War is a huge effort to settle a conflict. It is a fight for beliefs peace of mind, and a common good. A war is fought to make some type of change. Leper Lepellier, Finny, and Gene are three boys who attend Devon school for boys in 1942-1943, during WWII. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, each of the boys faces the reality of war and struggles to find peace within himself in his own special way.
             Leper Lepellier is an odd young man. In his room are collections of snails and overgrown ivy. He is somewhat of a loner. He goes off cross-country skiing by himself and is lacking in people skills. Leper joins the war after seeing a video on ski troops. He later runs away from war because he is going to be discharged from the army due to mental illness. He then struggles to find peace in himself, coping with the facts that he has run away from war and that he has a mental illness. When he returns to school, he finds peace again.
             Phineas puts on an act, making people believe that the war is a hoax. He tells people that it is just a bunch of fat rich men making everything up. In the meantime, while he is telling everyone these this, he is writing to the navy, marines, army, coast guard, the merchant marine, and General DeGaulle personally, asking if there is any way he can fight in the war. They all tell him no. "What good are you in a war with a busted leg!" (181). Finny tells all those things to keep his pride and to maybe make himself believe what he says is true. Finny is also in denial about the incident in the tree with Gene. He knows Gene did it on purpose, and is conflicted with the thought that maybe his best friend did this out of hatred. His mind is then set at ease when Gene tells him that he does not hate Finny, and that yes, he did do it on purpose, but the reason for it was not hatred.
             Gene is always in the shadows of his best friend Finny. To Gene, Finny is better looking, more liked, an a
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