Separate Peace Essay, Research Paper

It was a hot and humid summer, while World War Two was in progress. The summer

holidays was the time when all the friends were together at the Devon School.

The students at this school were enjoying themselves either studying, doing

leisure activities or just relaxing under the hot sun. One special group of

friends usually played lacrosse throughout the summer but this activity became

obsolete with newer things. Phineas the daring athlete told his group of friends

to follow him. He led them to a tall tree by the river. Phineas slowly climbed

up the tree, not thinking about the height or the danger of falling from the

tree. As Phineas stood on the branch, he jumped cautiously making a sharp dive

into the muddy river. He encouraged the others to jump too, but everyone refused

from great freight. Then Phineas really pressured Gene a lonely intellectual

into jumping off the tree. Gene tried to refuse but he wasn?t strong enough.

Gene felt like he had no choice, so he climbed the tree and slowly jumped into

the river once he was at the top. As he landed, he smiled and enjoyed the thrill

of that experience. After Gene came out of the river he was praised by everyone

around because of his bravery. Phineas and Gene were room mates at this all male

school and their relationship as friends was getting stronger each day because

Gene admired Phineas for his bravery and Phineas admired Gene because he

listened to him. Phineas decided to make a club called the Super Suicide Society

of the Summer Session. Every night these members of the club met in a private

area and they talked about the next day, sports, but mostly about the war.

Further on during the novel Gene became more like Phineas. Phineas was always

late for classes and never serious which meant trouble. Phineas was against the

fighting that was occurring over seas because many young men were dying. Finny a

friend to Phineas and Gene was an excellent skier. The Army needed people like

Finny, so Finny considered joining the war. This upset Phineas because he

didn?t want his friends or anyone to join the bloody war. One day Gene and

Phineas went to the tree again. As the two stood at the top of the tree, Gene

pushed Phineas into the river. Instead of falling into the river, Phineas fell

on the muddy ground beside the river. The next week Gene went to visit Phineas

at the hospital. Phineas didn?t feel that Gene was responsible for the fall

that he had but Gene felt that he was. Almost a month went by and Phineas came

back to school. All his friends welcomed his return. That night the friends

talked about the war, and Phineas couldn?t take the opinions the others had

about the war. He angrily stormed off with his crutches. As Phineas was going

down the stairs, he fell and hurt his leg again. Phineas was taken to the

hospital. This time the Doctors had to amputate his leg. As the operation was

under going Phineas? heart stopped because he had too much morphine for his

pains. At Phineas? funeral Gene felt like he was responsible for Phineas?

death. Days had gone by and Gene wanted to get away from the Devon School, since

it brought far too many bad memories. He enlisted into the army to join Finny

and many other?s.