A Seperate Peace - the changes that gene goes through in his life
...tly visits two places that had the most impact on his life, a marble staircase in one of the academic buildings, and a tree outside on the bank of the river. Then the book flashes back to when Gene first arrives at the Devon School. At this time, he is only interested in his studies and doesn’t have fun. He tries to become valedictorian of his graduating class. His only competition happens to be Chet Douglas. When he starts to hang out with Finny, a rebellious boy who can virtually get away with anything, Gene blames Finny for depriving him of his studies after he fails a test. After hanging out with Finny Gene goes through his first change, he starts to have fun. For example, Finny is gets him to jump out of the tree on the bank of the river. Also the boys invent a group called the Super Suicide Society of the summer session. At every meeting, Finny and Gene have to jump out of the tree into the river. This is the first change Gene goes through. After Gene starts to hang out with Finny he starts to go through his second change. When he sees how good Finny is at sports, he becomes competitive. He competes with Finny over virtually everything. Even in the game they invent, Blitzball, he competes with him. When it comes to grades, Gene is better at that, but Finny can beat Gene in any sport. An example of Gene being competitive is when he signs up as assistant crew manager. The reason why he did this is because he wanted to compete with Finny. Then, when Gene and Finny are in the tree, gene shakes the branch and Finny falls and breaks his leg, thus leaving him unable to do sports. Finny didn’t want to believe Gene was the one who caused it but he did. When Finny can no longer do any sports, he helps Gene train for the 1944 Olympics. Gene at heart feels bad about Finnie’s leg being broken but is happy that he is now in the spotlight. This is the second change that occurs. The third change that occurs in Gene happens because of two things, one being the war and the other being Finny breaking his leg and dying. First, Gene starts to realize that the war is coming closer to home. When he firs...