Seeing is believing, or so many say, but what truly is “seeing”? John Knowles touches upon this subtle relationship between truth and illusions in his book A Separate Peace. The book describes the fictional life-story of, Gene, a teenage boy, and the trials and tribulations he undergoes with his so-called friend, Phineas, at Devon, the academy they attend. Knowles heightens the tension between the various characters in the book, by setting the story in 1942, deep in World War II, with confusion and angers flaring even this far from the battlefield. While so far from, and innocent to the knowledge of the war, Knowles’ characters experience their own wars in accepting life’s harsh truths. Knowles’ character Phineas, undergoes drastic changes
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Finny disillusions himself in this way of thinking for sports and war, as he “never permit[s] himself to realize that when you won they lost”(35), this being the truth about sports and war. Eventually, Phineas, similar to a sports game, becomes excited by the war and attempts to enlist with many different leaders. Gene, stripped of his childhood innocence and illusions by harsh experiences, sees this error and falsehood in Finny’s judgement, and tells Finny that he would probably “be over with the Germans or the Japs, asking if they’d like to field a baseball team against [his] side[, eventually getting]... things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more”(191). Gene’s statement is a metaphor for the way that Finny’s false belief that everyone wins in sports, would not apply to the war, as in actuality everyone loses something in war, consequently confusing all the other soldiers in the war. Finny, as a result of this newfound truth, changes from the reserved and tentative boy he was before into someone who is “struggling to stay calm [and]... crying, but trying to control himself”(191). Thus, Finny is broken by the truth that in war everyone loses and suffers, as it removes his belief in the goodness of
Finny disillusions himself in this way of thinking for sports and war, as he “never permit[s] himself to realize that when you won they lost”(35), this being the truth about sports and war. Eventually, Phineas, similar to a sports game, becomes excited by the war and attempts to enlist with many different leaders. Gene, stripped of his childhood innocence and illusions by harsh experiences, sees this error and falsehood in Finny’s judgement, and tells Finny that he would probably “be over with the Germans or the Japs, asking if they’d like to field a baseball team against [his] side[, eventually getting]... things so scrambled up nobody would know who to fight any more”(191). Gene’s statement is a metaphor for the way that Finny’s false belief that everyone wins in sports, would not apply to the war, as in actuality everyone loses something in war, consequently confusing all the other soldiers in the war. Finny, as a result of this newfound truth, changes from the reserved and tentative boy he was before into someone who is “struggling to stay calm [and]... crying, but trying to control himself”(191). Thus, Finny is broken by the truth that in war everyone loses and suffers, as it removes his belief in the goodness of