John Knowles 'A Separate Peace': Coming Of Age

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a coming of age story. During, the book the main characters Finny and Gene become adults through different events in their lives. Overall, Gene comes of age through jealousy, grief, and mentoring during this tumultuous time in his young life. In the beginning of the book, the overarching theme was jealous. Jealousy was evident from the very beginning between the two friend. It was clear that Finny was more, athletic, a better leader, and is more organized; compared to Gene who was more studious and unathletic. In the rising action of the novel, it was clear that Gene was becoming weary of Finny’s intentions but Finny’s intentions were good “I didn’t know you needed to study. I didn’t think you ever did.
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