In a story filled to the brim with twisting, endless greens and stark, crude whites, one begins to wonder how many pages can be spent describing scenery. While over-embellished scenery can be abused, John Knowles, in his classic novel, A Separate Peace, utilizes the aspect of setting and surroundings to their utmost potential. This novel strives on contrast. Things are either black or white, or rather green or white. Green is symbolic for the students’ boyish attitudes. It represents obliviousness, perception of invincibility, and naivety. White, in contrast, symbolizes the harsh truth of the world around them, like the war. The characters, the scenes, and even the setting follows this strict pattern. In order to portray the themes of contrast,
…show more content…
The Devon woods are littered with green;the boys move on an “endless green playing field,” it is, at least to the characters, a “permanent and never-changing” being (23,22). This illusion of endlessness is where the naivety comes into play. To Gene, and to a greater extent, Phineas, the greens of summer, the joyful oblivious youth, will last forever. Phineas is the epitome of green, and this idea is often in correlation with his surroundings as well. Pre-fall Finny is frequently described along side a green surrounding. This is evident when exploring the passages describing Finny and his sports; the vibrant,` endless green playing fields dance under his feet; the glistening Devin river stabilizing his graceful adventures. Ultimately, the consistency of the green amplifies Phineas’, and to another extent Leper and Gene’s, green personality traits. Despite the views that Gene puts forward, the summer’s green does not last forever, just as the joyful obliviously does not. Soon, the whiteness of the winter months corrupts the youthful “endless green.” As Gene contemplates the truth after Finny’s fall, and is forced to face the imperfections of his society, the world around him turns to white. The winter months have “conquered, overrun, and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement left in nature” (120). In the same way, the boys’ green attributes have also been eaten away by the truth. Overall, the corresponding surroundings and colors amplify and explain a character's attributes, actions, and purpose in the
The Devon woods are littered with green;the boys move on an “endless green playing field,” it is, at least to the characters, a “permanent and never-changing” being (23,22). This illusion of endlessness is where the naivety comes into play. To Gene, and to a greater extent, Phineas, the greens of summer, the joyful oblivious youth, will last forever. Phineas is the epitome of green, and this idea is often in correlation with his surroundings as well. Pre-fall Finny is frequently described along side a green surrounding. This is evident when exploring the passages describing Finny and his sports; the vibrant,` endless green playing fields dance under his feet; the glistening Devin river stabilizing his graceful adventures. Ultimately, the consistency of the green amplifies Phineas’, and to another extent Leper and Gene’s, green personality traits. Despite the views that Gene puts forward, the summer’s green does not last forever, just as the joyful obliviously does not. Soon, the whiteness of the winter months corrupts the youthful “endless green.” As Gene contemplates the truth after Finny’s fall, and is forced to face the imperfections of his society, the world around him turns to white. The winter months have “conquered, overrun, and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement left in nature” (120). In the same way, the boys’ green attributes have also been eaten away by the truth. Overall, the corresponding surroundings and colors amplify and explain a character's attributes, actions, and purpose in the