Who Is John Knowles A Separate Peace?

    When my father had learned that I was reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles, he was overjoyed because he had also been given this same book to read when he was a child. At first, I believed that this book had been given too much credit because it is not as action-packed as the books that I normally read. When my father explained the book, I realized that it is purposefully written to resemble the everyday struggle that is being an adolescent. The strong themes, lessons, and ideas expressed in this novel separate it from the run-of-the-mill books I casually read. Some of the recurring themes and ideas include: envy and low self-esteem, accepting your mistakes, and discovering your own identity.

Many people think that it is easy to let go of the past, to move on, to let it all go, apologize to those you hurt, and forgive the people who have hurt you. But in reality, others would agree that it is definitely easier said than actually done. The book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is about a boy, Gene Forrester, who is attending an all boy boarding school in New England during the beginning of World War 2. He battles to find his inner self while also battling with the hardships of having a best friend, Finny, who everyone adores and who is good at everything he does. This book is chalked full of events, dramatic as well as calm, between these two boys that happen during a particular summer. They not only find their inner selves and make a stronger bond, but they stretch the limits of their relationship and they lose the innocence of their world. Coming of age is a necessary, but often challenging stage of life which involves seeing oneself and the world as they truly are. Coming of age is the main theme of this book because the boys need to be able to grow and mature into the young adults that they need to become.

In A Separate Peace, a novel by John Knowles, there is a tree that overhangs a river that is a central symbol in this story of losing your innocence, rich and poor, fear, and jealousy. The tree symbolizes an obstacle that was unattainable to Gene. It also separated Gene from Finny because Gene was always scared of jumping from the tree into the river. Finny, on the other hand, had no fear.

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a story about a group of boys attending a boarding school. The story takes place from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1943. The main protagonist, Gene, is a nervous, shy intellectual who tags along with his best friend, Phineas, a relaxed, attractive athlete. The two boys are close companions, practically never leaving each other’s side. During their senior year at the Devon school, the boys and their peers deal with the intertwining stress of highschool and World War 2. The story A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about identity, and reveals that when one is separated from one’s self, they are more lost than ever. This is because of Gene and Phineas’ relationship, Leper’s experience in

Gene Forrester, the protagonist of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, is the character who first institutes the continuous theme of competition. Gene’s conflicting emotions of veneration and resentment toward Phineas, who is often regarded as the star athlete of the Devon School, are regularly emphasized throughout the novel and create an interesting conflict between the two characters. The theme first surfaces in the first few chapters of A Separate Peace, specifically the end of chapter 3, where Finny is fed up with the school’s swimming pool and suggests that Gene and him take a “forbidden” trip to the beach. Although Gene feels that going there risks expulsion, wastes his study time, and involves just the kind of laborious bike ride he hated, he complies with no argument (46).

Compassion plays a significant role in everyone’s lives: it is what parents teach their children from a young age, it is how human kindness is forwarded, it is how people make friends and fall in love. It is simultaneously what fuels the lives of individuals and what shapes the lives of those around them. In times of war or united struggle, though, compassion becomes harder to come by. John Knowles, author of the historical fiction novel A Separate Peace, demonstrates the toll war takes on one’s soul through it’s main character, Gene Forrester. As World War II continues amidst the events Gene encounters at Devon School, the reader observes Gene’s transformation into an apathetic human being through his distrusting of others, actions towards his peer, Leper, and his response to his best friend’s death. Gene’s descent of character makes Knowles’ personal perspective on war clear as well: it either kills you or kills your mind.

For the characters in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a coming-of-age fictional novel, the stress of enlisting in World War II greatly impacts their motives. This story is told as a flashback from the perspective of a young boy named Gene that attends a boarding school, Devon. This school sits astride two rivers, the Devon, and the Naguamsett. The Devon, a river that is clean and brings fun and youthful memories to Gene flows into the Naguamsett, a dirty and ugly river. These bodies of water can represent the shift from childhood to adulthood. How the happy and innocent mind of a young adult begins to experience new things and starts to recognize the negative aspects of reality Gene and his best friends struggle to recognize the negative effects of the war, as they have not yet experienced it for themselves. Their struggle to grow and mature is met with multiple conflicts. The most extreme of these conflicts occurs at the end of the story, when Gene’s best friend, Phineas, also known as Finny, dies in the middle of a surgery. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Brinker is most responsible for Phineas’ death because of his desire for justice, his dependence on others, and his lack of pity for Finny.

