Through out the book A Separate Peace, Gene, his growth and harmony seem to change. His opinions, and outlook on life also seem to change as his relationship with Phineas does likewise. Gene’s self-perception changes from insecurity to imitation to independence as his relationship with Phineas changes. As the book begins, Gene is unsettled by Phineas and somewhat mystified by him. Like a legend from a western tale. As the book moves on and …showed first 75 words of 440 total…

…showed last 75 words of 440 total…fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever.” These are the three stages the book are written in, each representing a different feeling that Gene feels. INSECURITY, IMITATION, and INDEPENDENCE. All these feelings are based on the type of relationship that Gene and Finny had at each particular time in this book.