Book Report on A Separate Peace (Topic )
Have you noticed that in most stories, the setting represents an idea bigger than just a place in the novel? In these stories, the setting creates symbolism, whether it is a tree in reference to the qualities of the Tree of Knowledge found in In the Beginning, or a lush green forest representing life. Sometimes, a descriptive setting can reveal information about the novel’s characters. In A Separate Peace, the description of the setting and its qualities represent the character’s current feelings and actions.
The way Knowles describes the scenery before Finny’s (Phineas) first accident represents Gene’s actions and feelings after the incident. Once both Gene and Finny are atop of the forbidden, dangerous tree, Gene describes the countryside view as “long rays of light played across the campus (Devon), accenting every slight undulation of the land, emphasizing the separateness of each bush” (Knowles 59). This illustration of the setting provides a beautifully vivid picture of the setting in the reader’s mind. After Gene purposefully jounced the limb of the …show more content…
The bickering between the two begins once Quackenbush learns that Gene is generally inexperienced in rowing canoes. After verbally fighting and arguing, Quackenbush calls Gene a “maimed son-of-a-bitch” (79). This then triggers hostility in Gene into punching Quackenbush across the face, and the two wrestle with each other and fall off of the canoe into the river. The Naguamsett River, as pictured in the story, is illustrated as “ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed” (76). This river represents Gene and Quackenbush’s feelings and actions because the illustration of the river seems to describe each character’s intense hostility towards one
Have you noticed that in most stories, the setting represents an idea bigger than just a place in the novel? In these stories, the setting creates symbolism, whether it is a tree in reference to the qualities of the Tree of Knowledge found in In the Beginning, or a lush green forest representing life. Sometimes, a descriptive setting can reveal information about the novel’s characters. In A Separate Peace, the description of the setting and its qualities represent the character’s current feelings and actions.
The way Knowles describes the scenery before Finny’s (Phineas) first accident represents Gene’s actions and feelings after the incident. Once both Gene and Finny are atop of the forbidden, dangerous tree, Gene describes the countryside view as “long rays of light played across the campus (Devon), accenting every slight undulation of the land, emphasizing the separateness of each bush” (Knowles 59). This illustration of the setting provides a beautifully vivid picture of the setting in the reader’s mind. After Gene purposefully jounced the limb of the …show more content…
The bickering between the two begins once Quackenbush learns that Gene is generally inexperienced in rowing canoes. After verbally fighting and arguing, Quackenbush calls Gene a “maimed son-of-a-bitch” (79). This then triggers hostility in Gene into punching Quackenbush across the face, and the two wrestle with each other and fall off of the canoe into the river. The Naguamsett River, as pictured in the story, is illustrated as “ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed” (76). This river represents Gene and Quackenbush’s feelings and actions because the illustration of the river seems to describe each character’s intense hostility towards one