A Separate Peace Internal Conflict

Everyone has to fight a battle, whether that’s internally, externally, or both. Many people fight internal wars, and have scars similar to those on the outside. Internal battles can sometimes be overlooked, since the wounds aren’t visible to those around them, but sometimes these wounds can be deeper on the inside than they are on the outside. The book A Separate Peace touches on the struggles of internal and external wars and the toll they take on the human mind. The universal theme of internal war is predominant in A Separate Peace, and affects not only every character in the book, but everyone reading as well. Internal wars are prevailing in A Separate Peace, because the plot was most affected by the battles fought by the characters on the inside. One of these instances was when Gene’s inner conflict took over, so he ended up hurting others. Throughout the story, Gene struggles with

For example, Finny had to deal with both internal and external struggles, and the internal one took a much bigger toll on his well-being. Although he was injured and could no longer participate in sports, he soon found enjoyment in preparing Gene for the 1944 Olympics. However, it was always his dream to serve his country, and when he wrote to the branches and kept getting rejected, it caused grief. “...’They all gave me the same answer after they saw the medical report on me. The answer was no soap. We can’t use you.’” (Knowles 190). This quote shows how bitter Finny was after receiving rejection after rejection. He didn’t tell anyone that he was writing to the branches trying to enlist, and when he finally admitted to Gene what he had been doing, you saw a different side to him. Finny was normally an optimistic, happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but this internal conflict he had with himself brought out his more mellow