Analysis Of John Knowles 'A Separate Peace'

John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, reveals the many dangers and hardships of adolescence. The main characters, Gene, and Finny, spend their summer together at a boarding school called Devon. The two boys, do everything together, until Gene, the main character, develops a resentful hatred toward his friend Finny. Gene becomes extremely jealous and envious of Finny, which fuels this resentment, and eventually turns deadly. Knowles presents a look at the darker side of adolescence, showing jealousy’s disastrous effects. Gene’s envious thoughts and jealous nature, create an internal enemy, that he must fight. A liberal humanistic critique reveals that Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, has a self contained meaning, expresses the

A classic for generations, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is an acceptable novella for teenage students to read in their times of angst. Containing large amounts of symbolism and hidden themes, A Separate Peace is the perfect novel for one to discuss the underlying ideas that are included within.

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace recounts the turbulent life led by a young American teenager during the chaos and uncertainty of World War II. While attending Devon School, Gene Forrester, a brainy yet insecure teen, finds adventure and companionship with his well-rounded friend and roommate Finny. Despite Gene’s own strength as an academic, his envy for the ever-charming and athletic Finny creates a competitive rift and one-sided rivalry that proves unhealthy and dangerous to their relationship.

“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.

From juvenility to maturity, A Separate Peace combines classic American Literature with a thoughtful plot-line that is developed to affect the readers’ mind and heart. The author, John Knowles of Fairmont, West Virginia, had one clear purpose for writing this book. This purpose was to show the disastrous mental and physical problems which arise as the result of war, specifically the repercussions they have on the home front. A good lesson to learn from this book is that even a war three-thousand miles away can have just as much ramification as a war three miles away. This novel shows the transition of Gene Forrester and his friends from boyhood to manhood during a

In the novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles wrote about two boys that had anunforgettable friendship. The boys names were Gene and Finny, they both went to Devon schooland met in the same room. Gene, was hardworking, insecure, and proud; however, Finny isathletic, charming, and earnest. Yet, the two boys became friends the second they met. The boysshowed they had a friendship because of how they acted towards each other, Finny would alwayspush Gene, Gene hurt Finny, and they would always argue.First, Finny would always push Gene to do things he would not do. Gene liked schoolwhere as Finny liked sports. So, Finny wanted Gene to get into sports and he pushed him to getinto it. He shows he does this when Gene first moved to Devon, Finny gets Gene to playBlitzball.

In the fictional novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles,the writer describes how the war slowly became the most important thing at Devon School. Throughout the book several aspects change the characters’ way of life, but the main aspect is war. The war gradually dominates life at Devon in ways such as through character, actions, and thoughts.

In chapter nine of the novel A Separate Peace written by John Knowles, Gene begins by describing that he started to believe Finny's theory about fat old men causing rumors about war. The war seemed even more unrealistic to Gene now that Leper decided to enlist. Leper’s choice to enlist rather than wait a few weeks to be drafted had to do with being able to pick his service instead of being assigned to one. Brinker, Gene, and Chet wondered if Leper could be heroic, however Finny decided to stay out of the jokes. They also wonder if they can ever measure up to the standards of the war. Since a typical Saturday at Devon is usually boring, Finny decided to start the discussion of planning a Winter Carnival that everyone would volunteer to lead

Furthermore, Gene feels as if Finny wants to contest his every move. In many of the following chapters, the reader can see Gene’s inner feelings toward Finny. As the book progresses, we see the alternatives Gene takes towards improving his friendship with Finny as opposed to trying to be better than Finny. Finny does not wish to injure Gene in any way and Finny is constantly there for Gene through the entirety he endures. However, Gene

In the novel, “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, The school of Devon is portrayed as a secluded and sheltered area where they are aware of the events occurring outside of the school such as World War II, yet it has no direct effect on them. Seasons also seem to have a huge impact, the seasons mirror the events and tone of the novel.

Emerson once said, “Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide” (370-372). The novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is set at a boy’s preparatory school in rural New Hampshire during summer and winter sessions. Gene is an envious person, who follows Phineas, but also is very intelligent, yet not smart enough to have a mind of his own. Gene unfolds the painful story of his growth in the prep school during World War II. A Separate Peace depicts how Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him, also how Gene’s envy and limitation of Finny affects his relation with Finny and Gene finding his inner peace.

Tragedies are an essential part of current literature. Though they might be heartbreaking, tragedies teach their readers life lessons that are hard to find anywhere else. Besides the tragic storyline, tragedies incorporate elements of forgiveness, compassion, and blitheness. John Knowles teaches the readers those lessons with his acclaimed novel A Separate Peace, where he adds tragic elements to his story to add meaning to the novel. Various elements of tragedy are crucial to the plot of A Separate Peace by John Knowles; the struggle between good and evil, catharsis, and tragic waste all create a dramatic atmosphere that adds deeper meaning to the novel.

War is defined as a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state. In A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles uses a variety of examples of war and peace. The book is a flashback of a kid that went to the Devon school during World War 1. The students were safe in the school until they are 18 then they would have the chance to enlist or get drafted. In the novel John Knowles illustrates that war and peace can keep people safe or cause tragedy in people's lives. Some literary devices that John shows in the novel are Conflict, Point of view, and imagery.

A shocking, but often true thing people do is betray others, because of evil in their hearts. An example of this is found in “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles. In this story the character Gene Forrester goes through many struggles to achieve and maintain a separate peace until he visits Devon 15 years later. Gene becomes best friends with Finny at the Devon School in New Hampshire. Through the Summer Session Gene and Finny as they start to do more things together and Gene starts to become jealous of Finny. It then leads him to the conclusion that Finny was trying to sabotage him. Eventually Gene starts to have hatred towards Finny and it leads to him jouncing the tree limb and making Finny fall out of the tree. Anger and evil that one develops

In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles. The main characters views and beliefs change get impacted heavily forever. As a matter of fact the characters are so dynamic that some of the characters almost become different human beings. This change of character is s heavily influenced by the Second World War.