A Separate Peace

The day after their adventures at the tree, Mr. Prud’homme, a substitute teacher for the Summer Session, stops by their room. Skipping dinner is against the rules, and the boys have missed nine meals over the past two weeks. Finny explains enthusiastically that they had been swimming and had to watch the sunset and see some friends “on business” (17). As Prud’homme listens and becomes less stern, Finny keeps charming him, more for to win him over than to escape punishment. Finny hopes for “a flow of simple, unregulated friendliness between them, [as] such flows were one of Finny’s reasons for living” (18). Finny asserts that they had to jump out of the tree in preparation in case the draft age was lowered, since Gene and Finny are about to be seventeen. After listening to Finny’s congenial, persuasive babble, Prud’homme lets the incident go.

Gene describes Finny’s “calm ignorance of the rules [combined] with a winning urge to be good” and the way he “seemed to love the school, truly and deeply, and never more than when he was breaking the regulations, a model boy who was most comfortable in the truant’s corner” (19). Gene credits Finny with confounding the faculty, who subsequently loosens restrictions on the rest of their class. Additionally, Gene suggests that, at age sixteen, their class “reminded them what peace was like” (19). Although the boys are registered for the draft, they have not undergone the medical examinations that will classify them as draftees or exempt. Gene adds, “We were careless and wild, and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to preserve” (19). Finny personifies this sentiment.

After Prud’homme leaves, Finny gets dressed. He dons a pink shirt, which, to Gene’s surprise, he announces will be his “emblem” (20). Although Gene warns him that people will think he is a “fairy” (20), Finny doesn’t care. He tells Gene that he is wearing the shirt to celebrate the recent bombing of central Europe. And while most boys at the school would be unable to wear the shirt without fear of bullying, Finny can get away with it. He even amuses the teachers with his rationale for wearing the shirt. Gene calls Finny’s ability to charm anyone “hypnotism” (21) and admits to a bit of harmless jealousy. That afternoon, the boys and their class attend the “traditional term tea” (21), hosted by the interim headmaster for the summer, Mr. Patch-Withers, and his wife. While most of the boys are ill at ease in the formal setting, Finny is comfortable, and he steers the conversation to the war.

Finny asserts, “‘I think we ought to bomb the daylights out of them, as long as we don’t hit any women or children or old people, don’t you?’” (22). He adds hospitals, schools, and churches to the list of things to be preserved, and Mrs. Patch-Withers chimes in that museums and works of art must be protected as well, “if they are of permanent value” (22). Irritably, Mr. Patch-Withers reminds them that the military’s enormous bombs are hardly precise, as evidenced by the destruction that occurred when Germany bombed Amsterdam. Entertained by the debate, Finny unbuttons his jacket, accidentally revealing that he has inadvertently used a Devon School tie as a replacement for his belt that day. As Mr. Patch-Withers becomes red-faced with anger, Finny splutters a weak defense, claiming that he wore it because it matches the shirt. Since he is wearing the shirt to celebrate the bombing in Central Europe, the tie symbolizes the school’s involvement in the war.

Mr. Patch-Withers calls Finny’s excuse “illogical” but calms down, adding, “‘That’s probably the strangest tribute this school has had in a hundred and sixty years’” (24). Finny admits that he didn’t “think of that when [he] put it on this morning” (24), adding that he’s glad he put on something in place of a belt so that his pants didn’t fall down in front of Mr. Patch-Withers and his wife. Mr. Patch-Withers gives in, laughing. Gene is disappointed that the conflict ceases but tells himself that he “just wanted to see some more excitement” (24). After the party, Finny, who “never left anything alone, not when it was well enough, not when it was perfect” (25), suggests that they go jump into the river to clear their heads after so much talking. Gene suggests sarcastically that Finny did most of the talking himself, musing that this is his “sarcastic summer” and “it was only long after that [he] recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak” (25).

