A Separate Peace

Set during the infamous World War II, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, unfolds into a story of a growing rivalry between two close friends. English Devon High School students, Gene Forrester and Phineas, are the best of friends, with the perfect balance of athletics and academics. However, Gene’s enmity towards Phineas drives him to have the ideal image of competing to become the top student at Devon. However, ultimately, when the two friends decide to jump off of a limb and into a river, Gene…

all of their lives. Young children’s tend to fulfill friendships with trust for the rest of their lives. But, sometimes even strong relation can end up like war, between two individual that might risk one’s life. John Knowles best known work “A Separate Peace” is one of the most popular youth and war novel. The novel focuses on two best friends Finny and Gene and their relationship during the time of World War II, a time of great hardships. Gene’s envy towards Finny starts to grow in an…

The novel “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles takes place in New England during World War 2. Gene and Finny’s friendship is a combination of different feelings. They admire and respect each other, but Gene is jealous of Finny’s athletic ability. Jealously causes Gene to compete with Finny. Gene tries to excel in his academics to even up with Finny. Their friendship blurs who they are, as Gene begins to live his life for Finny. Gene is becoming part of Finny, therefore losing his own identity. The…

In the eyes of all boys at Devon, including Gene’s, the war initially appears unrealistic; it was impossible to be an actuality. But it is when the war builds, making itself more apparent and ubiquitous, when Gene experiences a metamorphic transition allowing him to comprehend the full weight of adulthood. However, when the war is young, so is Gene and it was during the summer session when the boys decided to make up a game based on one of the German’s strategic maneuvers: “Let’s make it have…

idea of transitioning into adulthood. Set in New England during World War II A Separate Peace tells the story of two friend, Gene and Phineas, and their short lived time of being children. The two boys spend the last of their years at Devon concerned with preserving their innocence before the war takes them. But Gene learns a lot about himself during this time and in return grows a lot as a person. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles explores the theme of the pain of growing up with literary…

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…

During Gene’s time at Devon, he faced many internal conflicts. Most of which consisted in forms of raging envy for Finny’s unconditional talent for any sport, good looks, and popularity. Instead of accepting the fact that Finny was simply a better human and leaning his focus onto self-improvement, he concluded that Finny must be jealous too. Gene wanted to excel at something related to how Finny had exceeded.Wistfully Gene’s plan later resulted in Phineas’ death; therefore, he clearly did not…

immerses Gene in John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. First, Gene’s recollection of the mythical tree in his childhood, now seemingly insignificant after fifteen years, elicits a musing conviction with the stark change in perspective. Insisting that "nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence,” Gene implies that the crime of his past involving the death of Phineas is no longer an antagonizing regret to him, as he is able to attain a state of peace which is only achievable…

Unsettling Curiosity Oftentimes people think of the ideal nostalgia, getting comfort from looking back on the past, instead of the reality of pain and hardship. In A Separate Peace, a novel written by John Knowles, Gene the very impressionable narrator, looks back on his past with strong discomfort about what happens and what actions he commits. Every time Gene thinks of the tree where he pushed Finny (his best friend and roommate) off of, he is overridden with immense guilt. We intend to look…

the search for personal identity and for human dignity.” Says President Howard W. Hunter. In fact, searching for identity is one of the major life tasks among teenagers as well as adults. Sixteen years old protagonist, Gene, narrates a novel “A separate peace”. He is dynamic character and we see his self-development throughout the book. In this novel, Gene moves from innocent childhood into impure world and this process leads him to his self-identification. The inner struggle of protagonist…