War and Rivalry in “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles
John Knowles, the author of “A Separate Peace” novel, was born in 1926 in West Virginia, Fairmont to be specific. The book was first published in 1960. Though it was Knowles’ first book, surprisingly the novel won great awards and hence lots of audience in the United States of America. The story is centered on a teenager named Devon, schooling at Phillips Exeter Academy. He writes: “But, of course, fifteen years before there had been a war going on. Perhaps the school wasn’t as well kept up in those days; perhaps varnish, along with everything else, had gone to war” (Knowles 1). The essay will expound that the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles centers its foundational theme on the
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The war between individual is regarded as a rivalry. Knowles has highlighted various kinds of the competition. Different characters in the novel have demonstrated many competing egos. Gene and his friend Finny show a very clear example of such competing ego. The kind of rivalry that existed between him and Finny led to a tragic accident. The occurrence of the fatal accident, unfortunately, leads to Finny’s death. The novel hence brings us closer to the understanding of the impacts of the rivalry. The rivalry is very dangerous, especially when it turns sour for individuals. "To keep silent about this amazing happening deepened the shock for me. It made Finny seem too unusual for not friendship, but too unusual for rivalry. And there were a few relationships among us at Devon not based on the rivalry" (Knowles 15). The kind of rivalry that existed between Gene and Finny led to the tragic death. The loss of life is so tragic, and no one can ever wish to die like that. Knowles, therefore, tries as much to warn people through his novel about the effects of the rivalry.
A Separate Peace shows the kind of war that exists between childhood and adulthood life. There is a significant difference in the behaviors of individuals in these two stages of life. It is a difficult task to transform from childhood to adulthood. One has to undergo a lot of changes to turn entirely to the next phase. The novel reveals that there are
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The novel, through all its chapters, has advanced considerably on the theme of war and rivalry and Coming-of-Age. Through various instances in the book, we get to learn the impacts of war. The story has used this fact to symbolize various notions. Knowles has made us understand the rivalry that existed between Gene and Finny. The kind of conflicts and enmity between them ends up with Finny’s tragic fall. It is clear that Coming-of-Age, individual’s life change greatly. Gene hence is left guilty and ashamed of his actions. It is evident that one must fight the forces of childhood innocence and face the harsh realities of adulthood. A Separate Peace, therefore, is a novel based on the tremendous transitions witnessed as one advance in adult
Throughout A Separate Peace, Knowles carefully, yet successfully develops the inevitable loss of innocence theme. He is able to prove the Latin inscription “Here Boys Come to Be Made Men” (165), by describing the necessity of transition to adulthood. If Finny never accepted the tragedy that occurred to him and the new perspective of the world, he wouldn’t have been able to live beyond his illusion. If Leper didn’t let go of his imaginary world of nature, he would not have been able to become the individual he is at the end of the novel. And if Gene did not try to fight his enemy he would not have resolved the issue of self-identity. Knowles effectively develops the theme, thus portraying it as a necessary part of life.
A Separate Peace is a coming of age novel in which Gene, the main character, revisits his high school and his traumatic teen years. When Gene was a teen-ager his best friend and roommate Phineas (Finny) was the star athlete of the school.
Friendship is a necessity throughout life whether it is during elementary school or during adulthood. Some friendships may last a while and some may last for a year; it depends on the strength of the bond and trust between the two people. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main characters, Gene and Finny, did not have a pure friendship because it was driven by envy and jealousy, they did not feel the same way towards each other and they did not accurately understand each other.
In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, characters Gene and Phineas begin their journeys to adulthood in a war torn environment. The dynamic formed between a world full of struggle and the crucial age of development in high school proves to be an excellent setting to examine the abilities of both Gene and Phineas to “come of age.” Being a Bildungsroman, the theme of coping with war and death is highlighted via the imagery that surrounds both Gene’s epiphany moment at the marble stairs, and its introduction at the beginning of the novel. Additionally, Knowles employs a flashback to set a nostalgic and somewhat reflective mood, which further extends this meaning. In Knowles’ “coming of age” novel A Separate Peace, the use of imagery surrounding the marble stairs, and a reminiscent flashback aid Gene is discovering that war and death can never be understood.
