A Separate Peace Literary Devices

A Separate Peace begins when Gene Forrester returns to Devon boarding school, the school in which he attended during world war two. It had been fifteen years since he had been there. Walking through the campus Gene remembers his time spent there. The one he remembered a lot was the summer session in '42 when he was 16.

chapters 7-9 Happiness is finally a tone in this book rather than the recurring somber moments throughout chapters 1-6. Chapters 7-9 are different than basically different than all of the past chapters. This is because they have a more fun filled feeling to them. That is until the end of the three chapters.

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.

Gene’s relationship with his “best friend” Phineas describes how the relationship resulted in the killing of Gene's enemy, his own youth, and innocence. Gene is plainly described in the novel as envious of Finny, he is also depicted as the position of much hatred and dismay by his peers. Therefore, the fact that Gene kills his own youth is likely considering Finny’s success, Gene’s jealousy towards

Gene is freed of the hatred and jealously that plagued him when Finny was alive. With his new viewpoint on life Gene states, “I was ready for the war, now that I no longer had any hatred to contribute to it. My fury was gone, I felt it gone, dried up at the source, withered and lifeless. Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever” (Knowles 203).

Gene was jealous of Finny athletic achievements, careless personality, and his natural leadership. “I was starting 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 20)”. Gene trying to justify his ill feelings by saying its natural to be jealous.

At the beginning of the novel, Gene is envious of Phineas’s talents and care-free spirit. Therefore, Gene’s doubts destroys his confidence in his own capabilities. Although Gene is honored to be Phineas’s best friend, and this makes him realize that,

The author, John Knowles, in the novel, “A Separate Peace”, conveys the lesson of friendship, or rather the lack of, with his use of diction. The strategy in which the author phrased certain sections of dialogue between Finny and Gene is there to show that Finny cares for Gene despite Gene’s obvious discontent. The friendship is a one-way street, and the author uses diction to represent this unbalance in the relationship, leading to friendship being a key theme throughout the book. There exist many examples of this diction throughout the novel, one of these is during their illegal beach trip. “I hope you’re having a pretty good time here.

On the other hand, Gene has a strong superego, meaning that his moral and ethical views are more important to him. Furthermore, he always has the push to do the right thing and especially in terms of his academics such as his determination to be head of the class. Also, the superego's goal is “to suppress entirely any urges or desires of the id that are considered wrong or socially unacceptable” (What is the superego?) This pertains to Phineas and Gene because Gene is always trying to get Phineas to do the right thing. For example, when Phineas proposes going to the beach, Gene somewhat questions the idea because he understands the consequences: “Going there risked expulsion, destroying the studying I was going to do for an

In the beginning of the novel, Gene returns to Devon to understand what happened in 1942. This is important because Gene seeks to console the guilt he has faced. Furthermore, Gene shows his shame after Finny was jounced off the tree. Remorse over Finny's injury ate Gene up, causing Gene to not participate in sports. Gene feels disgrace while in the infirmary thinking, "If Phineas had been sitting here in this pool of guilt...what would he have done?"

As a result, he forms a false narrative in which Finny has malicious intent, which is detrimental to their relationship. Additionally, Gene realizes that his connection to Phineas is due to envy and imitation, which means that in his maturity, they were not truly friends. Alton states, "However, as Gene matures, he starts to develop his own identity. He recognizes his attraction to deadly things and, more significantly, he writes a narrative about his relationship with Phineas, revealing the flaws in his own character which led to Phineas's death" (Alton). In his mature state, Gene realizes his flawed relationship with Phineas, meaning that they were not really friends, and it was more of an envious imitation.

Phineas had absorbed it had taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever” (203). This is the resolution for Gene; he finally changes and moves on from his life in Devon and the death of his

By the end of the story, unlike the other characters, Gene was unpredictable and unsure of where he was headed next after Phineas’ funeral and the ending of the

"Words are free. It's how you use them that may cost you" (KushandWizdom). Tremendous works such as A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles in 1959, Night, written by Elie Wiesel in 1956, and One of Us is Lying, written by Karen M. Manus in 2017 all display literary devices. Literary devices reveal the author's style and keep the reader intrigued. All three of the novels show characterization, sensory imagery, and foreshadowing.

In chapter seven of John Knowles novel, A separate Peace, readers finally see the story’s main protagonist, Gene Forrester, confronted about what his intentions actually were when he chose Phineas as his roommate, and later what his role actually was in the tree accident that led Finny to break his leg. Gene’s initial reaction was to laugh it off, but he later became defensive around others when the conversation transitioned into the “butt room.” Gene’s reactions show the effects of his guilt finally getting to him, and how it’s beginning to affect him in ways he never expected. After Brinker jokes with Gene about him “getting rid” of Finny, Gene finds himself suddenly overtaken with a feeling of guilt.