Finny the God

Peyton Kennedy

Kristen Retana

Finny the Godlike Figure

Finny is the peacemaker in the book A Separate Peace, he is a peaceful spirit and mind. Gene displays Finny as almost super-human. He's a mixture of a god, a super-athlete, and an earnest kid. We start to wonder, could anyone like this really exist? Could Finny possibly be everything Gene says, or is Finny someone who cannot be comprehended so much so that Gene over exaggerates.

Keeping in mind how unreliable the narrator is, it's hard to not be completely captured by the character of Finny. He's charismatic, a pure soul, highly skilled, and most important, vulnerable. Finny may be a hero, but he's far from invincible. In fact he’s somewhat destined to die. and his ability to be broken keeps him human in our eyes. But even as he’s human in our eyes in our minds we feel he represents a higher good. He greatly resembles the one high God. His personality, of being good, caring, forgiving, smart, and loving is all greatly in common with God. Much like God he is hurt by the ones he loves but he still forgives them and sees the good in them. For instance, on the beach when Finny openly stated that Gene is his best friend. He makes himself vulnerable, because Gene is the modern human and will use this to his advantage. Although he will hurt Finny, Finny will not leave him and will forgive him. Again and again, Gene hurts Finny emotionally. When he studies his hardest just to beat Finny in the Devon game, he does so quietly, not wanting Finny to understand him as he understands Finny.

Gene has a secret resentment for Finny, and takes advantage of Finny, mainly his trust. These qualities make Phineas who he is, but they also put him at risk. Just look at the things he says. "When you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love" (Chapter 8 Line 60). He can't possibly imagine his friend as having caused his accident, because he loves him too much. Finny pushes his memory of that...