In A Separate Peace, Gene deals with inner conflict throughout the novel. Gene feels both love and hate for his best friend,
This story, A Separate Peace, exhibits interesting main characters which establish the frequent struggles of personal identity in adolescence. Gene's story is set in a boarding school called Devon during World War II and "The War" which he speaks of, gives overcast and grim feelings for his classes' future like an impending doom they cannot escape. Finny is a rebellious, charming, and very athletic boy. His charisma comes from his ability to make up rules and ideas on the spot and being able to get out of any trouble, which is magnetic to the other boys at Devon. Most of the teachers admired Phineas because he was the poster boy of boys not yet affected by the war, as mentioned by Gene when he says, "But there was another reason.
Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles conveys many messages of symbolism. The symbolism can be found in an array of ways, ranging from internal war, to the theme of human aggression, and a variety of religious principles. The main characters, Gene and Phineas, and their story could be paralleled to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The similarities can be seen in the way in which in both of the stories, everyone is living in perfect harmony and peace until something comes along to disrupt it. Also in how the main characters do something out of jealousy, greed, and selfishness; and in addition, how Finny's fall out of a tree relates to the “Fall of Mankind.”
In John Knowle’s, A Separate Peace, there is a transformation in all the key elements in the book, from the rivers to the tree to the seasons to the characters. The transformation is specifically seen in Leper, Gene, and Phineas. These three young men experience a change not just because of the transitions through adolescence. These changes also come about because of the war, the school, and an injury.
The legend of the Fountain of Youth says that anyone who should drink from or bathe in the waters of the fountain will have their youth restored. The legend has endured for thousands of years; one of the first accounts of its existence is in the writings of a Greek historian named Herodotus from 5 BCE. People have always lusted after youth and innocence, and often they lust in vain. In contrast, author Joe Hill claimed in one of his novels, “Innocence ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know. Innocent little kids rip the wings off flies, because they don’t know any better. That’s innocence.” In the case of Phineas, one of the main characters in John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Hill is correct. The innocence and youthfulness which Phineas
The purpose of Knowles’ novel is to exaggerate the life of two young boys to the extreme in order to reveal the unfortunate things that can occur in a relationship when these themes are not taken seriously. As stated in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, "It (A Separate Peace) can be viewed, for example, as a tale of Original Sin, with the Devon School as an Eden enclosing the great Tree of Knowledge through which humankind falls far from innocence but is redeemed by the suffering of a totally innocent one. It may also be approached as a reworking of the classic tale of the need to accept the potential evil within everyone and thus make peace with one’s self." BIBLIOGRAPHY "A Separate Peace." Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp.
Every person feels rivalry or competition towards others at some point in their lives. This rivalry greatly affects our ability to understand others, and this eventually results in paranoia and hostility. It is a part of human nature, that people coldly drive ahead for their gain alone. Man's inhumanity towards man is a way for people to protect themselves from having pain inflicted on them by others, and achieving their goals and desires without the interference of others. This concept of man's inhumanity to man is developed in A Separate Peace as the primary conflict in the novel centres on the main character, Gene, and his inner-battles with feelings of jealousy, paranoia, and inability to understand his relationship with his best friend Phineas. Competition is further demonstrated by the occurrence of World War II. It is shown that, "There were few relationships among us (the students) at Devon not based on rivalry." (p. 37) It is this rivalry and competition between the boys at Devon that ripped their friendships apart.
John Knowles writes a compelling realistic fiction about the lives of two teenage boys throughout the start of World War II in his novel A Separate Peace. Peter Yates the director of the movie plays the story out in a well organized theatrical manner. There are similarities and differences in these two works of art. However; there are also similarities.
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. This denying of truth sometimes ends with the person who committed the fault in a bad condition at the end of the book, and sometimes in good condition. So it can be said that there were both positive and negative results for each of the denials of the truth, but these will be explained more in-depth in the following paragraphs.
Brenda Shoshanna once stated, “All conflict we experience in the world, is a conflict within our own selves.” This quote recognizes how much conflict influences our everyday lives and personality. The wise words were especially true for Gene, the main character in A separate peace, who let his battles with other characters and the society of his time become his own internal battles. In John Knowles’s novel, A separate peace, all the types of conflict are shown through the main character Gene.
At the beginning of this novel Gene is very “Ignorant” of his heart. He constantly lies, not only to others but also to him self. Finny on the other hand is a very honest person, he never lies about anything to make him sound or feel better about himself. An example of this is the incident where the boys are asked their height and Genes says he is 5’9 and Finny corrects him by saying, “no your five foot eight and a half, the same as me.” This quote shows the honesty that Finny possesses and that Gene lacks. Gene refuses to admit that he isn’t tall while Finny openly admits it. Gene refuses to admit that he isn’t brave or that his motives for injuring Finny where entirely false. Gene cannot face what he is and this leads to tragedy.