Questions: 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.

Visiting his school, Devon, fifteen years later, Gene realizes that during the time he was studying there fear surrounded them, and he had not noticed. However, with his return Gene realizes that the fear “had surrounded and filled those days” and now when revisiting he was “unfamiliar with the absence of fear”, with leaving Devon he escapes feeling of fear (Knowles 10). He did not fear those days that he spent there and looks at them as lessons that help him grow. No longer feeling the hatred he had once felt, Gene gains peace from within him, and as he loses his hatred he is able to accept the real, adult, world. With the hatred gone, Gene also loses the fury he had at people and at life. Getting rid of those feelings, that were once so normal to Gene, he begins to possess peace within himself, allowing him to come of

A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is a seemingly simple yet heartbreaking story that gives the reader an inside look and analysis of the reality of human nature. Set permanently in the main character Gene’s point of view, the audience is first taken to the present of a reflective and now wise man (Gene) and then plunged into his past back in 1942 to relive the harsh lessons that youth brought him. Along with vivid imagery of tranquil days past, a view into the social construct of a boy’s private school, Devon, and the looming presence of World War 2 on the horizon, there is also a significant power struggle that the reader can observe almost instantly. Conquering the need to be supreme in the situations of the war, high school, social interactions, and even simple moments that

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 mentioned earlier deny the truth at sometime in the story.

A Separate Peace is a World War II setting book written by the author, John Knowles. A Separate Peace is an example of a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age  novel. One of the main characters, Gene Forrester, is a perfect example of someone who is coming-of-age. As the  novel progresses, Gene  is transformed and impacted by many different experiences during his time at Devon High School.  In the book, A Separate Peace, Gene  becomes mature from his experiences from Finny’s death and Training for the Olympics; He also loses his innocence, and this teaches the reader about growing up and the idea of losing innocence.

Learning is a strong aspect in the novel. The characters learn who they really are and choose their own path. Gene, in the beginning was a character of self doubt, jealousy and greed. He never took a step back to realize that he had traits that others wished they had. Nothing was ever good enough for him, not even his best friend. He had to learn who he should be just like his companion Finny did. Finny chose to be a man of forgiveness, loyalty and strength even before the clock ran out of time. He truly did succeed in shaping Gene to be a good person. And Finny learned about himself as he held Gene’s hand along the rocky road. Gene started to learn about himself when he said in the novel on page 59, “Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn’t stand this.” Gene was finally realizing that he was not going to be the best at every single thing he does, but that he has someone who can be the tour guide for him in his own life and who can show him who he really should be. This exact situation happens in our modern day lives. We see the things and characteristics that others have and we never take a step back to take in and learn that we are each different and we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. Everyone shouldn’t be greedy for the ear to ear smile we “don’t have” or the blond hair that we can’t have. But what we can get, that we may not have is the ability to be accepting or forgiving. We can learn to acquire these traits as we learn from example and try these traits on.

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

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.

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.

Set in 1942 during World War II, A Separate Peace by John Knowles deals with the hostility between two best friends, Gene and Finny. Gene is a decent athlete, and an extremely smart student. Finny, on the hand, is an extremely capable athlete, but an average student. While the World War II is happening somewhere far from Devon, a personal war driven by envy and jealousy is diverging their friendship. What started as a friendly competition between the two, turns into a deadly rivalry.

In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene Forrester, the main character, struggles with copious moral dilemmas while living at a boarding school, named Devon. The author portrays Gene as an introverted intellectual, who is shielded from the reality of World War II. As a result of this “separate peace”, he mainly struggles with his self-integrity and, consequently, feels much envy and jealousy towards his classmates at Devon. By examining Gene’s antagonistic behavior towards his peers, it is evident that personal insecurities can interfere with the integrity of every relationship.

A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is a very complex book, which truly makes you think about the relationships you share. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to challenge their thinking or anyone looking for a great read.

Throughout life, there is always a person who one strives to beat, be better than or rise above. Little does each of them know that in the end the two actually make each other stronger. In John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace (1959), he addresses just this. The novel, told from Gene Forrester's point of view, is based on a friendship and rivalry between him and his friend, Finny, during World War II. The two sixteen year olds attend Devon School, a private all boys' school, in New Hampshire. Finny, a very athletically talented youngster, continually but unintentionally causes Gene to feel inferior and insignificant, producing inevitable anger and jealousy inside Gene. During their

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.

A separate peace is great novel written by John Knowles. The novel is about the narrator/ protagonist named Gene Forrester who returned to the prep school in which he attended fifteen years ago. The school is called Devon which is located in New Hampshire. While roaming around the school's campus he reminisced the time he has spent at Devon, especially the year of 1942. During this time, World War II was happening overseas and Gene was sixteen years old which meant that in two years, Gene was likely to be drafted to the war. At this point, the story shifts into a flashback of the year 1942 , a unique year for Gene. Gene spent most of his time with a boy named Phineas, nicknamed Finny, who is his roommate. At the beginning of the novel, Finny creates this group called the Super Suicide Society making himself and Gene as leaders. One day Finny has this great idea that he and Gene should jump from the tree together and of course Gene agrees to this idea. Once the boys got in the tree Gene suddenly losses his balance causing the branch to shake and in result Finny harshly falls to the ground shattering his leg and the chances of having any sports career. Feeling horrible, Gene tries to confess that it was he who caused this accident but Finny refuses to accept the fact that Gene pushed him out of the tree. Gene now feels as if he owes Finny a penance for his terrible action and continues to allow Finny to mold him into a mini Finny. At that the