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A Separate Peace is a different type of voyage of discovery. Here we have two boys, Gene and Phineas, or Finny, and it is Gene who will be on his own voyage of self-discovery. Gene is a serious boy, perhaps too serious, and he hasn't really lived much or experienced much. Finny is a sort of mischievous, impish boy who will lead Gene out of his stodgy shell. Finny is a force of life, a …

…to realize that adults and friends, the people in his world, are often hypocritical, and he can never rely on them. His final crisis, brought on by one stress after another, is provoked by an incident in which his little sister is witness to a flood of swearing and abuse. Holden literally falls apart and explodes in a fit of anger which is the culmination and boiling point of all his stresses, frustrations and disappointments.