolves around Gene reflecting on his time at the school and his best friend. Gene describes Finny as being a great athlete, the best athlete at the whole school, who has won many football and contact sport awards. Finny is also very witty and light-hearted; he's basically the most popular boy at the boarding school during the summer session. Gene, however, is introverted and intellectual. He's very smart, and Finny thinks he's going to be the class's valedictorian. It seems that the thing one friend succeeds in, the other  lacks skill in. However, Gene is a pretty good athlete, while Finny is a poor student. Gene and Finny are very good friends, and have a very positive relationship, at least in the beginning of the book.
           Competition is also a big theme. It's not until the formation of The Secret Suicide Society of the Summer Session that Gene and Finny's friendship starts to get rocky. Gene begins to suspect that Finny is jealous of how good a student he is, and that that is why Finny makes him go to the nightly meetings of their club. He thinks that Finny is trying to distract him from his studies, so that he'll be the better of the two, since he's so good at athletics. This causes Gene to become competitive with Finny, so he works harder in school in order to get the best grades he can get, to show Finny that he's still on top. One night, Finny decides that the two should jump off the tree and into the river at the same time. While they're on the tree limbs, Gene jumps, causing Finny to look over at him, lose his balance, and fall onto the branches below. He ends up with a badly broken leg, which means he can never play sports again. Gene starts to think that he caused Finny to fall, as if he jumped on the tree limb purposely. As if his competitiveness with Finny led him to make him fall. Now Finny's livelihood his shattered, as sports were the thing he was best at, the thing people knew him for. I don't think that Gene ever wanted this to happen to Finny, but now he is feeling very guilty for the incident.
            Lastly, I think that change is becoming a big theme in the book. The summer session has ended, and now the winter session at the school has begun. Everything has become stricter and more structured. There is no time for fun and celebration. The time to join the war is approaching, now that Gene is a senior. Gene's friendship with Finny has changed also. Ever since the accident, Finny has been living at his family home outside Boston, and Gene does not see him as much anymore. When he's heading back to the school for the start of the new year, Gene visits Finny at his house. After talking for a little while, Gene tells him that he thinks he might have caused Finny to fall off the tree. Finny doesn't believe him, and insists that Gene is just talking crazy. I think that Finny doesn't want to believe that Gene, his best friend, caused him to fall, caused him to end his strong sports career. Everything seems lonely at school for Gene, as his roommate his away. Finny says he'll return after Thanksgiving, so I'm curious to see how his and Gene's relationship has changed now that Finny is no longer the top athlete.
            In conclusion, there are many themes in A Separate Peace, but I think that the biggest ones are  friendship, competition, and change. I am curious to see how Gene and Finny's relationship will progress, especially now that there's more pressure on them and their departure to the war is approaching. This book is a good example of the dark side of adolescence, dealing with the complicated issue of friendship during a rough time.