Similarities Between Good And Evil In John Knowles A Separate Peace

Good and Evil are cosmic forces at play in everything that occurs in life. In the novel A

Separate Peace the main character, Gene, can be seen as evil. Gene's best friend Finny on the

other hand can be seen as the 'good guy'. Throughout the novel there are many struggles

between good and evil, both big and small. The three largest jabs are most definitely when

Gene, without reason, starts thinking Finny is out to get him, another is obviously Gene

jousting the branch Finny was on to make him fall, lastly when Gene is hiding by the doctor's

window to hear what happened to Finny, and incredulously enough he starts to laugh

uncontrollably. Finny has to suffer at the hands of Gene, like often good suffers because evil is

there.

Towards the end of the novel Finny falls again due to Gene's scheming. Finny gets taken

to a medical facility, and Gene hides under Finny's window to hear the doctor. Suddenly Gene

starts laughing uncontrollably at Finny, and his predicament. Underneath Finny's window Gene

says "if I couldn’t get control of this laughing they would hear me in the room"(Knowles 99).

There we can finally see that Gene never cared about Finny even though Finny loved him like a

brother, and did no wrong to him. Only a heartless, self centered person would laugh at

someone in pain especially his fallen friend.

As hard as it is sometimes evil things or people can destroy good works. The novel A

Separate Peace definitely has the theme of good vs evil. The many struggles between good and

evil can be observed in Gene and Finny's relationship.Wether Gene is trying to see 'fault' in

Finny, or he is hurting his good friend Finny, or being heartless about Finny's pain and

suffering. Gene is definitely to be full of an evil nature, and Finny filled a sense of joy and

goodness. The battle of good vs evil is seen everywhere, in movies, books, and most definitely,