A Separate Lie
According to John Knowles, truth is something deeper than thought, but a feeling that holds immense power over those who possess it, Knowles writes, “I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth,” (Knowles 48). Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, deception is held onto by the boys of Devon School as a way for them to avoid facing the reality and truth of their environments and actions throughout World War II. Due to the tension between the protagonist Gene and his best friend Finny, they hold on to an illusion of peace and happiness in order to hide from reality. The morally testing situations result in a separate and symbolic peace that the boys of Devon use to protect themselves from the fear of the war, and the repercussions of their actions. Fear, deception, and a desire to escape painful truth in order to keep a “separate peace” is seen throughout the novel - specifically after Gene visits Finny in Boston, The Winter Carnival, and after Finny’s fatal accident. When Gene first arrives at Finny’s house in Boston, he realizes that he must hide the truth of what happened in the tree in order to keep the peace between …show more content…
At Finny’s funeral, Gene does not do so much as drop a tear, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case,” (Knowles 194). The lies and deceit that Gene used as a way to hide from the truth and pain of this life resulted in him losing the reality that he was so afraid of. Instead he found refuge in a separate and illusionary peace; one filled with new terrors because of the ones escaped, and that takes pieces of reality and one’s true identity in order to find a fake satisfaction that can only be shattered by the truth that can never be
According to John Knowles, truth is something deeper than thought, but a feeling that holds immense power over those who possess it, Knowles writes, “I was stopped by that level of feeling, deeper than thought, which contains the truth,” (Knowles 48). Throughout the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, deception is held onto by the boys of Devon School as a way for them to avoid facing the reality and truth of their environments and actions throughout World War II. Due to the tension between the protagonist Gene and his best friend Finny, they hold on to an illusion of peace and happiness in order to hide from reality. The morally testing situations result in a separate and symbolic peace that the boys of Devon use to protect themselves from the fear of the war, and the repercussions of their actions. Fear, deception, and a desire to escape painful truth in order to keep a “separate peace” is seen throughout the novel - specifically after Gene visits Finny in Boston, The Winter Carnival, and after Finny’s fatal accident. When Gene first arrives at Finny’s house in Boston, he realizes that he must hide the truth of what happened in the tree in order to keep the peace between …show more content…
At Finny’s funeral, Gene does not do so much as drop a tear, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case,” (Knowles 194). The lies and deceit that Gene used as a way to hide from the truth and pain of this life resulted in him losing the reality that he was so afraid of. Instead he found refuge in a separate and illusionary peace; one filled with new terrors because of the ones escaped, and that takes pieces of reality and one’s true identity in order to find a fake satisfaction that can only be shattered by the truth that can never be