Platonic and Romantic Love in A Separate Peace (Book Analysis)

Platonic and romantic love are very similar and sometimes hard to differentiate. An example of this is shown in the John Knowles novel A Separate Peace. This novel features the main character, Gene, reflecting on his days at the Devon School during WWII, specifically focussing on his relationship with his roommate and so-called “best friend,” Finny. It is highly debated whether the boys had a friendship or not. I believe that the connection cannot be characterized as platonic because of Finny’s denial, Finny sharing his feelings with Gene, Gene’s obsession with Finny, and Gene’s insecurities in the relationship.

Finny’s denial when it comes to Gene is a good place to look at how the relationship between the two boys is more than just a friendship. One example of Finny’s denial is when Gene admitted to causing Finny to fall and break his leg. Even after Gene insisting multiple times that he did, in fact, purposefully cause Finny to fall, Finny refused to believe such a thing. Finny said, “Of course you didn’t do it. You damn fool. Sit down, you damn fool”(Knowles 34). Finny did not want to accept the fact that Gene jounced the limb because of how much it would hurt him to admit that to himself. In Finny’s idealistic rules of life, if you love something, it will love you back. Finny loved Gene, and it hurts him to believe that someone that he loved would ever do anything to hurt him. Finny likely knows deep down that Gene did cause his fall, however, he continues to spend almost all of his free time with him and consider him his best friend. I do not feel that this would be the case if Finny did not truly love Gene.

Finny also proves that he has deeper feelings for Gene because of how open and vulnerable he is when he is around Gene. Finny allows himself to be viewed by Gene in a way unlike the rest of his peers. An example of this is when the two boys went to the beach and were about to go to sleep. Finny tells Gene, “...but after all you can’t come to the shore with just anybody and you can’t come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life the proper person is your best pal… which is what you are”(Knowles 21). Gene then claims, “It was a courageous thing to say. Exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide”(Knowles 21). Finny has a certain persona that he puts on in front of his peers. Finny tries to appear like a model boy and genuinely happy and fun person in front of most people. We can only see Finny open up and let his guard down when he is around Gene. Because expressing emotions of affection were very rare at Devon, Finny must have truly meant it when he told Gene that he was his best friend. Finny trusted Gene enough to put himself in that vulnerable position in front of him. We also see Finny let his guard down when Gene visits him after Finny breaks his leg for the first time. Finny would not allow anyone but Gene to see him in pain. Finny being able to trust Gene with his true feelings suggests that there are deeper feelings toward Gene than just friendship.

There are also many ways that Gene displays that he has deeper feelings for Finny than friendship; one of which being Gene’s obsession with Finny. Gene, although he did not always want to, went with Finny everywhere and did almost everything that Finny told him to. Gene even refers to Finny’s voice as, “the equivalent in sound of a hypnotist’s eyes”(Knowles 3). Gene’s constant need to be around Finny and do things with him demonstrates that Gene might like Finny much more than he lets others and himself know. Gene did have other friends at Devon that he could hang out with, but he chooses to spend all of his free time with Finny. I feel that this proves that Gene definitely has deep feelings of love toward Finny.

Gene’s insecurities about the relationship also suggests that it was something more than a friendship. I feel that Gene’s insecurities and self doubt in the relationship truly prove what his true feelings about Finny are. Gene does not know what to do with this love that he feels toward Finny, especially in a time when being homosexual was not very excepted in society. Instead of trying to reflect on what he is feeling, Gene decides to cover up the feelings by making up crazy scenarios to try and convince himself that he hates Finny. Gene makes up that he and Finny are competitors and that Finny is jealous of his academic success while Gene is jealous of his physical abilities.. Gene thinks to himself, “You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. You did hate him for breaking that school swimming record, but so what? He hated you for getting an A in every course but one last term. You would have had an A in that one except for him. Except for him” (Knowles 24). By creating this fake competition between the two, Gene is forcing himself to associate Finny with feelings of hate and stress to cover up the feelings of love. However, deep down Gene does still love Finny and is struggling with the conflicting feelings throughout the book. 

Now, some people would say that the feelings of love are platonic. I would argue that this is not the case simply by comparing the relationship between Finny and Gene to the relationships that they have with their other peers at Devon. Finny does not appear to have any good friends at Devon besides Gene. This strikes me as very odd considering that Finny is an extremely likable person and could likely make friends with anyone at Devon. However, Finny decides to spend all of his time with Gene. This desire to be around Gene as much as possible makes it seem that Finny’s love toward Gene is more romantic rather than platonic. We do see that Gene has other friends besides Finny at the Devon School. One example is Gene’s friendship with Brinker. Now there is an enormous difference between Gene’s relationships with the two boys. Gene is not at all competitive with Brinker like he is with Finny. Gene also did not feel the need to do everything that Brinker said or spend an excessive amount of time with him. The same thing applies to Gene’s friendship with Leper. Gene only displayed these traits in his relationship with Finny, provoking the thought that the relationship was not platonic. 

If all of the previous evidence still does not prove to you that the relationship was romantic, Gene admitting his deeper feelings for Finny certainly should. After Finny tells Gene that Gene is his best friend on the beach, Gene admits his true feelings to himself for the first and only time. Instead of reacting to the situation outwardly, Gene thinks to himself, “I should have told him then that he was my best friend also and rounded off what he had said. I started to; I nearly did. But something held me back. Perhaps I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth” (Knowles 21). This scene in the novel is definitely hard to ignore because Gene, who throughout the novel struggles with his emotions, has feelings of such strong love for Finny that even he cannot completely ignore them. So, even if Finny does somehow just feel platonic love for Gene, Gene clearly states that he does not see Finny as a friend. 

There are many instances throughout the novel in which Finn and Gene show that they are more than just friends. Looking at how the two boys act around each other compared to how they act and treat their peers, you can clearly tell the difference between their platonic relationships with their classmates and their romantic relationship with each other. You can even prove that the connection was not a friendship by comparing it to your personal friends. Just think, would you still consider someone your best friend when they pushed you out of the tree.