A Separate Peace - Thematic Analysis

An analysis of John Knowles A Separate Peace brings up the theme of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. What makes this novel unique is that in protesting war, Knowles never overtly referred to the blood and gore of war; he showed the consequences of war, some paralleling the nature of war and some simply laying out how World War II affected noncombatants thousand miles away. There have been many books written about war, what happens, why it happens, and why wars should stop. Knowles explains through the life of Finny why war never will cease, with only one death in the entire book; a quiet one at that.

When Gene is responsible for Finny's fall off the tree, the reader is in some confusion as to what really happened. All the book reads at this juncture is "Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step near him, and then my knees bounced and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud." The reader does not know whether it was accidental or intentional. It is not until later that Finny realizes that Gene is responsible for his crippling, and what a natural thing it was to do. Gene bounced the branch just to see if he could make the invincible Finny fall; at least, this is why Gene claims he did it. This is true, but at some level, Gene was scared of Finny, of his confidence, his abilities, and his potential for breaking records. Consider Gene's paranoia over Finny's attempts to make him adventurous. Gene interprets these genuine acts of friendship as attempts to prevent him from reaching the top of the academic ladder.

This paranoia parallels war in that after it is declared, no one is safe. Countries, leaders, people suspicious of all who are perceived as a threat, causing them to lash out at anyone even peripherally involved. Adequately proven in A Separate Peace, there are also historical examples: the Nazi death camps, the American Japanese-American relocation camps, and the McCarthyism of the fifties. Apparently, in America, the Constitution rules until war is declared, then paranoia and vindictiveness take charge. When Gene had the opportunity to get back at Finny, he did, which is so human it is disheartening.