Much like the residents who return to the war-torn homes
as they try to salvage what they can, Gene Forrester of A Separate
Peace returns as a man to Devon School, a man from the "forest" to "capacious
Greek Revival temples" that impressively line the streets. He comes to unlock the myth
of Phineas in the Greek way by finding the beauty and hope in life, to rejoice in life.
Gene does this by facing the two fearful sites of his past, one of which is the tree,
"weary from age, enfeebled, dry." And, Gene realizes that "Nothing endures, not a tree,
not love, not even a death by violence." Gene is "changed" after seeing this tree from
which his rival, Phineas fell.
The other site which Gene
has feared is the marble stairway on which Finny has fallen in the First Academy
building outside the Assembly Hall.This is where the trial held by Brinker takes place
and Gene is accused of jouncing the limb. Disturbed that Gene could have deliberately
done so, Finny angrily leaves the Assembly Room and takes a terrible fall "clumsily down
the whie marble stairs."
It is only after seeing again
these two terrible sites that Gene can resolve his old internal conflicts and settle
things in his mind. Ultimately, Gene reconciles with his conscience his envy of Phineas
and the "something ignorant in his heart" that has caused him to hurt Finny. His only
peace is his willingness to be aware of his deliberate evil, the same "something
ignorant" that starts wars.
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