As Finny and Gene walk by the river, Finny comments, “‘I don’t really believe we bombed Central Europe, do you?’” (25).Gene agrees. In his narration, Gene elaborates that the bombing seems:

unreal to us here, not because we couldn’t imagine it—a thousand newspaper photographs and newsreels had given us a pretty accurate idea of such a sight—but because our place here was too fair for us to accept something like that (25).

As they approach the tree, Finny asks Gene if he is still afraid to jump. Gene deflects but agrees to jump first. Finny suggests, “‘We’ll jump out of the tree to cement our partnership’” (25). Then he adds that they ought to form a “suicide society” (25) that requires members to jump from the tree. Gene concurs, and they call their new club “The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session” (25). Before Gene can jump, he suddenly begins to lose his balance. Finny grabs his arm, steadying him. Later, Gene realizes that if Finny hadn’t saved him, he might have broken his back or even died.

Although Finny saved Gene’s life, Gene notes that he was only on the branch in the first place because of Finny. Their secret society becomes very popular, as Finny doesn’t mention to their pledges that it’s a new club, as “[s]chools are supposed to be catacombed with secret societies and underground brotherhoods, and as far as they knew here was one which had just come to the surface” (29). They meet every night, and as the charter members, Finny and Gene have to begin each meeting by jumping from the tree. Gene complains that he never got used to it and was afraid every time, but if he didn’t jump, he would have “lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable” (29). Finny is unhappy about the school’s summer athletics offerings, but Gene points out that it could be worse. The seniors have to take part in calisthenics, a physical conditioning program designed to prepare them for the military.

Finny, followed by Gene and their society of boys, heads over to the calisthenics field. A ten-foot wooden tower, where the calisthenics teacher usually oversees the class, sits empty. Finny finds a heavy medicine ball—designed for strength training—and announces that the ball is all one needs to play a sport. Finny suggests, “‘I think it’s about time we started to get a little exercise around here, don’t you?’” (31). The boys invent a sport called blitzball (based on one boy’s idea that they call it blitzkrieg ball as an homage to the war). Finny announces various rules, including that there are no teams: “we’re all enemies” (31). Gene remembers that the game became extremely popular on campus that summer and that some version of blitzball is still played at Devon. But Finny, who “had unconsciously invented a game which brought his own athletic gifts to their highest pitch” (34), is especially good. With pride in his roommate and best friend, Gene describes Finny’s ability to “shine with everyone, he attracted everyone he met” (34).

According to Gene:

Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person “the world today” or “life” or “reality” he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past (34).

For Gene, this moment is the four years of World War II. During the war, resources are scarce, and “nothing in America stands still for very long, including the people, who are always either leaving or on leave” (34). Adults see sixteen-year-old boys for their likely military future. Citizens listen to the news multiple times every day, and “there is something unpatriotic” (37) about enjoying luxuries. Only servicemen can travel overseas, and colors other than “a dull, dark green called olive drab […] risk being unpatriotic” (37). Physical feats, such as excellence at sports, are uncelebrated unless they are preparation for military training.

One day during the Summer Session, Finny realizes that the school’s swimming record has been unbroken since before they arrived at Devon. With only Gene to witness, Finny breaks the record by .7 seconds. Gene suggests that they invite the coach and necessary onlookers the next day so that Finny can officially take the record, but Finny declines. As Gene remembers, he wonders why Finny refused the honor. Was it to impress him? This event “made Finny seem too unusual for—not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were few relationships among us at Devon not based on rivalry” (40). Finny insists that “the only real swimming is in the ocean” (40) and persuades Gene to break school rules and bike to the beach. After a day enjoying the seaside, they find a spot on the beach to spend the night. Before falling asleep, Finny tells Gene that he is his “best pal,” even though “exposing a sincere emotion nakedly like that at the Devon School was the next thing to suicide” (43). Gene notes that he should have returned the sentiment, but didn’t.