In A Separate Peace, a realistic fictional novel by John Knowles, World War 2 gradually encroaches upon and finally dominates life at Devon. The War is an ever present focus, if not focus then presence, that fell upon the students of Devon. That was the whole point wasn’t it? Train hard in a boarding school to prepare for war. The war impinged itself upon the school through the boys’ views, jargon, and also was brought to the school.

In the words of Oscar Wilde, "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."(Du Profundis) That is certainly a true statement for Gene Forrester, who almost blindly follows and emulates his friend Phineas; it in fact begins to develop a theme of duality. But where did such a theme come from? Did it come from the author's life? Was it from culture? Could it be from religion? How do events and literary devices in the novel support such influences? John Knowles was influenced in many ways, biographically, culturally, and religiously, to develop the the themes of envy, harmony, maturity, and war in his novel.

In A Separate Peace, a realistic fictional novel by John Knowles, World War 2 gradually encroaches upon and finally dominates life at Devon. The War is an ever present focus, if not focus then presence, that fell upon the students of Devon. That was the whole point wasn’t it? Train hard in a boarding school to prepare for war. The war impinged itself upon the school through the boys’ views, jargon, and also was brought to the school.

The enemy is a focal point for war; the objective is to attack and conquer. If success is reached, all is well, if not, jealousy conquers all. War is more than a physical battle among people; it is also a psychological fight against one’s inner conscience. The relationship between the two friends also follows the same ideology of war, but on a smaller, more personal scale. The coming-of-age novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, takes place in a New Hampshire academy school during World War II; with the plot encircling the adventures of two friends, Gene and Phineas. As their friendship entangles, new personalities are revealed when Gene attempts to fight, both his enemy and urges. The enemy has a stealthy way of sneaking into the novel, hiding in between the lines, becoming apparent at the end; the reader must be the private eye to conclude who the enemy is. Gene’s adversary grows to be himself; in which, he has multiple factors that add up to equal his own tormentor. He infuses his desire to fit in at Devon Academy along with the ambition to be like Phineas; and to top off the enemy, his own guilty conscience.

According to a study by Dr. Bella DePaulo, people regularly lie in one of five of their interactions. This is very interesting considering that many people would say that honesty is one of the most important elements to any relationship. John Knowles noticed this contradiction and saw it as a problem, because he addresses it in A Separate Peace through Gene. Gene avoids confronting and speaking about issues and tells lies in hopes of not hurting himself and those around him, which all eventually leads to Finny's permanent crippling, and then his death. Through Gene, Knowles emphasizes the importance of appropriate communication, one of the most substantial parts of a healthy human connection, because it can resolve conflicts before they even happen.

In the early 1940’s the impact of World War II was impossible to escape throughout Americans daily lives, no matter their age. Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, the lives of teenagers is depicted as they attend the preparatory school, Devon. The novel illustrates how the war truly encapsulates our characters in every aspect of their daily lives. One evening our main characters, Gene and Phineas, were executing the nightly jump from a tree that hung over the Devon river. This exercise was initially constructed to mimic jumping out of a war plane. In a split, emotion induced, Gene jounced the limb that Phineas was near departing causing him to plummet to the ground breaking Phineas leg (Knowles 59-60). After the irreversible night when Phineas was maimed, Gene’s life was consequently plagued with severe conflicts throughout his life at Devon.

In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene attends The Devon School where he waits to be drafted for World War II. What Gene does not know is that he will not have to face the challenges and hardships of the war but rather the challenges and hardships of guilt, jealousy, and friendship. While at The Devon School, Gene meets his best friend Phineas. In the book A Separate Peace, Gene has a hard time growing up due to a friendship driven by guilt and jealousy.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles follow the late high school experience of two high school boys, Gene Forrester and his best friend Phineas, in the midst of WWII. This coming-of-age novel explores the impact of WWII on those who were aware of the war, yet not fully involved in it. While the war affects all those in the school, its effects are most visible in the mind of Gene. Much of the actions of the main characters can be described in a quote by Eric Burdon, that “Inside each of us, there is a seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other”. Gene’s fluctuations between friend and foe, as well as Phineas’ disposition and untimely death both reflect the ideas of the quote, and while the actions of other main characters do not necessarily conform to the same standards, the quote accurately reflects the novel.