Symbolic Wages of War Emily McCarthy 10th Grade

As children begin to age and minds start to mature, they are able to comprehend that the world can be a trying place full of crime, death, and war. The older a person gets, the more responsibilities and problems they will encounter. Some may never be involved in a physical war, but anyone can struggle with a symbolic war. In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Finny and Gene fight their own war, one that relates greatly to the war occurring in the outside world: the second world war. Throughout the plot, Finny and Gene manage to wage their own non-physical war, that contains just as much loss as a real one.

The jealousy that Gene has for Finny shapes their relationship into a battleground, accumulating physical and symbolic casualties along the way. Gene’s hatred of Finny leads him to jounce the limb of the tree branch that Finny is perched upon. Finny, who had such a bright future ahead of him full of athletic opportunities, is stripped of his dreams when his leg is shattered after falling. Therefore, Finny is the main casualty of Gene’s war. The lives lost in a real war may be greater in number than just one, Finny, Gene feels as if his own life has been stripped away after his best friend dies. Attending Finny’s funeral, Gene...