Coming Of Age In John Knowles A Separate Piece

Essay on A Separate Peace A Separate Peace by John Knowles tells the story of protagonist Gene Forrester and his life at Devon School. The story takes place during World War II, around 1942 in the setting of New Hampshire. Devon School grants Gene as well as the other boys attending a privilege, being they were excluded from the war going on around them. Regardless of whether or not the boys had actually experienced or been involved with the war, it did not stop it from effecting their everyday lives.

In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, the main character, Gene Forrester, undergoes a traumatic journey to develop the aspects necessary for coping through adulthood. This novel is a flashback to the year of 1942, when Gene attends his final year at Devon High School, in New Hampshire. Although Gene appears to be Finny’s best friend, he follows in Finny’s steps so that his personality clones to be like Finny’s. Finny exposes new experiences that provoke Gene’s development into adulthood. As Gene engages in new experiences, he soon realizes that he envies Finny’s abilities.

Internal struggle and bitter jealousy are complex feelings that can hinder the relationship between family and friends for any individual. These emotions can stem from outward sources such as war or a deep-seated envy that lies within everyone. In John Knowles's A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester is a prime example of this struggle. Due to jealousy of his best friend Finny and his internal struggle to find his true self, the reader is made aware of the the hardships in finding a balance between constant paranoia and true feelings towards Finny, a seemingly impossible task.

During the late 1930’s and early to mid1940’s, Allies were fighting the axis powers in WW2. Along with the high tensions amongst countries, there was also high tension amongst civilian lives. John Knowles’ A Separate Peace clearly shows the tension within a friendship similar to that of Britain’s and Germany’s relationship. Through Allegory, John Knowles shows the tension within two friends that eventually leads to their inevitable demise. The symbolic items in the book are: Gene, the main character, Finny, the deuteragonist, and Finny’s pink shirt.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that, “envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.” (370). John Knowles’ A Separate Peace is set during World War I at Devon School, a boarding school for boys. The book centers on Gene Forrester, a student at Devon, who could be described as an intelligent, but jealous, conformist. A Separate Peace illustrates Gene’s envy and imitation of his friend, Finny, and how it affects himself and his relationship with Finny, and also how Gene eventually finds peace.

A Separate Peace was written by John Knowles. It was published in 1959 by the publisher Secker and Warburg, and contains 236 pages. The genre of the book is naturalism fiction. This tells the story of a boy at boarding school during World War 2, and his mixed feelings of admiration and jealousy he harbors for his best friend and roommate. The book was pretty okay and interesting to read, keeping an odd taste.

2. Gene says that Finny is not suited for war. Do you disagree or agree with this statement? I disagree with Gene’s statement that Finny is not suited for war. Finny was mentally prepared and seemed to want to enlist in some of the earlier parts of the book.

A Separate Peace, Unit Test Hamza Eldohiri The story “A Separate Peace”, written by John Knowles, was written at the time and takes place during World War II when battles and conflicts amongst nations were evident. Each nation involved struggled and fought their hardest in order to satisfy the good of their nation. Not only is the setting in the story taking place during this time of quarrel, the story also demonstrates areas of self-conflict and an internal battle throughout. The characters in “A Separate Peace”, are described as experiencing this self-conflicting, internal battle. Gene (also the narrator) is specifically depicted as he goes through his battle in life.

In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace Identity is shown as what defines us and makes us be placed in other peoples perspectives. An author can use identity to place characters in the readers mind to portray them a certain way, just as John Knowles did in A Separate peace. An identity can be defined as who a person is inside and out.

A Changed Life: Pessimism to Optimism Just like no one can escape death no one can escape the aftermath of a traumatic event. Even though trauma isn’t escapable it is overcomeable. The traumatic events that occur throughout A Separate Peace would lead most to say that it is a pessimistic book, but there are much deeper findings that is optimistic in the book. The optimistic view of the book is looked upon and isn’t the most obvious choice of the two but has many provable points.