Enemies of the Heart in a Separate Peace Dealing with enemies has been a problem since the beginning of time. In A Separate Peace by John Knowels, the importance of facing one's feelings and facing one's enemies is shown by Gene Forester, a student in Devon during World War II dealing with few human enemies, but his emotions create a much greater nemesis than anything else. human enemy. “I never killed anyone,” Gene had commented later in his adulthood, “and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was in service active all the time Devon; I killed my enemy there." In Devon, Gene had a best friend, Finny, they were roommates and did many activities together. Finny was never the culprit, but usually the catalyst for most of Gene's feelings, both good and bad. Gene was jealous of Finny's confidence, openness, modesty, superb athletic abilities, leadership skills, ability to deal with stress easily, happy-go-lucky attitude, people skills, and of course, his good looks . At the beginning of the story Finny demonstrated his openness when asked his height, he said 5 feet 8 1/2 inches, while Gene replied 5 feet 9 inches. Finny pointed out that they were the same height and that Gene shouldn't be ashamed of his true height. Later that day, Finney suggests they skip dinner to go swimming in the river. They are asked where they were on their return. Finny quickly replied that they were swimming in the river, which was forbidden, and they got away with it. Gene said the rules were bent a lot during the summer session, but it was actually Finny's skills that kept them out of trouble. Finny was very bold, as Gene many times wished he would be, on one occasion Finny wore a bright pink "t-shirt" dress which symbolized the first American bombing of Europe. Gene called him "fairy" but really envied him. Later Finny wore the school tie as a belt and when questioned stated that it represented "Devon at war". a plaque near the pool stating that A. Hopkins Parker held the record for swimming fastest across the pool, Finny took a look and thought he could beat it, so without any practice he jumped into the pool, Gene has timed and he beat it, just like that.