A Separate Peace Final Assessment

The narrator's tone towards Phineas is quite calm. He seems to be fairly indifferent to

Finny’s death.Throughout the excerpt, no where does he state any feelings about Finny’s death.

He says he “had broken” Finny and Finny was his “enemy”, but he never talks about his feelings

towards Finny’s death, making it seem like he does not care.

The narrator’s tone towards the war is also fairly indifferent and calm. He does not care

about the war because to him, the war is over. With the “enemy” (Finny) dead, his war has

ended. When he says, “I was ready for the was, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute

to it...Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him”, it shows he is done with the “war”. This

reveals a theme in the book, selfishness. The narrator was too caught up in the war with Finny

that when he killed Finny, he did not care about anything else. He does not care about the war

because he is too selfish.

The tone of the narrator makes the mood of the passage very calm. It feels very relaxed as

if there is nothing left. The vocabulary also adds to mood, like when words like “ajar” and

“abandoned” are used.

In conclusion, the narrator’s tone towards Finny’s death and the war is calm and

indifferent. This makes the mood of the passage calm and relaxed. This all of this contributes to

the meaning, that with Finny dead and “war” over, the narrator has reached a “separate peace.”