A Separate Peace Literary Criticism

At first glance, “A Separate Peace” might seem only to be about a boy, Gene, accepting his feelings out after leading his best friend, Finny, ultimately to his death. This may be true, but this difficulty itself leads into a bigger, overarching idea that is shown in almost all aspects of the book. The novel is “saying” that the name, “A Separate Peace”, is referring to another false reality that is made when a character uses defense mechanisms to cope with true reality. Reality is often troubling, and those in this separate peace reside in a paradise away from it. It is “separate” in the sense that it is created distant from the reality, as a way of sheltering the innocence of the character. It is a “peace” in a way that the characters live …show more content…
This is a sign of both the regression that continues to prevail through all the character’s problems, but also of denial. At points, not only Finny, but the other characters simply stated that their problems did not exist. By doing this, it once again, traps the unconscious fear of death beneath the defense mechanisms. The denial allows them to distance themselves from reality, detaching them. It continues to build up this false reality’s strength. Gene would often fall into this creation of denial, for it blocked out the pain that he was truly afraid of.
All these characters pushed the realities away into the dark, creating “A Separate Peace”. To create a world of only joyous perceptions is what the book itself echoed. Tearing down the walls of this oasis, you find that this separate peace is really a refusal to accept reality, to ignore what real truth is. Breaking free of distortions is where a hero’s journey ends. It hurts to see the light, but to see the light is to find the truth, and in finding the truth, you are able to join feel the world on a level that is real. A posed reality will crumble, but the truth will let you live