A Separate Peace - Symbolism Essay examples

As the war got closer, Gene and Finny advanced through their school year with a lot of stress and complex decisions. One tough decision Gene had to make was to enlist or wait to be drafted. Gene’s excuse for not enlisting was Finny. Gene felt an obligation towards Finny because he caused the accident. The accident made Gene feel as if he had became a part of Phineas. “I lost

People are colliding into battles continuously around the globe. It's not always a physical brawl between two armed forces but it also occur mentally and emotionally. On page 139 of A Separate Peace, a quote was mentioned by Gene, "...because it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and theirs special stupidities but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart..." This quote can relate to the novel, a personal experience and another literary work.

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

Competition and rivalry have the ability to make people shine and accomplish things they never thought possible, and the ability to bring a person’s dark side and get them to do terrible things. Phineas and Gene’s friendship is viewed very differently by each of them. Where Phineas sees Gene as his best friend Gene sees Phineas as a competitor. Gene sees him as someone trying to keep him from being successful in school. This warped view of their relationship is the cause of many of the eventual problems of the novel and arguably the death of Phineas.

Another boy in the story who was matured by the war was Leper; "Across the hall...where Leper Lepellier had dreamed his way through July and August amid sunshine and dust motes and windows through which the ivy had reached tentatively into the room,... (Knowles 74)" When he sees the movies about the ski troops, he thinks that it looks fun and he surprises everyone by enlisting. Leper does not really know what he is getting himself into when he enlists. He thinks that it looks like a fun ski trip; he can serve his country and ski around the world at the same time; "So

Just as Finny concocts a false portrayal of the war and obscures Genes perception of their conflict, the army displays an inaccurate impression of war which as a result traumatizes Leper Leppelier. It is after the Christmas holidays that the United States ski troops show an enlistment video to the boys at the Devon school. For Leper,

After the realization of the person he truly is Gene confronts with his problems, faces reality, and deals with the future. He learns a lot about life and relationships when he finds about his true self. He learns that he must truly express his feelings and communicate instead of keeping all the feelings inside as he had always done with Phineas. Also he learns to listen to himself not others around him if he wants a true advice. After a while, he faced reality and acknowledged the fact that he was not as great was Phineas but they were two different individuals and they were unique in different ways. Gene accepted the guilt for Phineas’ difficulties after his accident and decided he must he must help him as a punishment and act of repentance for what his deed. He does this by giving part of himself to Phineas as we see with the case of the sports

However , Gene emulates Phineas by joining him for tree climbing and jumping into the river. Forester notes, “What was I doing up here anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? Was he getting some kind of hold over me?”(Knowles 5). Knowles emphasizes the crisis on Genes mind which leads to him becoming more envious and

In the novel A Separate Peace, the tree is the primary symbol used to describe the hardships, adventure, and danger of the lives of the characters. While the tree is not the only symbol used by Knowles, it is the one that Gene spends most of his time reflecting on. To Gene, the tree is “tremendous” and “a steely black steeple.” But for Finny, the tree symbolizes his downfall and eventually his death. By the end of the novel, the tree has lost its significance to Gene and has become smaller and less realistic. Another big symbol in the novel is the war. World War II was of no real meaning to Gene and his classmates when they were juniors because that is all that they did was play war. But by the time their senior year had begun, the war was real and the draft was coming for them. For Finny in particular, the war symbolized his destiny as a hero because he wanted nothing more than to be an athlete and a warrior. Another primary symbol used by Knowles is the separation between the summer and winter sessions at Devon because while the summer session was filled with laid back and innocent fun, the winter session was a dark time with preparation for war. And, the last symbol recognized is the fall of Finny from the tree on the riverbank. This fall not only symbolizes the end of childly innocent times and the beginning of war filled adulthood, but it also symbolizes the eventual death of Finny. In all, the presence

Hearing Phineas fall after the trial led Gene to become hysteric. He abandons all rational thought, and ends up laughing in a deranged manner under Finny’s window while imagining people talking. All of the different emotions finally become too much, and Gene cannot handle it anymore.

All throughout this novel, Gene is in a constant battle with himself about the nature of his friendship with Phineas. This arguably was the war that Gene dealt with prior to World War 2. In war, you have enemies. There are many different interpretations of who or what Gene’s enemy was. Gene mentions his enemy in the quote “My war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” This quote from the novel A Separate peace by John knowles states that Gene had an enemy, and it is up to us and our wise judgement to decide whether this enemy is his own youth and innocence, or his guilt.

Genes understanding of the world causes him to view things differently than others. Gene was only 17 and he didn't really understand the reality of what is going on. Gene’s short worldly experience causes him to be very naive and states“I killed my enemy there. Only Phineas never was afraid, only Phineas never hated anyone”. Gene doesn't see the true purpose of Finny’s actions and is constantly being biased towards Finny. Finny had created a very aggressive and painful game called Blitzball. When the game first started Finny elected Gene to be the victim of the game, through the game only Gene has had the ball which

John Knowles, author of A Separate Peace, utilises symbolism to further explore weather as a motif. Gene, the narrator of the novel states, “I think we reminded them of what peace was like, we boys of sixteen”(24). During the summer session the boys are “careless and wild”(24). Being an outgoing and relentless character, Finny symbolizes and is “the essence of this careless peace”(24). The summer session symbolizes the youthful innocence of the Devon boys.

Normally when you think of friends, you do not associate them with fear. It seems like Knowles associated fear with Gene's friends. After purposely jostling the tree branch to injure Phineas, Gene did not want to immediately tell Phineas what had actually happened. Gene said that his fear of jumping off the tree branch was forgotten after this event. Phineas did not know if he had fallen on his own or if he had been pushed by Gene. Gene was understandably worried about Finny's reaction to this conversation, so he put the conversation off for as long as he could. He also did not completely trust Phineas. Even though they were supposedly friends, Gene thought that Finny was secretly one of his rivals. Gene said, "The way I believed that you're-my-best-friend blabber" (Knowles 53). Finally, Gene showed that he was fearful of his friends toward the ending of A Separate Peace. When Brinker decided that there must be a trial to determine what had happened to Phineas, Gene fretted about what his fellow students might discover about him. Brinker said, "What I mean is it wouldn't do you any harm, you know, if everything about Finny's accident was cleared up and forgotten" (Knowles 160). He did not want them to find out about his role in Finny's injury. After Phineas injured his leg rushing down the steps of the Assembly Hall, Gene seemed to have a sense of fear until Finny died. Phineas never seemed to fear Gene, even after he had found out about Gene's role in his injury.

Historical events can play an important role in a person's life.  In A Separate Peace, the whole atmosphere at the Devon School changed as World War II progressed.  The boys either eagerly awaited the draft, enlisted in the area of war they wanted, or did not want to go at all.  The students at the school created new activities for enjoyment since the customary past times could not be played due to a lack of materials.  When a friend "returns" from the war, the boys at Devon got a real sense of what the war was like.  The boys learned that going to war was not all fun and games like they had anticipated.  The influence World War II had on the characters in A