Theme Of Innocence In A Separate Peace

Mary Fragalla Mrs. Teague Honors American Literature 10 December 2015 Reading Portfolio Assignment Author’s Background and Purpose John Knowles wrote his novel "A Separate Peace" after his memories from his years at the Phillips Exter Academy in New Hampshire. John Knowles grew up in a small town in Fairmont, West Virginia. He came from a wealthy family.

Gene becomes his most petty and vicious self. This is a battle for Finny and Gene because both of them battle with and come to learn their true identities. Gene realizes what he has done and feels terribly guilty. He is worried that Finny is going to realize that his fall was because of him. He is also worried that once Finny sees his face he will automatically accuse him.

In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man. Fifteen years after attending Devon, an elite military preparatory school located in New Hampshire, the narrator, Gene Forrester, returned to reflect upon how fearful he was during the time he spent training and studying for World War II. He then decides to visit the places or symbols on the campus that were closely associated with his fear; a marble staircase and a tree placed near the bank of the river. As Gene visits these key symbols of fear, he flashes back upon his time at Devon. He remembers his best friend, Phineas or Finny, as a very superior athlete and charming young man.

A separate peace by John Knowles is book that takes place at a boarding school and a big part of it is looking at how tragedy can change a characters personality. Gene Forrester the protagonist and narrator of the novel is a great example of this. At the beginning of the book he is envious of his best friend Phineas and will do anything to be the best, but as the book goes on and tragedy strikes all he feels is guilt. Before the tragedy of Finny breaking his leg gene is envious of him.

In a world of many people, conflicts arise within those people. The novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, tells a story about two boys, their coming of age story and the conflicts that arise with their coming of age. In the novel, both boys try to stay true to who they are as people. But only one of those boys stays true to who they are. Overall, the way each boy responds to events that occur shows who they really are inside and how different the boys are.

“A Separate Peace” portrays how Gene’s envy and imitation affects himself, his relationship with Finny, and how he finds his peace, or lack thereof, at the end of the book. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him in many ways. He starts to believe he was meant to become a part of Finny. After Finny broke his leg from falling out of a tree, he tells Gene that he must play sports for him. Gene then thinks to himself “and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become part of Phineas,” (Knowles 85).

Part of friendship consists of accepting a friend's shortcomings. This theme, generally associated with A Separate Peace, means that friends should embrace each other's imperfections. Some people seem perfect with no flaws at all while others seem hopelessly imperfect with many flaws, but the truth is everyone makes mistakes. Friends should accept each other's shortcomings because unrealistic expectations can damage a relationship. In A Separate Peace, both Finny and Gene had difficulty accepting a friend's shortcomings.

Originally, Finny is ready and waiting to either enlist or become drafted into the military, until Gene indirectly breaks his leg by pushing him out

Finny’s presence satisfies Gene and drives him towards the final steps till Finny’s defeat, his death. At the time of Finny’s demise, Gene “stood watching him being lowered into his family’s strait-laced burial ground” and “could not escape a feeling” that it is his own funeral (Knowles 194). This marks the end of their ongoing battle and proves Finny’s defeat because Gene receives what he desires, becoming Finny now that he is dead. Gene’s action of establishing the conflict without Finny’s presence signifies Gene’s success since he directs the events without Finny’s approval or attentive mind, proving those who construct their own battles are more prone to triumph. On the contrary, Leper a once observant and carefree character, loses his mind and personality in the depths of the war and begins hallucinating, declared mentally insane.

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.

Finny ignores reality throughout the novel. He stays strong with his innocence and continues to act oblivious to the actions and events going on around him. On page 163, Finny says ¨When I heard that about Leper, then I knew that the war was real, this war and all the wars. If a war can drive someone crazy, then it's real all right. Oh I guess I always knew, but I didn't have to admit it.¨

"The first casualty of war is innocence.” Said by screenwriter Oliver Stone. A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about a set of boys at a boarding school in New England. The reader can clearly see the theme war is unforgiving though war affects friendships, changes lives, and war kills a lot of people. To begin with war affects friendships.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a fictional book about Gene Forrester, a student at Devon Private Boarding School. This story takes place during the 1940s when World War II was becoming more and more a part of daily life at Devon. The war encroaches and finally dominates the lives of the boys at Devon. Starting with the boys shoveling snow off of the train tracks, then their friend, Leper, enlists, and finally troops get permanently stationed at Devon.

Overall Gene is known to be the character that has worries and lets emotional situations get the best of him. Continuously throughout the story Gene allows what happens to Finny and the world around him slowly bring him down. The war acts as another filler for disaster in society and can get the best of the boys who are preparing to fight in it. Therefore Gene’s identity in A Separate Peace defines him as the weaker one the one who is sensitive.

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.