A Separate Peace Literary Analysis

The fictional novel, A Separate Peace was written by John Knowles describes the life at Devon School during WWII. The novel follows two young boys, Gene and Phineas, as they face hardships and struggles throughout their life at Devon during the war. The war dominated life at Devon by creating tough decisions, causing students to act upon a life altering decision, and essentially create a war among each other.

With each scenario, it is shown that most of the time Gene’s enemies are only in his head- not many are in a battle to reign supreme as he is. The war put together with these power struggles allows for such a well done piece, for the reader learns that even in times where others are in battle one does not have to be anchored against someone. Phineas and Gene’s relationship is also instrumental in delivering this message because the reader can witness Phineas, with his free and peaceful ways and realize that Gene does not have to be on the defense and seek power all of the time. Phineas is a unique contrast to Gene that helps Knowles prove his point. Just as in the book, life shows us that this urge to beat an “enemy” is unnecessary and can often have consequences like the ones Gene experienced. It is crucial to recognize the reigning powers in life and not let them take over and cause one to find evil in everyone- Knowles displays this perfectly with Gene and his

The novel A Separate Peace focuses mainly around a 17 year old named Gene Forrester and his psychological development. The story is set in a boys boarding school in USA during World War II. There are four main boys in the novel and they all undergo major character changes through the story. One of them goes crazy, and the others experience severe attitude changes. Gene is caught right in the center of these changes. He is very close with all of the other three boys, and thus all of the changes affect him very much. Due to all the tension occurring in this novel because of the war and events going on at the school, there is a lot of denial of truth happening. Three of the four boys mentioned earlier deny the truth at sometime in the story.

As Gene and Phineas begin to establish a close friendship, Gene secretly develops a strong sense of jealousy towards Phineas, which leads to a life-changing incident. Fear of the unknown and those who are different is part of human nature. Gene and Phineas are complete opposites; one is a serious scholar, while the other is an athletically talented individual with a free, unbalanced spirit. When Gene notices that he is beginning to lose his identity to Phineas, he decides that he must get rid of that part of him by pushing Phineas out of a tree, leaving Phineas with a broken leg. Right before the incident, Gene and Phineas get into a small altercation, which causes Gene to realize Phineas’ innocence. Gene states that “[Phineas] had never been jealous of me for a second [...] there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the

A Separate Peace is a short novel about a group of high school boys that live during world war two but this story has deeper more complex meaning then that can be seen from the surface. In disguise of a “coming of age” story this novel contains very familiar biblical connections. These connections include the trial of Jesus, the fall of man from perfection, and the story of Cain and Abel. Knowles novel A Separate Peace contains biblical allegories, that become evident under a close examination.

A Separate Peace is a World War II setting book written by the author, John Knowles. A Separate Peace is an example of a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age  novel. One of the main characters, Gene Forrester, is a perfect example of someone who is coming-of-age. As the  novel progresses, Gene  is transformed and impacted by many different experiences during his time at Devon High School.  In the book, A Separate Peace, Gene  becomes mature from his experiences from Finny’s death and Training for the Olympics; He also loses his innocence, and this teaches the reader about growing up and the idea of losing innocence.

In chapter 11 of A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Gene is back from Leper’s and wants to see Finny. Gene sees that Finny is in a snowball fight and Gene joins in when Finny hits him with a snowball. Later that night Brinker asks about Leper, Gene decided to tell both Finny and Gene that Leper has gone crazy. Finny admits that there really is war going on if Leper is so affected by it that he has gone crazy. At 10:05 pm that night Brinker and some others want to take Finny and Gene somewhere. They are both confused since it is after hours. Brinker takes them to the Assembly Room where he has taken it upon himself to investigate what really happened in that tree the day of Finny’s accident. Finny and Gene do not want to be in this situation

Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace, also reveals that human nature never changes. Knowles, reveals the tragic flaw of jealousy, that has continuously plagued human nature. Gene’s envy of Finny’s exceptional personality and character, reveals this terrible flaw. Human nature has always contained jealousy or envy, but Knowles’ novel reveals its truly destructive nature, through the characters’ thoughts and actions. Gene’s character, illustrates the progression of human nature and jealousy. A pattern is revealed, that simple jealousy forces action, which in turn, creates guilt and internal punishment. This represents the static nature of humans, who change very little. Gene’s envy, forces him to act, which creates enormous guilt that he must now carry. Knowles reveals that humans do not change or learn, even after a great tragedy. Gene may have learned from his actions, but all the other characters, will take no heed. This shows that although humans should learn from their past mistakes, they do not pay attention, and continue doing what they know they should not. Gene “jounced the limb,” (Knowles 60,) thus ending Finny’s life. Humans however, will not change, and another person

