A Separate Peace Literary Analysis

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles carries the theme of the inevitable loss of innocence throughout the entire novel. Several characters in the novel sustain both positive and negative changes, resulting from the change of the peaceful summer sessions at Devon to the reality of World War II. While some characters embrace their development through their loss of innocence, others are at war with themselves trying to preserve that innocence.

The author writes that Finny “seemed older that morning…he seemed smaller too. Or perhaps it was only that I, inside the same body, had felt myself all at once grown bigger”. It may also be said that on this morning Finny (a model of athleticism) became part of Gene. So, it can be seen that Finny’s denying the reality of the war was truly one of the more important examples of denial of truth in the novel because it resulted in, among other things, a greater bonding between Finny and Gene and shattered the image of Finny being truly composed and serene.

Every good story has one character that contrasts from the mood of the entire story. Within the story A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, Phineas was an optimistic, fearless, and humble student at the Devon School. Phineas, with Finny being his more commonly used nickname, tried to be a positive influence to those around him all throughout the book. He constantly supported himself and Gene, his friend, even if Gene did not return the favor. In addition, he was involved in many adventures and always thought of new ideas to enlighten the bleak mood of the school. To summarize, Finny genuinely was an amazing character, even his closest friend was secretly jealous of him.

While presenting itself as an institution of the upmost moral character, the Devon School is really the breeding ground for broken students. As a result it is this very framework, the war and the prestige of a distinguished academy, which caused these students to break. The youth at this school were forced to put up with emotional struggle after struggle, and that reflects the harsh setting of this story.

Though Gene is feeling like he is losing his grasp on his relationship with Finny, he is discovering more about himself; he “discovered that his private evil, which caused him to hurt [Finny], is the same evil… that results in war” (Ellis 318). He also learned a lot through Finny that foreshadows their relationship, ironically during the times that Gene cherished the most. Finny used his athletic abilities to make up a perplexing game that overall taught an ideal of warfare: “since we’re all enemies, we can and will turn on each other all the time” (Knowles 39). This sense of warfare creates a desire in Gene to “defeat” Finny during the time before they graduate and leave off for the war. Throughout their years at the Devon school, Gene conceives an idea that Finny is trying to ruin Gene’s school studies and future. Since the beginning of their relationship, especially when they spent more and more time with each other, Finny’s actions perceived him to be trying to drag all of Gene’s attention away from school and toward him; Gene uses this as a justification for his growing anger toward Finny that resulted in the warfare demonstrated in the tree accident. This anger eventually morphs into positivity as Gene “feels [himself] becoming unexpectedly excited” when Finny fails to get his way (Knowles 27). The warfare between Gene and Finny causes mental reflection on Gene, as he tries to find his true purpose and identity at the Devon

The coming-of-age novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is based on the author’s high school years at his prestigious school, the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. The novel is set in the fictional Devon School during World War II. It explores the prep school idyll of two adolescent boys, Gene and Phineas. The novel's main character, Gene Forrester, who is also the narrator of the story, was based on the young Knowles himself, while Finny’s character was modeled after another student from Exeter, David Hackett. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles, uses Phineas’ masculinity to determine the relationship between him and Gene, and to learn the limitations of his masculinity.

Through every childish action that got him to his state in the infirmary, Gene had only been inadvertently warning us – the readers – of Finny’s inevitable demise. The harmony was obtained from his death because people like Finny are not supposed to exist in the real world, because they are too good for it. Somehow, we can say he was supposed to die; it was logical for the story to end like this. With a war going on, Finny managed to establish an exuberance that was intoxicating for the others, and with it, peace returned to the boys at Devon.

One of the reasons I believe Gene have said this is because looking Back to the story and seeing what kind a boy Finny was looking at his behavior and his desires I personally agree with Gene because I think Finny yet is not that grown up Because Going back to the time when they started playing a game Which was pretty dangerous dragging

In this case, Finny represents good with his friendly and charismatic personality while Gene represents evil with his envy and dislike toward Finny. To demonstrate, Finny symbolizes good with his personality. In the novel, Finny is the one that brings people together such as forming the “Super Society of Summer Session” (Knowles 31) and coming up with blitzball (Knowles 37). He has an idea where no one wins thus showing that Finny only sees the good in people, a strength and weakness unique to Finny. It is highly notable in the scene when Gene admits to causing Finny’s fall.

A Separate Peace is a coming-of-age novel written by John Knowles in 1959. Set against the background of World War II, A Separate Peace explores patriotism, morality and loss of innocence through its narrator, Gene Forrester. The novel also focuses on another main character, Phineas (also known as Finny). Gene and Finny, in spite of being complete opposites in personality, are close friends at Devon, an old prep school. Gene's quiet, withdrawn, and academic individuality counterparts Finny's loud, carefree, and athletic behavior. Both Phineas and Gene are shown as allegorical and symbolical characters throughout the narrative in A Separate Peace. "It made Finny seem too unusual for—not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were few relationships among us at Devon not based on rivalry." (Chapter 3)

A Separate Peace is a historical novel set during World War II. Since the novel takes place during WWII, the story will be influenced by that fact. An example would be, in chapter two, Phineas’ (Finny’s) conversation about the bombing in Central Europe. If the novel had taken place during another time period, this conversation would not have happened. Another influence is that the “Seniors: at Devon are preparing to become soldiers. The Military needed many soldiers in WWII. The Devon school was preparation for war, such was the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line was a place for the French Army to prepare to go north to Belgium. Finny uses the fact that himself and Gene will be seniors (who are preparing for war) next year to get themselves out

In A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles tells a story of a group of teenagers attending Devon school. He emphasizes the importance of the group finding themselves before they are drafted into the Second World War. The events in this novel serve to illustrate the complexity of self-identity during a time of uncertainty. Some believe that people during a time of war are more certain of themselves individually.

In the beginning of the novel, Gene visits Devon after fifteen years and describes it looking “oddly newer” and more varnished and waxier than when he was a student there, “But, of course, fifteen years before there had been a war going on.” During the summer session, none of the boys were registered with the draft board, no one had taken any physical examinations. Finny shortly mentioned a bombing in Central Europe, but could not recall what country was hit, who hit it, or when he read it in the newspaper. Gene explains, “Bombs in Central Europe were completely unreal to us here, not because we couldn't imagine it-- … – but because our place here was too fair for us to accept something like that.” But come winter, the change in peace starts to develop, first with recruiters visiting and showing propaganda in early January. Consequently causing Leper to enlist a week after. [The first sign of intrusion of the war at Devon comes at the beginning of the winter session when recruiters come and show

Finny is out of school for a while and Gene admits that he caused this on purpose and Finny is distraught about