The Evolution of Character in John Knowles' A Separate Peace

The Evolution of Character in John Knowles' A Separate Peace

One of the most revered and utterly enigmatic topics present within humanity is the evolution of humankind itself. Collectively contrasting both the origins of man physically and the very beginning of complex thought processes has been an incredible task, which is currently undetermined. The exact methods of the mind and of human character are both delicate and completely beyond true understanding. The only ways

we as a race retain the ability to even attempt to comprehend such processes is through experimentation and elaboration via written text and visual arts. The process of human mental evolution, the evolution of character, is well demonstrated within the novel A Separate Peace authored by John Knowles.

Knowles creates such an atmosphere as to

carry you as the reader into the minds of the characters. The characters, in a like manner, attempt to delve into their own understanding and determine the whole of an immense complexity of emotions shared between themselves and the other characters. The use of this type of perception is furthered by the narrator's transformation from the very beginning to the very end, and the stories entire basis upon a flashback. The story itself takes place years before the narrator, named Gene, begins to speak of the incidents of which it is composed. This maturation of the young Gene mentioned in the story and the older adult Gene we meet at the very beginning allows us a sense of

how Gene as a character evolved. Everybody has their own methods and their own "style" in a manner of speaking, of evolving both physically and mentally. Once you as the reader understand a character's method of evolution, it becomes much easier to understand that character's thinking pattern and any actions he or she may take further into the story.

Before I dive headfirst into the presence of character, I want

to mention the incredible use of descriptive and artistic wording to create a rather fantastic sense of setting. The ability of Knowles to create an overwhelming sense of being and imagination allows for the story itself to be played out in real time, visually within the reader's mind. Collated with the immense diversity of readers'

imaginations, the story and the characters themselves always appear in the reader's own isolated vision of what is being represented on the page. A very unique and rather brilliant aspect of novels that is thoroughly and well presented in A Separate Peace.