Interdependent In A Separate Peace

“A Separate Peace,” by John Knowles focuses Gene and Finny’s friendship throughout the story. Any friendship is difficult to maintain and goes through many different phases. Separate feelings at the title of the story suggest their friendship has ups and downs. It goes into the idea of how people are not the same. Neither character has an understanding of who they are and how their actions and thoughts can affect people around them. This lack of understanding of oneself eventually causes the destruction of their relationship.

In A Separate Peace Gene and Finny’s friendship has to tackle a lot of obstacles. Gene and Finny were never exactly on the same page when it came to their friendship. Each of them was always assuming about the other. One of the book’s messages is that friendships take work, and if the friendship is worth it, then you should put in the work. In A Separate Peace, there are prevalent themes of friendship, how friends can help or hurt one another, and the sacrifices made for loved ones.

cold blast for the enemy. The winter lives to destroy the warmth of the summer

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

How is a human suppose to love? Love is just a statement, a word, a word is just a sound. When you really love something, in loves you back in whatever way it has to love. But what if that love isn't good enough? Doesn’t meet your standards? "‘What I mean is, I love winter, and when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love.’ I didn't think that this was true, […] but it was like every other thought and belief of Finny's: it should have been true. So I didn't argue” (Knowles 111).  That is just life, love is something that is always there and needs to be accepted in anyway it can.

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.

Chapter four starts with the gray dawn and closes with a gray dusk. Also, it begins with Gene describing Finny coming to life as Lazarus and ends with the tragic fall that destroys his life. Finny wakes that morning with characteristic action, proposing a quick swim. But of couse Gene declines because he is thinking about his limits and rules. When he looked at the sun, he knew it was about 6:30, and all he could do was worry about his trigonometry test that would be at 10:00. For Gene, the meaning of the morning emerges not from the beauty of the dawn the beautiful beach, but from his worries and disappointments. Finny has lost their money, and they must now bicycle back to Devon without breakfast and arrive just in time for Gene to fail his

Losing something is always depressing and hard. Its even more difficult if its a family member or friend. Gene goes through one of life's most difficult lesson, the loss of a close friend. Finny and Gene both argue about their friendship. Before Gene get the chance to make amends, Finny passes away. Gene doesn't cry, he acts mature and calm even at the funeral. As Gene says, "I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case."(Knowles, 105). Even in this depressing situation, Gene still acts

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.

In A Separate Peace, one of the components of Gene’s internal conflict is his rivalry and envy towards Finny. In the beginning of the story, Gene is

Finny dies and Gene is left alone and a separate piece from Finny. However he is still thriving to disconnect a few connecting strings that still remain linking the two. Gene never cries for Finny. It could be because he fells dead himself. “I did not cry then or ever about Finny. I did not cry even when I stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground outside of Boston. I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case” (194). This lonesomeness is a new concept for Gene and he is now faced with the challenge of finding

“I jostled the limb. I caused it…I deliberately jostled the limb so that you would fall off,” (Knowles 62). (Theme) This quote is a way to deepen my knowledge about the theme, which is the darkness of adolescences.

When faced with hardships, people deal with them in many different ways, as well as well-rounded characters in books. In A Separate Peace, characters cope with the harsh realities of life by creating fictions in their minds. Many of the characters are faced with the reality of going to war in a few months and other pressures. This causes a few mental breakdowns and cracks in their realities. This happens with Leper, Gene, and Finny.

Thesis Statement: Through the death of Finny, it is evident that Gene and Finny mature, and truly find their separate peace.

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.