A Seperate Peace

A Seperate Peace wasn't one of my favorite books. I felt like the book never changed tones to show things like the climax, it just all seemed like everything was standstill. The only part that kept me interested was when Phineas died and I think it kept me interested because of the way he died. I didn't know you could die from bone marrow. I think Gene is the reason Phineas died. If it wasn't for Gene's jealousy of Phineas, then Gene would have never made Phineas fall from the tree. Also has anyone else notice that at least one person died in every book we read?

I think my favorite character of the book was Phineas. I liked Phineas because he just loved the competition of things and didn't care if there was a winner or loser. An example is when he invented Blitzball because everyone compete with everything they had, but no one wins. I also think Phineas' perspective on competition shows his perspective on other people. He didn't look down on anybody he always thought of the best in people and considers no one as his enemy. I think that is why Phineas believed that there was no war because since he didn't have enemies he didn't know what they were. I also liked how Phineas really never got mad. He always seemed to be calm in any situation, at least until the end before he died.

I think a major theme in the book was being your own enemy. The war seemed to be the reason why the characters became their own enemy. Gene states that he was in his own war at Devon, and he killed his enemy there. The envious side of him was his enemy and it made him push Phineas off of the branch. Phineas was his own enemy because he was too innocent. His innocence could have led to his death because he was in a war-torn world, and he was too good for that. I guess you could say that everybody is there own worst enemy, because everyone creates their own enemy that they must go to "war" with.