War and peace exist in more ways than large military conflicts, occurring between ideas and between people. Themes often explored in literature, war and peace, can be represented simply as personal conflicts, such as those between close friends. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace deals with the issue of war and peace by showing Peace, personified by Phineas, to be happy, naïve and confident, and War, personified by Gene, to be tortured, malicious and insecure, and that resolution to the conflict between them comes only from an understanding of the world around them.
Peace in A Separate Peace is shown to be carefree, innocent and blissful, as embodied by teenage boys, most specifically Phineas. Peace is addressed early and frequently in the book, as a sort of pleasant illusion, similar to teenage boys enjoying their last summer before their senior year and inevitable service in World War 2, teenage boys who remind the staff at Devon school of “what peace [is] like, of lives not bound up by destruction”(24). The narrator continues, glowingly adding that his friend, Phineas, “was the essence of this careless peace” (24). Peace is even considered to be a kind of selfishness, an ignorance perhaps of the suffering around them, but a great thing nonetheless, when the narrator claims that “the people in the world who could be selfish in the summer of 1942 were a small band,” and that he was “glad [he and his friends] took advantage of it”(30). Peace, seen not only as innocence, but as being unaware of the outside world, is a pivotal part of Phineas’ life. Phineas, though considerate and outgoing, seems oblivious to the world around him, surprised that Gene must study, saying, “I thought it just came to you,” (58). Phineas seems not to ca...
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...ses it, and what can finally end it. By establishing different characters, even different sides of characters, to represent different aspects of peace and war, John Knowles suggests that both war and peace are lies, that they are ignorant of reality. However, peace is seen as idyllic, a state of harmony worth lying for, and war is seen as pain, envy and insecurity. Through a series of painful events, Gene comes to grips with the reality that his attack against Phineas was an act formed out of blind spite, not reason. Similarly, Phineas and Gene can only come to grips with each other when there are no more questions to ask about what happened between them. John Knowles, through the stories of his characters, provides his solution to ending war: to inform, to understand, and to forgive.
Works Cited
Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
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 discovers that war and death can never be understood.
Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” This saying is also true for the personality of Brinker Hadley, a character in A Separate Peace. In this novel, Brinker and his group of friends spend their time at Devon School making memories with exciting, yet dangerous adventures. With the idea of World War II in the back of their minds, the boys are trying to focus on the joys in life. However, a situation caused by Brinker’s questioning brings great sorrow. Brinker Hadley represents a headstrong, lawful, and perhaps misconceived character in this novel,
A persona is a mask shown to the outside world developed in relation to consciousness, to hide the darkest aspects of a psyche, known as a shadow, behind it. Shadows contrast personas by holding undesirable and unwanted memories and behaviors, but the dark side of an individual must be accepted for the individual to fully understand oneself. In the coming of age novel, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, narrator Gene Forrester returns to New Hampshire to visit Devon School, where he studied fifteen years ago just as World War II had begun to unfold. The narrative shifts back fifteen years ago to Gene’s days at Devon School with his best friend, Phineas, also known as Finny, as he recalls memorable events from his past. Gene’s persona and shadow
The theme “rite of passage” was used in the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This moving from innocence to adulthood was contained within three sets of interconnected symbols: summer and winter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war. These symbols served as a backdrop upon which the novel was developed. The loss if Gene Forrester’s innocence was examined through these motifs.
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
"Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that in the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it" ( Knowles 5). In this novel A Separate Peace, using these words, John Knowles reveals the fear that haunts the students at Devon and when they proceeded with all their training for the war they mature into adults.
When the war breaks out, this tranquil little town seems like the last place on earth that could produce a team of vicious, violent soldiers. Soon we see Jim thrown into a completely contrasting `world', full of violence and fighting, and the strong dissimilarity between his hometown and this new war-stricken country is emphasised. The fact that the original setting is so diversely opposite to that if the war setting, the harsh reality of the horror of war is demonstrated.
Knowle’s novel, A Separate Peace, has a self contained meaning and theme, not connected to any other works. Throughout the novel, Finny creates a metaphorical shadow that eclipses Gene. Gene feels that he must live in this shadow, and becomes extremely envious, and develops a resentful hatred. Finny continuously convinces Gene to leave his homework, and go swimming or adventuring. These distractions only add to Gene’s resentful hatred. He feels that he must now compete with Finny, academically not athletically. “You would have had an A in that one [class] except for him. Except for him… Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my studies… That way he, the great athlete, would be way ahead of me,” (John Knowles 53.) This enforces the author’s theme, that humans will create enemies for themselves. The author expresses the idea that even when no conflict has arisen, humans will create their own enemies, and will make war agains...
The quote, “Ignorance is bliss,” by Thomas Gray is a seemingly adequate description of the lives of Gene, Finny, and Leper until they are all roughly jolted out of their fantasy world and brought back to reality. In A Separate Peace, John Knowles does an acceptable job of showing how disillusionment can greatly impact and, thus, change the lives of people. The book showcases the cycle of disillusionment and the ramifications it implies. Throughout the book, we see Gene, Leper, and Finny’s views on the world change. This all culminates in Gene being elevated to a higher level of understanding of the world and seeing the truth about Devon and the war. The illusions created by Finny and Leper are also taken on by Gene, and he, in turn, shares in their disillusionment. Overall, disillusionment is a part of life and often serves as a tool to help many people grow and learn from the past.
Dealing with enemies has been a problem since the beginning of time. “I never killed anybody,” Gene had commented later in his life, “And I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform, I was on active duty all my time at Devon; I killed my enemy there.” In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the value of dealing with enemies is shown by Gene, who was dealing with few human enemies, but his emotions created far greater rivals than any human could ever posses.
In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, Gene and Phineas strive to find their true selves which is normal for teenagers. The Greek poet and playwright Sophocles suggest that humans never reach a full realization of who they are as individuals until they find another human being with whom the person can share themselves with. This story starts with Gene as an adult reflecting on how he no longer considers places at Devon fearful anymore. Over the course of Gene and Phineas’ friendship, Gene accumulates guilt and jealousy which fabricates fearful places. The fearful places include, the tree and the marble stairs. The reason Gene came back to Devon was to confront places he considered fearful. He no longer considers them fearful places once
War never changes. It starts with a drop of blood and ends with a sea, but it isn’t the spilling of blood that stops the chaos. Peace is brought by the magnanimous who look past each other’s faults, not the cold-hearted and unsympathetic. The short stories “Lather and Nothing Else” and “Gregory” both explore the theme that it is better for opposing sides to show trust and empathy with each other rather than displaying ruthlessness and needless violence because mutual understanding PREVENTS FURTHER CONFLICT. Captain Torres trusts the barber not to slit his throat which then leads to them being empathic to one another and developing a relationship, similar to when Gregory trusts the guerrillas with his life which
"A Separate Peace." Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Vol. 3. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1993.
Constantly, people are subjected to change in their everyday lives. It is an inevitable force affecting all. A Chinese proverb states that “when the wind of change blows, some build walls while others build windmills.” Just like in real life, when change occurs, people either are frightened and wish to block the change by building a wall while others accept the change and let it become part of them just like how wind is a part of a windmill. Life shows that there is always change around everyone whether it’s mentally or physically. People are offered to decide how they will respond and react to change and will choose what to do with it. Change is often taken in to become a benefit and advantage in the near future because it