Beginning of Essay
Gene Forrester's difficult journey towards maturity and the adult world is a main focus of the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. Gene's journey begins the moment he pushes Phineas from the tree and The process continues until he visits the tree fifteen ....

Middle of Essay
.... his true self until he finally reacts by jouncing the limb. Up in the tree, before the two friends are about to make their "double-jump", Gene sees Finny in this new light. He realizes that Finny feels no jealousy or hatred towards him and that Finny is indeed perfect in every way. Gene becomes aware that only he is the jealous one. He learns of his hatred and that he really is a "savage underneath". Over a long period of time Gene had been denying his feelings of hatred towards Finny. Now all of the eelings come back to him and he sees how terrible he really is. The realization that these feelings are one-sided causes Gene to to fall dram ....