theories on "a separate peace".

So, I just finished reading A Separate Peace and I'm emphatically pleased with the resulting Summer Reading Project.

Anyway, while reading the book, I stressed to myself that I read for leisure, and as a rule don't force myself to think too much about what this or that means. Sometimes those thoughts would occur to me unbidden, but I had never asked myself to invent those thoughts.

I had previously enlisted in the help of SparkNotes (as an exploration tool - not as a cheat site) and expected most of my work would be done AFTER reading the novel.

But a funny thing happened - I really didn't need that much help. The thoughts seemed to flow, and as they did, I grew accustomed to one recurring thought that I really liked: What if Phineas wasn't a boy, but an extension of Gene's mind?

That is to say, Gene had two inner beings. Phineas - the gentle, loving, innocent child who went to Devon School; and Gene - the headstrong, intelligent, and enemy-making grown-up about to be shipped off to war.

Notice that Phineas disappeared right when Gene had to grow up (when he had to enlist in the Military) and as Finny gets more and more ill, the war becomes more real and life-like around Gene and Devon School.

Another weapon in the artillery of this argument is that Gene mentions several times that they are "one". This could be taken in an assortment of ways - the last of these not being they had too close of a friendship, they were merely different parts of the same person.

And of course, that last statement I just made could be taken separate ways. They had conflicting beliefs, like you may have when you are arguing with yourself whether or not to do something (for Gene it was whether the war was real or not) and sometimes one part of you wins an argument and you do something you probably shouldn't (when Gene and "Phineas" leave the school and go to the beach.)

Well, that's my take on things. Take it with a grain of salt - I may just be crazy.