A Separate Peace By John Knowles: An Analysis

War has both a positive and negative effect. Sure, war is dark and dreary, but through hardships and suffering, many friendships evolve due to the conflicts surrounding them. In the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a nostalgic Gene Forrester goes back to a boarding school he previously attended expecting to remember his lively times, but upon arrival, he can only manage to remember all the awful experiences he once suffered through. As he relives old times, he remembers his old friend, Finny, who he faced many hardships with. Observed throughout the book, was the theme of war and friendship, and how the two provoke the teenage characters to grow in both their maturity and in their interactions with both the world, and one another. …show more content…
While World War II augments, all of the boys run into conflicts with themselves or their peers. This problem becomes an obstacle in the success of their academics and athletics. The boys feel that, although young in age, they should enlist in the war and protect their country. The problem is, they do not believe that they are mentally or physically strong enough for its undertaking. Another setback on Finny 's decision is the problem of his broken leg. Finny 's broken leg is a result of a conflict between he and Gene and the fall from the tree. His injury prohibits him from doing any form of athletics ever again. The fall from the tree symbolizes the climax of the war between Gene and Finny and also foreshadows a loss of innocence in the boys. It symbols a loss of innocence in the boys because Finny has not a clue that Gene did this to him, but when Finny finds out, conflict and war begin to erupt, although Gene assumed it would be over. Gene thinks this action he made has ended the war going on between the two boys, but he actually only exacerbated the situation. Gene and Finny will have to start fighting a