A seperate peace

In Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, Gene is portrayed as an intelligent student who is motivated by academics. He is also a thinker that considers a situation from all sides before making a decision. Gene is also a person who follows all the rules and regulations. He always obeys his teachers, studies hard, never misses a class, and makes excellent grades. He does not really enjoy sports, for he is not a good athlete. While …

…his heart is not in it. He cannot even think about killing a person, even the enemy. He has fought one war, his own personal battle and that war ended with a horrible death. Gene proves that he has great difficulty getting over the loss of Finny. Even after fifteen years, he has come back to Devon to come visit the two frightening places the First Building and the tree that hangs over the river.