Everyone matures in their lifetime because of one occurrence or event. A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a novel about the protagonist learning a life lesson or maturing in some aspect. Throughout the story, growth and maturity plays the biggest roll on Finny, Gene, and Leper. Finny matures into reality of the war throughout A Separate Peace. After Finny “shattered” his leg, Finny refuses to accept the concept of war (Knowles 53). Dr. Stanpole tells Finny, “Sports are finished” and Finny realizes that he could not participate in the war (63). Finny believes that “fat old men” created the war so people will not “crowd them out of a job” (115). Towards the end of the book Finny matures into the reality