- Gene Forrester: A Separate Peace is told from Gene's point of view. He focuses on and succeeds at academics. He envies his roommate and best friend Finny's graceful, easy athleticism and social prowess but also admires these very features. Gene is from "three states from Texas;” being somewhat unaccustomed to Northeastern culture, he is an outsider of sorts at Devon. Gene shakes a branch which causes his best friend, Finny, to fall from a tree and break his leg, but it is ambiguous whether the move is deliberate or not.
- Phineas (Finny): Gene's friend and roommate; an incorrigible, good-natured, carefree, athletic, daredevil type. In Gene's opinion, Finny can never leave anything well enough alone and can always get away with anything. He always sees the best in others, seeks internal fulfilment free of accolades, and shapes the world around himself to fit his desires. He is a prodigious athlete, who succeeds in every sport until his leg is shattered in his fall from the tree.
- Brinker Hadley: Brinker is a classmate and friend of Gene and Finny. He ceaselessly strives for order during the Winter Session at Devon. Brinker wants to get to the bottom of Finny's accident, but it is unclear if he intended for the investigation to be a practical joke. He organizes the "midnight trial" to confront and to accuse Gene of causing Finny's accident. During the questioning of Finny by Brinker, Finny changes the story to make Gene appear innocent of his actions in the tree. Finny cites Lepellier as an unreachable witness. Brinker ultimately reconciles with Gene, who appears to forgive him both for his part in Finny's injury and for the trial. Brinker was based on Knowles' Phillips Exeter Academy classmate and friend Gore Vidal.[2][3]
- Elwin "Leper" Lepellier: Leper is Finny and Gene's friend and a key member of the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. He is the first student in his class to enlist in the military. Late in the novel, Leper enlists in the Ski Troops, but is discharged due to being unable to sleep during basic training. He is a witness at Gene's "trial" and testifies that he saw saw someone jounce the limb when Finny fell but does not state who did it because he hates Brinker and thinks it is a trap.
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