The Differences and Similarities Between Finny and Marilyn

John Knowle’s A Separate Peace and Tom Godwin’s Cold Equations both contain characters dealing with death and the choices made in life. The central characters, Finny and Marilyn, face death and deal with the decisions that place them in that position. Although Finny and Marilyn encounter striking similarities in their inability to become an adult, they diverge in their roles with authority. The main characters compare in their in ability to mature. Both …

…her naivety, thus ensuing her death. The results of these characters’ choices differs as well. Finny defies authority, so that he can manage to do “whatever he wants” (19 ). Marilyn gets “jettisoned into space” and dies after she smuggles herself into the closet of a spacecraft (12). While Finny and Marilyn parallel each other in terms of their never ending childhoods, Finny resists authority, which contrasts greatly with Marilyn’s innocence in terms of her rule breaking.