Beginning of Essay
We all confront antagonists in everyday life. In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, Gene, the protagonist confronts several different antagonists as he tries to mature throughout the book. The antagonists Finny, the war, and Gene’s own inner issues affect how fas ....

Middle of Essay
.... to enlist in World War II. When Finny found out about Gene joining the war he wasn’t supportive of his decision to enlist. That slowed down Gene’s maturing because in order to mature you can’t back down on your decisions just to please another person.. However, Finny isn’t the only thing that affects Gene and his maturing process. The war acts as an antagonistic force toward Gene because it forces him to mature too fast. When Genes friend, Leper is recruited from Devon, Gene realizes that the war is real and it does affect him, especially when Leper comes back from the war crazy. This affects his maturing because he is seeing som ....