Finny's Prominent Attributes and Qualities.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles describes a childhood story in the perspective of a character named Gene Forester. Gene speaks about his adolescent life and the incidents he endured at Devon Prep, the private school he attended. The story takes place in the summer of 1942. Gene's best friend named Finny is very rambunctious and together they spend their teenage years always stumbling upon new adventures. The characteristics of Finny create him to be an outstanding character in the novel. He is a natural born athlete and loves enduring in physical activities. With Finny's extraordinary athletic skill, he often wins or is the star of the team. In spite of this, he does not boast about his victories, and he acts in a very mature and modest fashion. Additionally, Finny tends to be a very shrewd and sly individual. He slides himself out of many school-related troubles. This characteristic greatly adds to Finny's overall disposition. However, Finny has one blemish. Although his intentions are pure at heart, he often unconsciously attempts to take charge over his friends especially Gene. .
The love for sports is second nature to Finny. He always tries his best to succeed, yet he never swaggers about his achievements. Gene describes Finny in the beginning of the novel; he depicts how his back muscles work as a panther. The story continues detailing the day when Gene and Finny take a stroll to the Devon Prep swimming pool. Finny attempts to break the school record. He accomplishes the task on his first try. After the sprint, Finny humbly states, "Swimming in pools is screwy anyway. The only real swimming is in the ocean." Finny politely asks Gene not to mention the swimming record that Finny clandestinely broke. As one can easily see, modesty is definitely a quality of Finny. After he broke the record, he acted as if it was "no big deal" and changed the subject but asking Finny if he would enjoy going to the beach.