Theme of Coming of Age in A Separate Peace Essay Sample

The theme of coming of age is evident in many works of literature and film, and it has been woven through novels for decades in order to provide a story relatable for young adults, or nostalgic for those who have come of age already. Many elements of a story contribute to this coming of age theme, and novels such as the popular A Separate Peace use these elements to develop the theme. In A Separate Peace, the two main characters, Gene and Finny, are high school students attending the prestigious Devon School in New Hampshire. Throughout the novel, the two struggle to mature while being isolated at school from World War II. The story is told from Gene’s point of view, who struggles the most with his coming of age whilst dealing with his complicated feelings towards Finny and the looming war. While Finny is never able to gain his maturity over the course of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, the elements of the protagonist making impulsive decisions and a secret being withheld are evident as Gene faces numerous consequential events that force him to leave his innocence behind.

One of the most common motifs in A Separate Peace is Gene’s tendency to make rash choices without considering the consequences. It must also be considered that Gene often forms his decisions based on his current feeling about Finny. Throughout the novel, Gene struggles to settle whether he and Finny are rivals or best friends. At times, he finds himself hating Finny out of jealousy and tells himself that Finny, too, is aware of this rivalry. However, Finny’s character is one of innocence and oblivion, so even after Gene’s impulsivity causes him to take out violent actions on his friend, Finny does not doubt their friendship. The most significant decision Gene makes without thought is jouncing the limb of a tree the two boys often visit so that Finny will fall and break his legs. Gene and Finny often jumped out of the tree, for it filled them with feelings of freedom and relief from their strenuous days at school and talk of the war that never ceased. However, Gene had been concerned that this visit to the tree would interrupt his studying, and after some gentle convincing from Finny, he decided to go anyway. For Gene, this seemed to mean that Finny wanted him to perform badly in school, and thoughts of this imaginary rivalry flooded his conscience. After causing Finny’s devastating fall, “With unthinking sureness [Gene] moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of [his] fear of this forgotten” (Knowles 60). Gene had only been thinking about his envy and hatred towards Finny when jouncing the limb, a quality highlighting his immaturity at the time. He could never finalize whether Finny was a toxicity in his life or a blessing, and at that moment, the only thing Gene cared about was ridding himself of the toxicity. When Finny fell, Gene was filled with pride, giving him the courage he needed to confidently jump out of the tree himself. In a way, taking down Finny as his enemy made him feel like a hero, and it did not matter whether the consequences of his action would show to be haunting. Gene’s immaturity is never as evident in the novel as it is at this moment at the tree. However, Gene must find his maturity later on when he realizes what he has done to his best friend. As a reckless character, Gene forgets that he admires and values Finny when jouncing the limb, but when he visits Finny in the infirmary and realizes his legs are broken, he remembers. Gene remarks, “[Finny] was never going to accuse me… And I thought we were competitors! It was so ludicrous I wanted to cry” (Knowles 66). Facing the ramifications of his action causes Gene to take a more mature approach to the situation. He realizes that he and Finny were never pitted against each other, and that Finny would never accuse Gene of a crime, let alone commit one himself. In this moment, seeing his friend restricted from the sports he loved and the social aspect of school, Gene realizes all of the hatred between the two of them was in his head. Finny, ridden with optimism and trust throughout his presence in the novel, never matures as far as Gene must. However, as the coming of age element presumes, Gene gains his maturity after facing the consequences of his irrational decisions. 

Additionally, Gene is keeping a secret over the course of the novel’s events. Gene, for obvious reasons, does not want it coming to light that he is the one at fault for Finny’s accident. The secret begins to eat away at Gene. However, Gene is very reticent about his actions. Brinker Hadley moves in across from Gene at the start of the winter session, while Finny is still at home, enfeebled. Brinker is audacious and loves to tease Gene about whether he arranged Finny’s injury so he could have the dormitory to himself. As Gene still carries his immaturity, he refuses to admit that he jounced the limb, despite Brinker’s persistence. One night, Brinker and Gene go down to the Butt Room for a smoke, and their classmates begin to interrogate Gene. In order to keep the vagaries of their friendship unknown, Gene creates various dramatic stories on how he “got rid of” Finny, but the other boys refuse to let the story go. Gene describes, “‘then I…’ I only had to add, ‘pushed him out of the tree’... But I could feel my throat closing in on [the words]; I could never say them, never” (Knowles 90). Gene’s immaturity returns whenever he is questioned about Finny’s absence. He is unable to admit to the boys that he caused Finny’s accident, for guilt and regret take over all of his words. Gene’s lack of maturity caused him to hurt Finny, just as it causes him to lie about it. Admitting his wrongs would mean revealing the truth that he posed a rivalry between Finny and himself, and this would shed light on his own immaturity. Gene could not let this happen, knowing deep down that the rivalry did not exist. When Gene does reveal to Finny that he caused the accident, he is faced with the obligation of maturity, despite the fact that Finny’s immaturity masks the truth from him. Although Gene attempts to keep his actions a secret from the Devon boys, he has previously tried confessing to Finny. Between the summer and winter sessions, Gene visits Finny at his home and decides to tell him that he caused the accident at the tree. At this point, Gene’s maturity is taking hold of him, and he is able to realize that Finny would have told him the truth if the situation had been reversed. With this mature mindset, Gene once again realizes that the rivalry was always one-sided, and that Finny is his best friend who he must be genuine towards. When recalling their times at Devon, Gene thinks, “It was there that I had done it, but it was here that I would have to tell it. I felt like a wild man who had stumbled in from the jungle to tear the place apart” (Knowles 69). Clearly, confessing to Finny is not something Gene is excited about, and he is extremely nervous for what might come of his confessions. Despite this, the mature Gene knows telling Finny what he has done is the right thing to do, and he does. Finny’s coming of age, on the other hand, is less likely to be discussed, for his immaturity and innocence continues to blind him from the truth that Gene has complicated feelings towards him. Gene is able to mature by transitioning from keeping a secret to revealing it, but Finny does not accept the revelation and thus does not mature. 

A coming of age theme is prominent throughout John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace, especially within the character Gene as he makes reckless decisions and withholds secrets. His indignance towards Finny’s popularity causes him to injure his best friend, which he regrets for a long time afterward. Additionally, after jouncing the limb, Gene attempts to hide the story from others, including Finny. His maturity is attained when he comes to the consequences of his actions, and when his secret is revealed. Finny, however, remains innocent and whimsical throughout the story, and does not mature like Gene does. Gene’s character carries the coming of age theme throughout the novel.