John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, reveals the many dangers and hardships of adolescence. The main characters, Gene, and Finny, spend their summer together at a boarding school called Devon. The two boys, do everything together, until Gene, the main character, develops a resentful hatred toward his friend Finny. Gene becomes extremely jealous and envious of Finny, which fuels this resentment, and eventually turns deadly. Knowles presents a look at the darker side of adolescence, showing jealousy’s disastrous effects. Gene’s envious thoughts and jealous nature, create an internal enemy, that he must fight. A liberal humanistic critique reveals that Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, has a self contained meaning, expresses the enhancement of life, and reveals that human nature does not change. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...utcome, while taking action will end badly. Knowles reveals this, showing that Gene creates an enemy, who would never have hurt anyone, and ends up destroying him. This shows that human nature has not changed, and that it will not change, but people must fight this dangerous side of human nature, or witness self destruction, like Gene. Knowles’ moving novel, A Separate Peace, reveals many alarming features of adolescence, and human nature. Knowles shows that humans will naturally develop an enemy, and will fight them. The main character Gene develops a resentful hatred, which leads to his friend Finny’s untimely death. A liberal humanistic critique reveals that the novel has a self contained meaning, expresses the enhancement of life, and shows that human nature is unchanging. Works Cited Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: John Knowles, Inc.1959.
It brings up several valid points and presents new ways of thinking that the reader may not recognize until digging deeper into A Separate Piece. Chapter 7: After the Fall gives the reader a more knowledgeable perspective on the novel and its characters, especially Gene and Finny and the relationship that the two have. Without viewing this literary analysis, a student wishing to write a paper on A Separate Peace would have great difficulty suggesting and supporting ideas involving Gene and Finny’s
“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed” -Friedrich Nietzsche. A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a coming of age and tragedy novel. In this book, John Knowles shows us the lives of teenage boys during World War II. They boys may seem alright with their cheerful attitudes, but the raging war is still on their minds. They are wondering what it would be like to become a war hero, how everyone would respect them or if the war isn’t as great as it seems. The glory of World War II enticed Finny, Leper, and Brinker only to later reveal to them its true colors.
A Separate Peace “It wasn’t the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and a separate peace,” (128) reflects Gene Forrester after his carefree outing at the winter carnival. John Knowles in a Separate Peace uses an unusual plot to give the reader an illusionary sense of peace and security, found only at Devon, during a time of great war, through isolating specific idealistic moments from the sin and evil that encompasses them.
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.
Knowles' purpose for writing A Separate Peace was to input his own ideas by attaching symbolism to real-world events such as World War Two as well as basing his characters’ relationships around them. In A Separate Peace Knowles uses symbolism to show the coming of age of young people in high school. One of the integral themes of a separate peace is loyalty. The notion of loyalty is present through much of the novel, but as the novel moves forward the simple loyalty attributed to Finny is complicated and developed into a complex notion relating to individual identity, innocence (and the loss of innocence), and the meaning of integrity. Originally rejected by American publishers, John Knowles’ A Separate Peace appeared in England in 1959, where critics admiringly compared it to Salinger’s writings. American critics, responding in 1960 to the American edition, generally noted its depth, sensitivity, and ‘disturbing allegories’ (Ai...
"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.
War can change a community, a state, a country and can change any of those places. The novel a separate peace by John Knowles is very different than most think. The title A Separate Peace holds a few similar, yet different meanings. The obvious one is when Devon is the initial accommodation of peace located in isolation from the remainder of the world. Gene and the other boys at Devon have achieved a peace outside of the war that is taking place around the world. Not only does the school represent a peace by itself, but the death of Phineas represents a peace for both Phineas and Gene; because Finny passed away, he achieved a peace with his own self pride. He felt useless and powerless due to his rejection from
From past, present, to future, conflict has defined history. In a world full of battles, revolutions, and seemingly random acts of evil, it is impossible to escape the reality of it all. Many of today’s great classics have been inspired by generations of conflict. Using World War II as the background for John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace brings up the question if it is ever possible to live in a world without fear, hate and ultimately inevitable conflict. Knowles uses contrasting characters, the innate nature of humans, and contradictory symbols in order to reflect that conflict is inevitable.
Gene does achieve peace. Gene fought a personal war with himself. “In the end, inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war of growing up” (Alton). War symbolizes the internal setbacks of being adolescence to maturity. Gene has matured since he accomplished the war. Gene realized his enemy was within himself. In the novel. “Looking back now across fifteen years, I could see with great clarity the fear I had lived in, which must mean that the interval I had succeeded in a very important undertaking: I must have made my escape from it”(Knowles,1). The quote addresses, Gene has achieved peace when he recognized living in fear to be himself affects important people around him. Lastly, Gene understands he’s better off without
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.
“A Separate Peace” is a novel written by John Knowles. It is a flashback written from the point of view of a character named Gene. As the narrator, Gene recounts his experiences from his years of attending a military school named Devon, as an adult. Gene begins by visiting the school 15 years later and indulges into a flashback from 15 years before. His flashback takes place in 1942, during the world war. As an upper middler (equivalent to eleventh grade), Gene and his best friend Phineas attend summer session at the Devon school. In addition to reading the book, the characters in “A Separate Peace” can be characterized by their actions, thoughts, what they say, and how the characters perceive each other. The reader can identify the character
In A Separate Peace, John Knowles depicts two maturing boys, each on entirely different ends of the personality spectrum. Finny and Gene are roommates at the Devon School in New England, placed together by chance. Gene Forrester characterizes himself with intelligence and thoughtfulness while also possessing sparks of competitiveness. Phineas, better known as Finny, holds undeniable charm and strong athleticism. Their utterly different traits leave them in a position where their status as roommates is the only driving force in their friendship. Although they project different world views and demonstrate different forms of leadership if any, both of them have hidden insecurities, connecting them in ways beyond their apparent characteristics.
People must always move forward in life, however, this does not mean that past events do not influence a person's future actions. John Knowles' novel, A Separate Peace, highlights the essence of human character. Gene Forrester must come to terms with his dark side when he recalls his past actions. Hoping to accomplish this, Gene returns to Devon after 15 years to confront "two fearful sites" in order to gain a better understanding of himself and, hopefully, move on.
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.
Peace only comes at the price of great struggle and sacrifice for most people. In essence, it only comes when you have defeated the enemy, or the enemy has defeated you. John Knowles was able to capture the subtle goal and essence of his novel by titling it A Separate Peace. A Separate Peace is a story about Gene Forrester, the protagonist of the story, and his constant struggle with the underlying emotional conflicts present in him. He has to fight a war within his own mind that every man has to fight for himself. His battles eventually uproot underlying emotionsemotions of jealousy, envy, and subdued hatredthat he feels for people that he had undying loyalty for, and an equally strong trust. These emotions then set off a series of events that change his life forever, and he has to fight more for peace amidst a world of chaos. He experiences new feelings fear, frustration, pity, and undeniable guilt. From his experiences in his last year of school at Devon, he emerges with greater strength, greater understanding, maturity, and he finds the separate peace that every man longs for.