A Separate Peace

            In John Knowles' A Separate Peace, Finny fits the classification of a tragic hero wonderfully. The character named Finny is courageous and bold, just as a tragic hero should be. One of the greatest philosophers of all time, Aristotle, defines a tragic hero as someone who: is essentially a moral and good person, has a hamartia, and moves from a high position to a lower position. Being the good person that he is, Finny gradually moves down the list, accomplishing the feat of being a tragic hero.
             Finny is truly an inspirational leader. Everything he does is in the best interest of others. For example, when the students at Devon were bored during the summer, Finny develops a new game that he calls blitzball. "Blitzball was the surprise of the summer. Everybody played it."" [p.31] This shows the great extent of influence that Finny had on his fellow peers. Finny always shows his true self to everyone because he has nothing to hide. These are the types of things that are included in having good morals. When Gene thought Finny was trying to sabotage his chances of becoming valedictorian, Gene was very wrong. Gene realized that Finny "had never been jealous- [p.51] of Gene and that "there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality of he."" [p.51] A great thing about Finny is that he is very unselfish and modest. When he broke the school's swimming record, Finny never bragged about it. He didn't even want other people to know. He told Gene, "I just wanted to see if I could do it."" [p.35] This shows that he is definitely not arrogant or haughty. He looks upon Gene as being his best friend so puts a lot of trust in him. .
             Putting too much trust in someone or something could prove to be harmful to you. Finny's fatal flaw is his inability to accept other people's wrongdoings. He puts too much trust and faith in goodness of the world. There comes a time when you have to face reality and deal with it face-to-face.