What is the theme of A Separate Peace?

One major theme in the novel, A Separate Peace, is that of competition. Finny is an athlete and the idea of athlete suggests to the reader that he would be highly competitive. Even Gene, his best friend, thinks that Finny is competitive. However, it turns out that Finny is the least competitive person on campus. In fact, Finny will often invent games that cause people to battle against one another, not each other as teams.

Gene sees Finny as competitive and this causes him to compete with him academically in order to feel equal in their relationship. When Gene learns that Finny is not competing with him, he becomes confused and causes Finny to break his leg. If not for the idea of competition, Gene might not have acted as he did, making competition a theme of the novel.