A Separate Peace Literary Analysis

Why do we read fiction? Is it possible that the reason humans read is that “it satisfies our deepest need – the need of feeling our life to be, in itself, significant” (Warren). Also fiction makes us yearn for problems that relate to our lives and help us get through the difficulties we are enduring.
In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene is dealing with the internal struggle of not being as good as Finn but trying to keep it a secret. We connected with the fight of two best friends and felt important in knowing how Gene felt about Finn; but then again, we also knew how Finn had no idea about the whole situation. It gave us a sense of gratification in knowing facts that Finn did not, even if he is just a character in a book. We experience importance because we feel different. We feel satisfaction and also a sense of relief because we are understanding what is happening and recognize that others can solve the same problem as Finn also. A person reading this book could be going through the same struggle with their best friend and not want to admit to being jealous, or not …show more content…
We sensed the connection between the pressure on Ralph and the boys having so many different choices to make and directions to take, but he chose to do what was best and to comply with his will of getting off the island. We feel significant in the sense of knowing how Ralph felt at the instant he sensed pressure on giving up. If person was in the position in their life when they felt the burden of giving up or felt like they couldn’t rely on their will or own opinion anymore, they would proceed in reading Lord of the Flies to see how Ralph overcomes his situations and maybe they could apply those things to their lives. This makes the reader feel significant because they feel like they have accomplished something on their