Whose Fault is It? In “A Separate Peace” the main character, Finny dies from complications of his leg injury. The death was unfortunate and unexpected, as well as, unnecessary. The fault cannot be put on one individual in particular; it was an accumulation error that ended in the death of an innocent child. Finny’s death wasn’t a fluke incident. His death was caused by a lack of faculty supervision over the students, failure to stop any further action after the boys disclosed they had jumped out of the tree to the administration, and a failure for the doctor to meet an acceptable level of care. Every August, when parents relinquish their children to be educated at Devon, they expect the school to continue to up hold its reputation as a safe haven for young boys. Devon has long been known for their exceptional academics and rigid rules meant to keep boys in line. When the Devon school relaxed their policies during the summer session, they violated the trust of the parents that enrolled their students there. Also, under law, they are obligated to uphold the duty of strict regulation of student activities or make it clear they are going to relax their disciplinary policies. Students started to notice that teachers “seemed to be modifying their usual attitude of floating, chronic disapproval.” (23) By not disclosing the fact they were lightening the limitations on students, Devon violated understood guidelines of operation and therefore endangered the safety of all students on campus.

The Devon administration is also at fault here. Evidence shows that the administrations knew that the boys were jumping out of the tree and proceeded to doing nothing to prevent further occurrences of students jumping. The boys not only jumped out of the tree but on several occasions they skipped meals. “Mr. Prud’homme must have known… if he stopped to think, that jumping out of the tree was even more forbidden than missing a meal.” (22). It is no wonder that a student was hurt, in fact it is amazing that more students weren’t injured by the pattern of neglect the administration exhibited. The school leadership needs to be punished, not only in the name of justice but also to salvage some of the schools formally impeccable reputation.

Finally, the doctor should be held accountable. He has failed to provide a standard level of care. Some may argue that he did the best to try and save an already severally fragile