Betrayal In A Separate Peace

Some people find it difficult to differentiate between their friends and enemies and are left feeling hurt when they are betrayed or perceive to be betrayed by them. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene, a teenage boy who goes to boarding school during the start of World War II, struggles to truly identify his friends and enemies and what potential threats they are to him. He also has trouble finding his identity in a school where he is constantly being reminded of the war and the line between friends and enemies is blurred. Initially, Gene believed that his enemy was a distant foe across the ocean, but then he becomes his own worst enemy when he starts viewing himself as an extension of Finny and believing Finny is his real enemy, and
Gene has the realization (or belief) that Finny has been sabotaging him and wants to get ahead of him in whatever way possible. "It was all cold trickery, it was all calculated, it was all enmity." (53) Gene is questioning everything about his life as his world is changing around him. He is suspicious about Finny and now believes Finny is his enemy rather than the initial threat, the war. Gene is being trained by Phineas for the Olympics after Phineas’s injury. Gene has an idea implanted in his mind now that he is in some way part of or connected to Phineas even though he believes he is sabotaging him. "And I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas."(85) This is the first time we see that Gene really feels a connection or attachment to Finny. This could be the turning point in their relationship where he may begin to question Finny’s intentions either as a friend or as a possible enemy. He has not up until this point shown any real concern over his personal life except for maybe the slight questioning of Finny and this could be a sign that he is becoming slightly more aware. Gene now has the sudden idea that he should enlist for the war. He is making a rash decision without the guidance/influence that finny has over him. He wants to forget his past and run away. ...bitten off in an instant, and nothing left in my hands but spools of khaki which could weave only a plain, flat, khaki design, however twisted they might be." (100) Gene wants to completely shed his past self and go to war to be left with nothing but