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Finny is overjoyed to see Gene again, desperate to get back into the school routine and pretend nothing unusual has happened. Perhaps Gene\'s friendship means more to Finny than he thought--more than any of us thought. Sometimes it takes a prolonged absence from another person to permit one to appreciate that person with greater insight.
Finny watches with affection as Gene undresses. Gene revels in the spotlight of Finny\'s unbroken attention. That night Gene says his prayers with exceptional care. What do you suppose he is praying and wishing for? What is he thankful for? Notice Finny\'s vitality despite his invalid condition: \"He was sitting up in bed\" the next morning, \"as though ready to spring out of it, totally and energetically awake.\" Yet he reveals his new dependence on Gene when he says, \"Hand me my crutches, will you?\"
NOTE: Gene is more conscious of Finny\'s disability than Finny is. We\'ve talked about Gene\'s guilt; he has taken on quite a burden. Despite his joy at Finny\'s return, he still must cope with his abiding memories of the accident, and he\'s reminded of it every time he looks at Finny.
Suddenly Brinker bursts into the room. The last time he\'d seen Gene, in the aftermath of the snow shoveling, the two of them had resolved to enlist together. Now, with Finny\'s return, Gene\'s plans waver. Because Brinker is an impulsive person, he tends to barrel ahead with whatever\'s on his mind, without a care for obstructions. He has convinced himself that Gene conspired to get rid of Finny, and now he sneers that the \"plot\" has failed.
Finny is mystified; an embarrassed Gene tries to clear the air by explaining away and shrugging off his resolution of the previous night. With his support dwindling, Brinker too is relieved to back away from the plan to enlist.
At the core of their being, these boys fear the war. Wouldn\'t you? They grapple with it as a concept they don\'t quite understand. Seeing a group of young men, like them, packed into troop trains, and cheering them on, is by no means the same as being one of those young men on a train headed for an unknown destination.
The best-laid plans are dissipated in an instant as Brinker, Gene, and Finny indulge in early morning schoolboy horseplay. Gene has a revelation, one that springs forth out of a growing instinct: \"Phineas was shocked at the idea of my leaving. In some way he needed me.... He wanted me around. The war then passed away from me, and dreams of enlistment and escape and a clean start lost their meaning for me.\"
Can we place Finny and all he represents in direct opposition to the war and all it represents in Gene\'s mind?
So Gene retreats into the sanctuary of Finny\'s friendship. The accident has brought the two boys even more closely together.
NOTE: As we read of Gene\'s newfound peace of mind, we wonder how much he may have been searching for a way to cut down the competitive tension he had felt during the summer, and whether he thought the only way to reduce that tension was to bring Finny down to a less forbidding stature. As for Finny, we wonder whether he has ever been aware of himself as a threat to Gene simply by virtue of his prowess and natural skill. The story is fascinating because the more we read forward, the more we need to think back, to reevaluate past events in the light of new discoveries.
Gene begins to care more for Finny, to serve as his guide, trailblazer, and vigilant companion. Earlier, Gene had said he felt like he was \"part of\" Finny. His friend\'s infirmity is his, too; as they walk from building to building, Gene is painfully aware of the traps and pitfalls that wait for a person who can\'t completely control his movements. And every movement of Finny\'s reminds Gene of the way his friend used to be, how graceful and easy his steps once were, not so long ago, when he moved \"in continuous flowing balance.\"
Finny\'s stride may have changed, but his old instinct for disrupting routines obviously has not. By appearing at school he has already broken Gene\'s resolution. Now, on the wintry afternoon of his first day back, he suggests they cut class and go to the gym, the temple of sports, Finny\'s ideal then and now.
On the walk to the gym Gene sees how Finny pushes beyond his limits, suffering with every step, determined not to reveal his pain. Here is yet another reminder that there\'s a difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us--a theme of central importance to this story. This is a time in life when we\'re very concerned about our own self-image, and that\'s just as important for Finny as it is for anyone else. But Gene penetrates Finny\'s facade because the boys are so much closer now. He sees Finny\'s weakness because his friend is \"a poor deceiver, having had no practice.\"
Why do you suppose Finny wants so much to go to the gym, to sit in the locker room with the sports equipment and dirty uniforms scattered about, the smell of sweat and exertion hanging in the damp air? It must be a bittersweet moment for him as he rests breathless on a wooden bench, surveying the once familiar surroundings. To have been a great athlete and to know in your heart that for you \"sports are finished\" must be difficult to accept once and for all.
\"You\'re going to be the big star now,\" he says, turning to Gene, as though he were passing the baton to him in a relay race. \"You can fill any gaps or anything.\" What does Finny mean by gaps? Is he talking about Gene as his successor, grooming him to take over the athletic spot he had occupied?
NOTE: Finny is fighting with all his being to rebuild his world. He wants Gene to snap out of his guilt and depression, to stop punishing himself, and to take on new motivations. He wants to give Gene a constant pep talk that will turn him away from thoughts of war and the crew team. Because he has suffered, Finny reveals, he now has the right to take on more authority. Just when we think Gene is guiding Finny, Finny turns around and exercises considerable willpower over Gene. Each boy is reaching out with new threads to bind him to the other.
Gene grasps a chinning bar, and Finny tells him, \"Do thirty of them.\" Gene obeys as if he were the Finny of the past. Finny informs Gene he\'s going to coach him for the 1944 Olympics. And why not? Hasn\'t Finny always been a dreamer, an untiring creator of imaginary worlds, the boy who\'s never been able to accept things as they are? Gene gives himself over in service to Finny, and Finny in turn applies his influence to raise Gene as if he were his child more than his pal.
A comforting aura descends upon the story now that so much agony and tension are gone. Gene and Finny nurture each other; Gene tutors Finny in academic subjects, Finny tutors Gene in athletics. There\'s a new double direction to their relationship. Gene flowers and grows.
One morning, just before Christmas break, the boys are out early for their workout. Finny leans against a tree, supervising Gene\'s four laps around the quadrangle. For the first time, Gene gets what runners like to call a \"second wind,\" a breakthrough moment when you\'re feeling tired one second, then it\'s as if you were just starting to run. Finny notices it too, and he points it out to Gene as a sure sign of self-awareness, not just a matter of physical strength.
Up to this point Gene has always been a divided person, concentrating on developing his mental abilities at the expense of his body. Finny, the wise one, knows the importance of strength in both and sees the goal fulfilled now in Gene.
Finny is not embarrassed about telling Mr. Ludsbury, who has been secretly observing the boys, that Gene is \"aiming for the \'44 Olympics.\" As far as Finny is concerned--and much to Mr. Ludsbury\'s dismay--the war has nothing to do with their training program. Finny could care less about the war. \"He\'s really sincere, he thinks there\'s a war on,\" Finny says in \"simple wonder\" of Mr. Ludsbury.
How much more satisfying life is when all acceptance of war is banished from the mind! A Separate Peace is as much a novel against war as it is a story about friendship.
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