Consequences Of War In John Knowles's 'A Separate Peace'

The war happening outside Devon represents the external and internal conflicts between the characters. An example is Gene’s inner conflict with jealousy when he says, “I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn't help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little” (Knowles 25). Here, Gene is trying to justify his envy towards Finny, which could represent the justification of calamities in war.

One wrong move and they could be dead. Tim also wanted everyone to realize how intense war is, all the soldiers had to be as silent as possible to stay

Not only is the younger generation fighting to prove a point to the elders, but Yale students ran away to fight in the war. As the authors described the reality of the story, they both explain, “Yale students did rush away to get weapons and join the war in 1775” (Collier and Collier 214). The majority of the older generation did not go run to join the fight, but most young teens did. Even though the students think that they were doing something brave or bold, they did not listen to their parents to tell them otherwise.

Due to the significant amount of hardship, I believe that the theme is lost of innocence. A defining moment in the theme loss of innocence is when Jethro changes his mind about war. At first, “ He liked stories of war”(15). At this point in the book, Jethro enjoyed the thought of war because he imagined war as brass instruments playing and uniforms on all of the soldiers.

Repetition is used in t “pretending he was not in the war, pretending he had not watched Billy Boy Watkins die” (O’Brien 828) The author repeats many words and phrases in order to show the reader that rather than being brave and unaffected by the way he was trying to pretend as if he wasn’t in the dangerous situation so that he could overcome his fear. Informal word choice his eyes still wide open and scared stiff “The big soldier hissed at him to shut up” The author uses simple, everyday language in order to show the reader the realities of war from the point of view of the fearful soldier. Names of the characters: “Private First Class Paul Berlin” soldier died Billy Boy“ doctor “Doc Peret”. The names of the characters describe their position at war.

Many schools across the nation debated the topic of banning the book Catch-22 from schools due to the repeated and inappropriate use of foul language used throughout the book; however, Catch 22 provides students with a satirical take on the effects of war on the mind. Catch-22 must be permitted into schools because the novel provides a high school student with an analytical insight into war and allows the student to articulate an opinion of war and the effects followed by a conflict. War has been a controversial topic for the last few decades; many Americans since the Vietnam protests of the 1960’s have come to the decision that War is wrong and an injustice to humanity, but high school students are old enough to formulate an assumption on this long debated topic; Catch-22 may help students make this assumption of war and the effects that follow. Amy Goodwin an Athens News contributor suggested in an article that former President Barack Obama should read Catch-22,” It was his Oct. 2nd, 2002 speech in Chicago, where he declared his opposition to the imminent invasion

Alton states,” In the end , inner peace is achieved only after fighting one’s own, private war growing up. In this sense the war is symbolic also of inner struggle from adolescence to maturity”. Gene acknowledges that his real enemy is himself and that he caused all his vicious acts because of his envy, hatred, and fear of growing up. After fifteen years, Gene realizes that the problem was not Finny but himself, and he discovers his peace and happiness now that he has fought his war.

Propaganda – A True Reflection? In the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, propaganda wounded everyone, including the young teenage boys and the adults distanced from the war, physically, emotionally, and mentally; by filtering out the horrific aspects of war which weren’t recognized until it was too late to back out. Those involved in the actual feud were sitting the farthest away from the harshness of war and through means of propaganda, they got others to fight for them.

Hunter previously states that; “the true nature of war is to serve itself and leave the world destroyed.” While Captain Frank Ramsey, rose through the military ranks, to his current position , he takes Hunter’s advice, but does not seem to listen to it because of their backgrounds. When making an ethical decision, many factors affect the process. In this example, it is pressure from your peers, the men on board, the military, and the people of the united states the swore to protect.

They say there are always two sides to every war but only one losing side; humanity. War is a theme often explored in media and has a tendency to be glorified. Unlike many other war texts, Isao Takahata’s “Grave of the Fireflies” exposes the true nature of war and provides insight into the lives of those affected. From the beginning, Takahata condemns the idea of patriotism by characterising the film’s protagonist, Seita, as an archetype for the Japanese nationalist pride and militaristic enthusiasm that existed amongst the Japanese society prior to the war. He starts the film with a statement from the protagonist, “September 21st, 1945…

War changes its participants forever, no matter their role they have, a damage has and will be done. All the participants of a war are to blame for the aftermath. Although the experiences of a character from a fictional novel such as Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and a real-life American soldier giving a testimony in Rory Kennedy’s “The ghosts of Abu Ghraib” documentary, seem incomparable, they are not. When side by side their similarities become more evident, as they both share similar themes. The personality of an individual depends on the society that has educated him/her.

A Separate Piece, by John Knowles, is a coming of age novel that follows the development of the main character, Gene Forester, a junior at an exclusive boy’s school in New England. This extract focuses on Gene moving on from Devon and moving on from Phineas. As Gene looks back on his days at Devon, he begins to accept the mistake he made. Not the mistake of pushing Finny off the tree, but the mistake of misunderstanding their friendship. By the end of the novel, Gene has discovered himself.

Point: Leper is like a blender because he is all mixed up. Evidence: After Gene’s trip to see Leper he is fully convinced he has become crazy after the frequent crying and the absurd talk between the two characters. Sadly Gene finally admits it and confirms when Brinker says “I’ll bet he cracked up, didn’t he? That’s what happened.” referring to Leper.

In the book a Separate Peace, John Knowles the author uses, different levels of war to show the different conflicts throughout the book, and the effects they have on Gene. An example of a level of war is interpersonal war, or also known as man versus man, which is a conflict between two people. In the book, Gene thinks there is in interpersonal war between him and Finny. Gene believes that Finny wants to be better than him, as shown in the quote when Gene and Finny talk back in forth, “You don’t need to worry about me Finny.” “I’m not worried.”

A Separate Peace Wars are cruel, ruthless, and catastrophic. Lives are destroyed, and families are ripped apart. People are turned against each other, and seek to extinguish one another. “Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history” (Chris Hedges, New York Times). In John Knowles, A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester, a foolish teenager, experiences his own war; a clash between friendship and insecurities.