Biography of John Knowles

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John Knowles was born on 1962 in Fairmont, West Virginia and passed away on November 29, 2001. He was 15 years old when he became a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school. After he graduated from there is 1945, he decided to join the war effort as part of the U.S. Army Air Force’s Aviation Cadet Program. John went to Europe and worked as a journalist until the mid 1950’s and then returned to the U.S in 1957. After returning, he took a job with the associate editor at Holiday magazine, Thornton Wilder. Wilder was interested in Knowles’ writing and started working on “ A Separate Piece.” This was Knowles’ first novel and his most successful one too. Knowles was given the honors of writer-in-residence at both Princeton University and University of North Carolina. A Separate Peace illustrates Knowles’ idea and understanding of the war as he, himself comes out through the narrator of Gene. Gene does not only struggle with the idea of the war, but he must overcome his jealousy and hostility toward his best friend Finny.
FORM, STRUCTURE, AND PLOT
The novel was organized in thirteen chapters and 251 pages. The techniques the author used was flashbacks and chronological order of events. Knowles would first explain the novel in present time, but then would flashback to his teenage life, especially memorize about the tree. The plot of the novel is complex because of all the flashbacks and present-time events Gene talks about. There is a lot going on and sometimes it’s difficult to understand what perspective Gene is using. In the beginning of the novel, Gene visits his old school in his thirties. As he approaches the famous tree that started so much drama, he begins to reminisce the years he spent there. Throughout the book ...

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...his friendship. It’s necessary to figure this out because in comparison to Gene, Finny is the loyal, caring, and loving friend. Finny doesn’t want to make Gene even more jealous that he broke the record of all time.

“..Phineas had died form the marrow of his bone flowing down...I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case.
The quote from the end of chapter 12 really touches me. Ever since Gene became a part of Finny, he has later realised how important Phineas was in his life. Part of Finny lives in Gene as does Gene lived in Finny’s. It’s important that we acknowledge the way Gene feels because it is completely differ from the way he felt before about Finny.

Works Cited:
"Biography of John Knowles (1926-2001)." Biography of John Knowles. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.

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