John Knowles A Separate Peace

The fictional novel, A Separate Peace was written by John Knowles describes the life at Devon School during WWII. The novel follows two young boys, Gene and Phineas, as they face hardships and struggles throughout their life at Devon during the war. The war dominated life at Devon by creating tough decisions, causing students to act upon a life altering decision, and essentially create a war among each other.

Critics had much to say about John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. Many critical analysis were directed at the technique put into the novel as well as the theme of the novel. Ironically, this novel titled A Separate Peace is based in post war era. Two teenage boys in training to become soldiers face a personal war when conflict in their friendship appears. “The ability to see patterns between world wars and personal wars ane between friendly and hostile conflict is to see at once the horrible depravity and the irony of the world where varying and even conflicting experiences often take on the same form.

As Gene and Phineas begin to establish a close friendship, Gene secretly develops a strong sense of jealousy towards Phineas, which leads to a life-changing incident. Fear of the unknown and those who are different is part of human nature. Gene and Phineas are complete opposites; one is a serious scholar, while the other is an athletically talented individual with a free, unbalanced spirit. When Gene notices that he is beginning to lose his identity to Phineas, he decides that he must get rid of that part of him by pushing Phineas out of a tree, leaving Phineas with a broken leg. Right before the incident, Gene and Phineas get into a small altercation, which causes Gene to realize Phineas’ innocence. Gene states that “[Phineas] had never been jealous of me for a second [...] there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the

A Separate Peace is a short novel about a group of high school boys that live during world war two but this story has deeper more complex meaning then that can be seen from the surface. In disguise of a “coming of age” story this novel contains very familiar biblical connections. These connections include the trial of Jesus, the fall of man from perfection, and the story of Cain and Abel. Knowles novel A Separate Peace contains biblical allegories, that become evident under a close examination.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles is generally surrounded around war. War can build some people up and then bury others six feet under the ground. One theme of this book is that war can take a toll on people in every type of way possible.

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that intimidation is suicide…” (Emerson 370). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, takes place at Devon, a preparatory school in New Hampshire, during the 1940’s. Gene Forrester is a student at Devon and drives much of the story’s plot through his intimidation of his best friend Finny. A Separate Peace not only shows how Gene’s envy and intimidation of Finny affected him and his friendship with Finny, but it also shows Gene’s failure in achieving true peace.

The novel, A Separate Peace, can be portrayed in various ways. It was written by John Knowles and originally published in 1959. It’s genre can be defined as realistic fiction and/or naturalism. Although, it is most commonly viewed as a coming-of-age story, it can also be perceived as a novel about the emotional effects of jealousy and loathing or simply about good and evil. None of these perceptions are wrong, actually, they are all correct, it’s completely in the judgment of the reader.

The novel A Separate Peace focuses mainly around a 17 year old named Gene Forrester and his psychological development. The story is set in a boys boarding school in USA during World War II. There are four main boys in the novel and they all undergo major character changes through the story. One of them goes crazy, and the others experience severe attitude changes. Gene is caught right in the center of these changes. He is very close with all of the other three boys, and thus all of the changes affect him very much. Due to all the tension occurring in this novel because of the war and events going on at the school, there is a lot of denial of truth happening. Three of the four boys

A Separate Peace “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide” (Emerson 370). The author John Knowles, goes back to his old high school in Devon, New Hemisphere to find his peace. Gene’s characteristics in the novel shows that he is jealous, smart and conformed. A Separate Peace demonstrates how Gene’s jealously affects him, affects his friend and helps him find his peace. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him.

John Knowles’ captivating novel A Separate Peace explores the eventful life of two adolescent students in New Hampshire during a time of complication and chaos in World War II. Finny, an astonishingly athletic and adventurous boy, gets himself and his best friend Gene Forrester into a bit of mischief during their experiences in school, where he tends to do the opposite of what others expect him to do, making him a truly unique character. Despite living in a time of World War II, the evils of the world do not exist in Finny’s world because of his inherent innocence. In his time at school, the actions and optimistic opinions of Finny make him the epitome of innocence, but when the events of his life force him to confront the hatred and evil

Ever have the taste of multiple literary devices while reading? That is what this book does when you read it. A Separate Peace is a historical fiction novel written by John Knowles. It is about a boy who finds out he is jealous of his best friend and has to find peace within himself after losing his best friend.

The novel illustrates a better judgement of the character’s thoughts and perceptions. The novel is more explicit and is written in first-person point of view; therefore, it gives a better insight on the character’s reactions to different situations. When Phineas saves Gene’s life, the novel portrays how Gene is grateful to Phineas, however he quickly restrains himself. “Yes, he had practically saved my life. He had also practically lost it for me. I wouldn’t have been on that damn limb except for him... I didn’t need to feel any tremendous rush of gratitude toward Phineas” (Knowles, 33). This quote indicates that Gene is thankful to Phineas for saving his life; however, Gene

In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Gene and Finny, best friends, have two more years of innocence before they have to fight in the brutal war enveloping the world. In their free time, they do foolish things, like jumping off trees and playing dangerous games. But in the back of their minds, they know that in a couple years, they are off to fight, like the seniors they know. Consequently, the prestigious Devon School will start training the two young boys for their near future. The war going on impacts the book in many ways such as marking the end of Gene and Finny’s childhood, discussing the lives’ of the seniors, and developing the boys’ carefree summer.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles tells the story of a complicated friendship between two teenage boys who attend Devon Academy during World War II. The narrator, Gene Forrester, starts the story by visiting his old school fifteen years after he graduates and goes to various “fearful sites” of his past. Stopping at a tree, he begins to narrate the rest of the novel describing his time at Devon. In his narration, he tells the story of his friendship with Phineas “Finny” and how the war affected them. The words “a separate peace” can be extracted from multiple literal and symbolic interpretations of different dynamics of the novel.

Some friendships last forever and others do not but in the novel, A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles, displays a different kind of friendship. The reader throughout this novel was very entertained. This novel takes place at the Devon Preparatory School in the years of 1942-1943.