Separate Peace Theme

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about learning and it reveals that people have to have the bad to see the good. This thematic statement connects to both the book and the world that we live in today. Many people want everything to be perfect and beautiful but the hard truth is that it will never completely be that way. Life isn’t going to be the way every stroke was placed on the perfect painting of life that everyone has in there head which was handcrafted from their wildest dreams. Their may be some slippery patches but good will follow close behind.

Conformity vs. Nonconformity Bravery. It’s not always a daring prince slaying a fire breathing dragon, or preparing a huge speech in front of a crowd. Sometimes the bravest action one can do is simply being himself. Going against the grain and doing what one feels is best is not an easy task. In the novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the characters routinely have to decide between conforming and following the crowd, or standing out and being themselves.

Peace can be portrayed in a variety of ways, such as: doves, women, gardens, bells, and much

War is Peace – If there was no war the citizens would not have peace, war is used as a way to control and regulate peace.

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.

As said by Eric Burdon, “Inside each of us, there is a seed of good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” In A Separate Peace by John Knowles good and evil are present throughout the book. This quote supports the themes of A Separate Peace because Gene and Finny struggle with the decision between good and evil and are affected by those decisions, along with the characters themselves being similar to good and evil.

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.

William Hall made a good point when he said, “We go on and on about our differences. But, you know, our differences are less important than our similarities. People have a lot in common with one another, whether they see that or not.” Our differences are less important than our similarities because if people want to make friends or just be happier in life, then they need to focus on not the differences in other people but instead the similar things that are between them and others. If people focus on what is different between them and someone else instead of seeing what similarities there are between each other, then there would be a lot more happiness. People are similar to many others in a lot of ways. They just chose not to see it and focus

The title A Separate Peace has to do a lot with the war and the boys at Devon still being kids. They are still 16, which many think is the age of peace. They can’t be drafted yet. Until the boys are of the eligible age, Devon is their safe haven. The boys get to still be kids there.

A theme is the main subject that is being discussed or described in a piece of writing, a movie, or other pieces of work which John Knowles utilizes well. John Knowles wrote the coming of age story A Separate peace which is about a high schooler named, Gene who slowly matures and gets into trouble which is shown through the various themes the book has. Throughout the novel, there are many themes that pop up as the story progresses and moves on. John Knowles uses three important themes that include: Genes search for his own identity, Warfare, and jealousy. One of the themes that is important to the story is how Gene searches for his own identity throughout the book.

A Separate Peace begins when the narrator Gene Forrester returns to New Hampshire where he went to Devon school 15 years ago with his friend Phineas. The story shifts back 15 years to when Gene and Phineas went to school. At the time lonely, and Phineas was the handsome, taunting daredevil athlete. One during school Phineas had an idea to climb a very tall tree, and jump from the tree into a river. Gene was eventually shamed into jumping. Gene was surprised of the outcome of the jump.

Ultimately, peaceful forms of discourse fit the ideal of the ordered society, however, it isn’t as effective as violence and intimidation for immediate change. The threat of violence shifts society from its ordered norm to a state of civil unrest and chaos. Amongst this chaos, individuals experience vulnerability due to fear and

My topic of World Peace began to develop as I felt the need to address the idea of World Peace. In addition, I selected this topic to confirm that the idea was impossible to achieve. Through a long period of research, I began to learn about World Peace. As I was studying the topic, I was lead to many websites and articles to support my claim, a possible way to achieve World peace was nonchalant. Scholarly articles, written news stories, and credible websites assisted me in learning more about the possible conflicts that can prevent this idea from becoming true. I learned how many of the

violence in their own institutionalized way. Violence is the opposite of Peace as peace is

the change for a peaceful future. In today's society violence is saturating the minds of