A Separate Peace is a different type of voyage of discovery.
             Here we have two boys, Gene and Phineas, or Finny, and it is Gene who will
             be on his own voyage of self-discovery. Gene is a serious boy, perhaps too
             serious, and he hasn't really lived much or experienced much. Finny is a
             sort of mischievous, impish boy who will lead Gene out of his stodgy shell.
             Finny is a force of life, a sort of juvenile Falstaff, who wants to
             experience everything life has to offer and who is not afraid to stand out
             in the crowd; in fact, this is what he loves most. To use a quote from a
             story which is similar, Dead Poets' Society, he wants "to suck the marrow
             out of life". Gene is more reluctant; he is too straightlaced and
             conventinal. But Finny reaches into Gene's soul to drag out the fun side of
             him. Gene resists, but still gets caught up in Finny's crazy schemes and
             adventures. Whether Gene envies Finny's careless side or despises it is
             never clear at first. Only the accident on the tree branch will bring this
             into focus. It is only after Finy dies as a result of this accident, that
             Gene realizes that he may have pushed Finny. Why? Could it be that Gene
             could not tolerate to lead his self-discovery to its conclusion? Was Gene
             trying to kill that adventurous free-spirit buried deep down in his own
             character by killing off Finny? That is the major question in this novel
             both private school situations (like Lord of the Flies and Dead Poets)
             therefore supposedly well-off kids, future pillars of society
             One in the outside world, other in closed off school setting
             Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace are both "coming of age" stories,
             but they are rather different in how the main characters arrive at discovery
             of their own selves and the realities of the adult world they are entering.
             ...