Symbolism In John Knowles A Separate Peace

George’s act of violence solved one problem but, it only caused another one. Gandhi explained this best when he said, “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is

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.

Gene doesn’t know if he did it on purpose or if it was an accident. But, later on Finny breaks his leg even more and Gene goes to visit him and talk things out. Finny forgives Gene for the incident makes Gene go on with his life, but Gene later finds out the Finny has died from a bone marrow that got into his blood stream and into his heart. He then feels that his war with everything is over. But throughout the entire novel all of these events that have happened were because of Gene’s fear and jealousy with Finny.

In an attempt to relieve himself from shame in his father’s eyes, Amir stands by watching Assef rape his best friend, Hassan, so that he will not risk losing the last kite—his key to Baba’s love. Amir mentions that “Hassan was the price… [he] had to pay, the lamb… [he] had to slay to win Baba” (82). Amir’s remorse intensifies after acknowledging how his ignorant behaviour as a child exacerbate the life of his blood brother to the worse. For instance, Amir states just as Hassan is about to leave to Hazarajat that “ This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me…

Paul and his friends were eaten out, mentally, by the war and remained casings of their old lives. Further exemplifying their inability to reconnect to their past lives and in turn the normal world. Remarque creates Paul Baumer to represent a generation of men who are know to the outside

His feelings of jealousy and rivalry are what compelled him to make Finny suffer by falling off the branch in the first place. Gene also admits, “There were few relationships amoung us at Devon not based on rivalry,” (pg.156). This quotation shows that among all friendships at the schools each one of them has to do with competing with others. Gene understands this concept, which is why his relationship with Finny is very competitive. It also confirms the idea that rivalry is a prominent feature in many friendships and relationships, not just the one in the novel.

Huck and Jim both decide to flee from terrible situation and they run into one another at Jackson’s Island. At first Jim is freaked out by Huck because he believes that Huck had been killed and has come back to haunt him. Soon he realizes that Huck is real and reveals his secret, after convincing Huck to promise not to tell, about him running away. Huck is shocked to hear the truth and knows that “people would call [him] a low down Abolitionist and despise [him] for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference” (37) because he promised to keep his word. Huck believes, and rightfully so, that he will be hated if he keeps quiet, showing the hold racism has over Huck.

Gene would grieve for a long time without getting Finny’s forgiveness, for he felt very guilty. He got Finny’s remission before he passed away sadly. “Now I knew that there never was and never could have been any rivalry between us” (59). Gene realizes that the accusations in his mind about Finny trying to sabotage him were false. Gene has accepted both his own guilt and the gift of Finny's friendship.

In his mind, he believes that Baba will send Ali and Hassan away, and, as a result, he will finally gain some peace. To Amir’s surprise, Hassan confesses to stealing his gifts without hesitation symbolizing “Hassan’s final sacrifice for [him]” (105). At that moment, Amir realizes that Hassan knew of his betrayal, which added to his already guilty conscience. Hassan could have easily told Baba the truth and he would have believed him because”[everyone] knew that Hassan never lied”, which, in turn, would ruin Amir’s relationship with his father (105). He probably knew that Amir was unworthy of his sacrifice, that he was the “snake in the grass, the monster in the lake”, but he lied for Amir’s own benefit

Moreover, his character is such that, “He sees the best in people and overlooks anything that is contrary to that view”(Edelstein). And so, he fears in learning the truth of what caused him to plummet down the tree. Although deep in his mind, he finds reason that Gene caused it, he cannot bear to accept his conscience. Synchronously, as Finny tumbles to the Earth, all his dreams and aspirations plummet with him. No longer can he participate in sports and compete in the Olympics, or enlist in the army, another one of his goals.

Thereafter, he lives true to the quote, “Your identity defines who you are but it doesn 't have to define you for life” (Whitbourne), in the way that he begins to voice his grievances. To Brinker and all of his other peers he pronounces , “ ‘I’m important. You’ve never realized it, but I’m important too’ “ (Knowles 176).

Before the attack on his home is confirmed, Macbeth tells his servant, “As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have, but in their stead / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath” (5.3.25-27). After killing too many people, Macbeth finds no purpose in honor or having love like a king normally has because he has survived so long without them, so by now he has adapted to these emptinesses. He has come to the conclusion that friends are no longer necessary because they just create more issues and more curses. They give him a false hope of honor, but the honor will not help him now. Macbeth yearns for the honor which he abandons once he decides to follow Lady Macbeth’s advice.

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.

In John Knowles, fictional novel, A Separate Peace, he uses internal conflict to ensure the reader’s understanding of a true friendship. Gene brings Finny’s suitcase to the infirmary, and the boys finally talk about the accident. Finny is an emotional mess and begins to cry. He asks Gene, “It was just some blind impulse you had in the tree there, you didn’t know what you were doing. Was that it” (191)?

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.