How are innocence and guilt paired in A Separate Peace?

In many ways A Separate Peace is about the loss of innocence through Gene's actions against Finny, which naturally cause a great deal of guilt within him. It's a coming of age story, and as Gene transitions into adulthood, he carries the weight of evil actions with him. Gene's guilt is actually omnipresent throughout the latter 2/3 of the novel, and on multiple occasions Gene tries to tell Finny what he did at the tree, when he jounced the limb and caused Finny to fall and break his leg. Gene's guilt is a direct result of that loss of innocence, of that selfish, impulsive action he took against his best friend, who had no ill motives toward him despite the fact that Gene (incorrectly) perceived that he did. The relationship in the novel is representative of the greater narrative of WWII, in which countries fail to listen to and understand one another, and fight as a result.