A Separate Peace : Symbols In A Separate Peace

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

A Separate Peace, chapter three starts of with Gene talking about how Finny saved his life when he fell out of the tree. On the other hand, the only reason Gene was in that tree to begin with was because of Finny, “I didn’t need to feel any tremendous rush of gratitude towards Phineas”(Knowles 33). If it were not for Finny there is no way Gene would be anywhere near that tree. Also, if Gene was not so worried about pleasing Finny all of the time, he would not have jumped from the tree in the first place. After all of this happens and as the club now starts to grow, Finny decides he needs to start recruiting other members for the Suicide Society.

A Separate Peace In the novel, A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester is best described as a quiet introvert who conforms to those around him. On the other had Finny is best characterized as an athletic daredevil with a creative and rebellious spirit. Yet, although Finny appears to be the stronger of the two, it is Finny that dies while Gene lives. This seems to imply that luck and common sense are needed to survive in the modern world, not strength.

A tree in John Knowles’s A Separate Peace, symbolizes the true strengths and weaknesses of two boys relationship during World War Two. This specific tree really corresponds with what is doing on with the two boys relationship. When the tree is big and strong the boy’s relationship is really thriving. Once the tree starts to lose branches and weakens the two boy’s relationship starts to weaken as well. Which is implemented all over the book with weak moments in their relationship and strengths.

Literary allegories correlate an author’s body of work to a greater known archetype, usually in pursuit of connecting certain ethics to the reader. A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is an admirable example of this approach. Knowles applies tales from the biblical book of Genesis into his narrative of two friends attending an elite preparatory school. More specifically, the stories of Cain and Abel, plus Adam and Eve, are in reference. The lessons and morals that are being displayed within these stories are present alongside situational elements undergone by the main characters, Gene and Finny.

In the novel A Separate Peace, the narrative shift in Gene’s perspective of the tree found on page 14 is an extremely crucial shift in the story. Gene’s initial reaction of the tree was when he was a boy attending Devon school in 1942; he saw the tree as unapproachable, daunting, and preposterous “The tree was tremendous, an irate, steely black steeple…I was damned if I’d climb it. The hell with it” (14). Gene had feared the tree like many other things in his life that year. Then as Gene returned to the Devon school as an adult several year after leaving, he returned to visit the same specific tree. However, Gene’s view on the tree changed dramatically. As an adult, when he saw the tree he described it as, “… not only stripped by the cold season, it seemed weary with age, enfeebled, dry” (14). The tree had lost its daunting nature and had changed in the eyes of Gene, without physically changing. The significance in this

Haley Birmingham Birmingham 1 English II-7 Hricko February 11, 2015 A Separate Peace Symbolism Essay Every book every written has symbolism, no established author would write a book without a hidden theme or meaning. Many areas of A Separate Peace have symbolism alluding towards World War II and many hidden themes revolve around the war.

A Separate Peace is a book by John Knowles, that follow’s the life of two young boy’s. Gene is a cynical introvert and Finny a naive extravert. In the book there is a lot of symbolism, such as a tree and a set of stairs. You can tell, through Gene and Finney’s friendship, the tree, and the stairs, that John Knowles has a very pessimistic view of human nature. Gene and Finney’s friendship is a weird friendship.

Throughout the chapter titled, “…Or the Bible” the main concept of the chapter talks about how every piece of literature if it does not relate to Shakespeare will relate to the Bible. In the novel A Separate Peace, already includes an adequate amount of symbolism. The main point the author, John Knowles, makes is that Phineas, or Finny, is an innocent and naive kid. Finny is what some of the other kids see almost as Jesus Christ himself, the other kids picture Finny like this because of the events that take place through the novel and how significant they are to the novel as a whole. Knowles novel relates to this chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor by using the idea of using other people to describe themselves. For instance,

"Your surroundings may change but your essence and your personality pretty much stay the same" (Dewan). The setting of the novel A Separate Peace is at an all boys school located in New Hampshire. The characters and plot are finely woven into the fabric of this institution. However, would events in this novel turn out differently if the story was set in a public high school, with a diverse environment? The characters and plot of A Separate Peace are not solely driven by their surroundings because the boys would still break the rules, Gene would have internal conflicts, and the war would affect the students.

“A Separate Peace” is more than just a book about war and stressful times. It is about maturation; in the case of Gene and Phineas, this couldn’t be truer. The two best friends who attend Devon Boarding School have to deal with a stressful time in their lives, growing up and having responsibilities, and the looming idea that draft age is not far. Throughout the book, the two go through a chain of events leading to loss of innocence, building up anger and stress, and eventually: accepting the reality of the situation. Their lives, dreams and ideals won’t be same afterwords.

To illustrate, in A Separate Peace the protagonist Gene and his connection to the tree is a

Identity is “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. In A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, this idea is a major theme that plays a role in how the characters make decisions throughout the book. Gene, Finny, Leper and Brinker deal with their personal issues of acceptance, perceptions of success, fears and jealousy through their Devon School experience. The issues are coupled with the external pressures of society, war, school and family. These 4 teenagers took an adventure learning their duty and part in the world they live in.

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.

For the duration of the book A Separate Peace, there is a lot of underlying tension and most importantly symbolism. Symbolism plays a huge role in this book; it ties together the reader's knowledge of what is happening in the book to the characters. There are a lot of thoughts and actions that we see that most characters in the noble are unaware of. Symbolism is shown in a few ways and really helps to grow this book into a more complex novel. Some symbols we can see throughout the duration of the novel are the war, Finny's cast, and how the characters grow.