A theme expressed in A Separate Peace is the youth of the environment and the people that inhabit it. Finny truly symbolizes the youth of children in today’s world. His playful nature and his attitude of “I never get in trouble” is the reason why he resembles children. They believe that they can do whatever they please and can remain out of “timeout.” Another theme in the novel is friendship, involving Gene and Finny. They both admire each other, but of course there is always jealousy in the relationship. Gene is jealous of Finny’s amazing athletic ability, his way of getting out of trouble all the time, and his popularity around the entire school. Finny is jealous of Gene because of his scholar ability. Finny wants Gene’s work ethic of studying for each test and doing his homework every night. Gene obviously wants to be more like Finny than Finny would want to be Gene. His jealously led him into even acquiring Finny’s pink shirt and wearing it in their dorm. The friendship that Gene and Finny is very grand, as they are so jealous of each other yet they still stay in the same room. There have been multiple complications in their friendship, but they stay together through their hardships.