What comes to mind when the word 'innocence' is brought up? Does it conjure images of
carefree boys playing together in a game they concocted themselves? Would one think of best
friends laying upon a beach and watching a sunset together, their hearts devoid of malice and
ill intent? The pictures the mind paints when people speak of 'innocence' are singular to the
person imagining. If one can pinpoint innocence to a few images, what happens when those images
are shattered as if they were a spiteful mirror? Innocence could be called a mirror of illusions. We
see what is there and added in to the background are the serene and peaceful selfless scenes of
In A Separate Peace the broken shards of this mirror litter the ground that the characters
tread upon. Gene seems a blameless enough protagonist. Striving for success at school through
his academics and fitting in to a group of friends easily, who would think him to intentionally
cripple the boy he calls his best friend? Reading the words "Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a
step toward him, and then my knees bent and a I jounced the limb" breaks the fragile sense of
Gene's naivete to the reader completely.Gene says to himself "You and Phineas are even already
You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone." What can be said
about Gene's mentality? He's so blinded by his misjudgments of Finny's motives that he lets his
innocence slip away into a puddle of hate and malice for his best friend. His harmlessness drowns
when he realizes, after jouncing Finny off the limb to crash into the riverbank, he has a strong
capacity for violence and destructiveness. No longer can Gene hide behind his illusions. The
days are dreary as Finny is no longer there to 'paint' the serene and comforting pictures that Gene
clings to. That is the only thi...