For Gene unlike Adam and Cain has remorse for his action because Finny’s death gains him peace or salvation, although this does not reduce his guilt of causing Finny’s first accident. Finny excels above everyone in a rigor-scholar athletic school in athletics similar to Jesus surpassing everyone in morality to perfection. Furthermore, Finny took a Jesus-like approach to life by “never hat[ing] anyone” (Knowles 204). Jesus and Phineas’ death draws great comparison as well; Finny dies from his bone marrow while His own people murdered Jesus. Both are killed by something that is apart of them. Finny’s death like Jesus’ is not something to mourn over rather to be joyous because of the atonement from sin. Phineas’ work is complete; Gene is to carry on the spirit of Finny like Christians receiving the Holy Spirit when Jesus left the earth.

Gene feels insignificant when with Phineas, and rages much like a child who wants to be the center of attention. Without thought, and just based on his anger, Gene jounces a limb on the tree that the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session jumps off at every meaning. This makes Phineas tumble to the ground and shatters his leg, while Gene effortlessly jumps off the limb with no fear. Knowles shows here that because Gene destroyed his enemy, he restored the child’s self-image of being the center of the world. But, he claims after the accident that it was not his fault, again like a kid, and blames it on his knees. This fall of the tree mirrors the Fall of Man in the bible. In this analogy, Eden or Phineas are pushed by Sin or Gene in order to crush the innocence of mankind. After this fall, Gene has more experience but habitually retreats back to conformity. Although, Gene does go admit his guilt and apologize to Finny on page 66. “I’m sorry about that feeling I had...” shows a true milestone in the maturity of Gene and his growth as a person. But this soon leads to an angry realization causing Finny an indirect injury. In the friends’ last conversation, Gene and Finny freely discuss the fall and Gene uses this experience as insight into the world, in order to fight his internal enemies of doubt and a lack of

Another instance of character allusions in A Separate Peace is that of Gene Forrester to Eve and Finny to God. Eve is created the image of God as Gene is created in the image of Finny, however voluntarily that may be. After Finny’s injury, Gene discovers his “purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas” (Knowles 85), and begins to live vicariously through Finny by attempting to seize his personality; he joins sports teams and even begins to wear Finny’s clothes. Secondly, the “fall” (both literal and figurative) is prompted by both Eve and Gene. The established innocence of the Devon School, or in Genesis, the Garden of Eden, is disrupted and tainted by the actions of these two characters. By taking the fruit, Eve permanently destroyed mankind’s innocence for eternity, and by jouncing the limb, Gene permanently destroyed the student’s pleasurable summer at the school. These parallels enhance the understanding of the texts by allowing readers to delve deeper into the true meaning of Gene’s intentions and his temptation to sin versus Eve’s unknowing temptations by the serpent to take the

A Separate Peace by John Knowles about a boy named Gene, who returns to his boarding school after graduating to remember the memories from his time there. The book takes place during the early years of World War II, which greatly affects the lives of the main characters. Knowles utilizes many symbols with religious undertones throughout A Separate Peace including Finny’s fall from the tree, Gene’s fall into the Naguamsett, and Finny’s unexpected death.

A Separate Peace, which was written by John Knowles, has many themes. They are interconnected throughout the book. The most clearly portrayed theme is fear. It seems to be connected with the themes of friendship, jealousy, and war. As World War II was occurring, fear had taken over Gene's life through these various themes. When he visited Devon fifteen years after leaving the school, Gene claimed, "I had lived in fear while attending the school and I can now feel fear's echo" (Knowles 10). He felt like he had gained a separate peace after escaping from this fear.

The mind is kept in sync by the existence of order and chaos. People must realize that without both forces, humans would live in n unbalanced reality. John Knowles' message in A Separate Peace is that all humans strive to achieve order in a chaotic world, without realizing how their search is futile, because they are trying to fight against reality; an impossible task.

Some friendships last forever and others do not but in the novel, A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles, displays a different kind of friendship. The reader throughout this novel was very entertained. This novel takes place at the Devon Preparatory School in the years of 1942-1943.