In John Knowles novel A Separate Peace the two main characters, Gene and Finny, go through multiple changes, physically and mentally. One of Gene’s changes involves his relationship to Finny after his accident. It seemed like Gene was scared to talk to Finny because of the amount of guilt he felt towards ruining Finny’s athletic ability forever. Even though Gene’s mind is scarred from the horrible incident, Finny’s body is scarred from his fall. His leg completely shattered, immediately turning him from an athletic phenomenon into a handicap with a wheelchair. This leaves Finny helpless in society considering that he doesn’t try in academics. The only thing Finny actually was able to excel in was anything sports related.

Another major change that happened during the novel was Finny’s point of view on the war. At the beginning of the book, he believed that the war was made up by a bunch of fat men. But when Gene let Finny know how the war affected Leper, he almost immediately forgot about the fat men and began to face reality for the first time. This reality affected Finny so much that it led straight to his death. With Finny’s death, Gene faces the truth that the war is more dangerous than he ever thought in the the peacefulness of the school.