In a Separate Peace by John Knowles boys attend Devon school and experience many different feelings and emotions through their friendships. The theme of A Separate Peace is love/hate relations which are influenced by different personalities and change. Two friends Gene and Finny demonstrate their Love/hate relations throughout the novel by their thoughts and actions. These friends relations effect their life and the outcome of their future. .
Throughout the novel Gene and Finny have a great friendship but sometimes Gene has hateful feelings for Finny. During the summer session Gene dislikes certain situations Finny puts him in and begins to envy Finny because of his ability to get away with anything. This shows that Gene sometimes hates the situations that Finny thinks are fun such as going to a forbidden trip to the beach which causes him to end up failing a test and having to risk his life jumping from a tree. Gene also has a problem with jealousy for Finny which causes hate. Gene becomes paranoid and believes that all the activities that Finny makes Gene do is to take him away from studies so that Finny can be a better athlete than Gene and just as good as Gene academically. This shows that Gene has a hate for Finny because he is so good at so many things and is so popular. Gene has a hate for Finny being able to be better than him and Gene wants to at least be the same. Gene has a problem with jealously and is not as controlling as Finny which causes him to have hate. .
Even though Gene and Finny's relationship has some downs, there is still love in their friendship. Gene shows love for Finny by crying when he found out that Finny broke his leg and taking time to go visit him after the summer session to see how he is doing. This shows that Gene feels bad about being the cause of Finny's accident and has regret for his action. He feels sorry for Finny and shows his love by working his heart out to fulfill somebody else's dream by fulfilling his wishes.