A Separate Peace Topic A The theme suggested in the closing paragraph of the novel A Separate Peace is that people create their own enemy and then they defend themselves laboriously and obsessively against their imaginary enemy. They develop a particular frame of mind in order to allay the fear that arises while facing their nonexistent enemy. In the novel, the protagonist, Gene, tries to fight a war with his best friend, Finny, not realizing that the enemy he sees is not Finny but is his own insecurity. At the beginning Gene believes that Finny is actually his enemy who is trying to sabotage him. Gene