Essay on The Reality of War in John Knowles' A Separate Peace

People are colliding into battles continuously around the globe. It's not always a physical brawl between two armed forces but it also occur mentally and emotionally. On page 139 of A Separate Peace, a quote was mentioned by Gene, "...because it seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and theirs special stupidities but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart..." This quote can relate to the novel, a personal experience and another literary work.

The final set of symbols, peace and war, served as a backdrop for Gene’s adolescence and maturity. The Summer Session was a time of peace, it was fun and relaxed. There were no rules for Gene and Finny to follow. “We reminded them of what peace was like, of lives which were not bound up with destruction," (Knowles ). Unlike the summer session, which was full of peace, the winter session was filled of war. The war came to Devon when Leper enlisted. It hit Gene even closer when he found out that Finny had tried to enlist into the war but no one would accept him. "I also wrote the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine, I wrote to General de Gualle personally, I also wrote Chiang Kai-shek, and I was about ready to write somebody in Russia,” (Knowles 190). Gene’s

Gene Forrester is the protagonist in A Separate Peace. He is also the narrator of the story speaking in first person, telling what happened at Devon in 1942 from his own unique point of view. As a sixteen years old, he goes through self-consciousness, uncertainty, jealousy, and an identity crisis. However, at times, he is thoughtful, competitive and has a tendency to brood. As the story goes on, Gene develops a love-hate relationship with his best friend, Finny, whom he alternately adores and envies.

An Explanation of Internal Conflict In his novel, A Separate Peace, author John Knowles implements an army of literary devices to lure and capture a reader’s interest. If one were to turn to a single page in this novel, he/she would find several devices. A heavily recurring theme is the internal conflict of the characters throughout the story. Knowles incorporates the theme of inner conflict into several characters, not just a single, well rounded character, such as Gene.

He realize Finny is not his enemy, it actually turns out to be himself after all the crazy thoughts he had. “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.”(Knowles 116) This quote is discussing how Gene is saying it is himself that is in the casket not Finny because Finny is not his enemy, it is himself. When he went back to Devon it was more warlike and less peaceful, so he goes to war and ends up killing his enemy at war. Alton states “In the end, inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war growing up.” This quote is explaining how Gene achieves his peace, by fighting in a private war when getting back to Devon. To conclude, Gene has found peace in the oddest way but he definitely succeeds with

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.

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.

In life, humans go through a point in their life where they struggle or have to fight for something; Whether it be fighting for money, food, shelter,a special someone or life. In John Knowles's novel, A Separate Peace, he quotes for Gene, “...my war ended before I even put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.” As you continue to read on, although it was caused by Finny...unintentionally. You’ll realize that Gene’s enemy was his insecurities, his feelings, …. maybe even himself.

Throughout John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Gene’s internal struggle is reflected in the war taking place. In the beginning of the story, Finny tells Gene that he was reading the paper and saw that “[the United States] bombed Central Europe...”(25). At this point in the story, it is 1942, which is the midst of World War II. This reflects Gene’s attitude toward Finny. As the war starts to escalate and the United States enters, Gene starts to loathe Finny for reasons that are entirely from Gene’s head. When Finny returns to Devon for the winter session, he has convinced himself, and soon convinces Gene, that “there isn’t any war”(115). Around this time, Gene pushes away his hateful thoughts towards Finny and convinces himself that Finny and him

Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace, also reveals that human nature never changes. Knowles, reveals the tragic flaw of jealousy, that has continuously plagued human nature. Gene’s envy of Finny’s exceptional personality and character, reveals this terrible flaw. Human nature has always contained jealousy or envy, but Knowles’ novel reveals its truly destructive nature, through the characters’ thoughts and actions. Gene’s character, illustrates the progression of human nature and jealousy. A pattern is revealed, that simple jealousy forces action, which in turn, creates guilt and internal punishment. This represents the static nature of humans, who change very little. Gene’s envy, forces him to act, which creates enormous guilt that he must now carry. Knowles reveals that humans do not change or learn, even after a great tragedy. Gene may have learned from his actions, but all the other characters, will take no heed. This shows that although humans should learn from their past mistakes, they do not pay attention, and continue doing what they know they should not. Gene “jounced the limb,” (Knowles 60,) thus ending Finny’s life. Humans however, will not change, and another person

In life, there are two opposing forces that wage a constant war in men’s hearts, truth and ignorance. While some walk along the enlightened path of truth, others are blinded by the veil of ignorance, unable to see anything beyond their distorted view of the world. In John Knowles A Separate Peace, two maturing teens named Gene and Finny feel the effects of this inner strife, which shapes their actions and causes the fall, and eventual death, of Finny. While Gene comes to terms with the glaring light of truth, Finny continues to hide behind a veil of ignorance and innocence, unable to handle the truth’s piercing rays.Through his writing, Knowles conveys that truth’s omnipresent light shines through the murky depths of ignorance, illuminating

In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, Gene waged a war of jealousy towards his best friend, Finny. Finny was blinded by innocence and did not foresee Gene's true intentions. Throughout the novel, Gene's jealousy continued to grow along with ignorance that he attributed to his own heart. Gene's jealousy and ignorance caused him to deeply hurt his friend Finny. Gene was not able to control all of his hatred, anger, and jealousy when he and Finny were up on the tree during a Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session meeting.

In the novel, a Separate Peace, the story of Gene and Finny shows the journey from adolescence to adulthood. The story is told by the main character, Gene Forrester, and talks about the struggles and sorrows that he endures while staying at Devon School. The story not only follows through his friendships with the other boys, but shows Gene’s understanding of the world around him and where he fits in. At the beginning of the story, the reader sees Gene’s innocence and once the story is over, the reader understands that his innocence is absent. Throughout the novel, Finny’s fall from the tree, Gene’s time at Devon alone, and Finny’s death, shape him into a whole new man.

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.

Finny always has ideas on something to create or a club he wants to start. A club that he started was the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session. A the beginning of this novel Gene talks about a tree and it seemed at the time that the tree was going to have some significance. The tree has significance when the Suicide Society begins. Finny says, "We'll form a suicide society, and the membership requirement is one jump out his tree" (23). They jumped off the tree and started up the club.