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There were two major things that led to Gene and Finny finding their “separate peace.” Obviously, their surroundings played a huge role. They were experiencing new things with the war coming into their lives. They didn’t know how to deal with it. So they created a separate peace. The other thing was the fact that Gene and Finny use the fact of having inner enemies to help find their separate peace. Gene didn’t really find his separate peace until he returned to the Devon School many years later. The first discovery was World War II. It symbolized conflict and enmity, or hatred. Gene felt that hatred was a natural part of adulthood. Most people fight in a private war against a private enemy in the novel. Even throughout peacetime, the boys are defending themselves against their individual enemy. Finny is the only boy that doesn’t have this problem. Finny refused to have hatred, or an enemy. He denied that the war existed because he didn’t have enmity. Finny found his separate peace within his denial. G