A Separate Peace, a novel by John Knowles, opens with the narrator revisiting the Devon School located in New Hampshire, the school he attended fifteen years ago. Visiting sites such as the marble staircase and the tree by the river causes his memories to flood back. Gene, the narrator, remembers the summer of 1942 when he was attending the school, which was during the Second World War. Over the course of that idyllic summer, sixteen-year-old Gene befriends his roommate, Phineas, who is also known as Finny. While Gene is one who follows the school rules diligently, Finny ostensibly enjoys breaking such rules. In the first three chapters of John Knowles' A Separate Peace, the characters Gene and Finny appear to be the best of friends. However, Gene's resentment at feeling forced to engage in activities of Finny's devising, Gene's responses when he thinks Finny is getting in trouble, and...