Some Thoughts About A Separate Peace

John Knowles, the author of A Separate Peace, was from Fairmont, West Virginia. Although his parents were from New England, his father was a coal company executive, and the company sent him to the state. Knowles began high school in Fairmont before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Some might recall the character Gene, the narrator of the novel, is southern and feels somewhat out of step with his New England classmates. The Devon School is inspired by Phillips Exeter, and some of the characters are based on boys Knowles met there. It's widely believed the character Brinker is based on Gore Vidal who attended Phillips Exeter the same time Knowles did, although Vidal was a couple of years older.

One of my English teachers assigned the novel when I was attending high school in Oak Hill, West Virginia in the early 1980s. She was happy to let us know the author was a fellow West Virginian. I read it again about ten years later. And last week, after sharing a photo of the novel with the cover that I remember, I decided to give the story one more go. Last night, I watched the 1972 film version that I was lucky enough to find on YouTube.

In some respects, the novel is similar to William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Both feature the shockingly uncivilized behavior of boys during World War II. Both attempt to explore the reasons why humans are prone to violent conflict.

Those who read the novel are likely to recall the reason why Gene shook the tree branch, causing Finny to fall is ambiguous, even to Gene. Finny was his best friend and roommate. They were inseparable. Yet, Gene also resented Finny. And that, too, is murky.

Hate and bigotry are often irrational. Our LGBTQ tribe knows that well enough. Once I started thinking about it, I found it truly odd that so many Christians over the centuries have resented Jewish people for the fact that some Jews are recorded in the New Testament as having a hand in Jesus' execution. Yet they have no similar resentment for contemporary Italians. Some do express hostility toward Italians, but usually not for that. It's weird. Hate is often strange.

A bit of common wisdom tells us that when we lash out at others, we're actually revealing a hidden conflict within ourselves. Gene might have resented Finny because he was exceptionally charming. It was easy for Finny to get along with others. Everyone seemed to like him. Maybe Gene feared he could never be like that. Maybe Finny was an external representation of something Gene felt he could never attain.

Many see a homoerotic element in the story. It takes place in the 1940s, so same sex attraction was taboo. Maybe Gene secretly wanted to have sex with Finny. Maybe he was in love. And maybe he wasn't even consciously aware of it himself. But Finny was naturally athletic, and he was always around and always pushing Gene to engage in sporty activity with him that involved removing clothes and becoming physically intimate. And Finny was relentless. He simply would not let Gene off the hook. If all of that was stirring something up in Gene that he didn't want to face, that could be a reason why he'd want Finny to fall.