"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. 1 example in the novel is, “They were barred from me, as though when Dr. Stanpole said, "Sports are finished" he had been speaking of me. I didn't trust myself in them, and I didn't trust anyone else. It was as though football players were really bent on crushing the life out of each other, as though boxers were in combat to the death, as though even a tennis ball might turn into a bullet.”(pg 84 chp.6)
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A quote that supports this is, “The class above, seniors, draft-bait, practically soldiers, rushed ahead of us toward the war. They were caught up in accelerated courses and first-aid programs and a physical hardening regimen, which included jumping from this tree.”(pg 15 chp.1) This quote supports that war changes life because instead of seniors going to graduate they train for war.
Finally war kill lots of people. One example is “I think we ought to bomb the daylights out of them, as long as we don’t hit any women or children or old people, don’t you?… ‘Or hospitals,’ he went on.’And naturally no schools. Or churches.’ ‘We must also be careful about works of art,’... Mr. Patch-Withers grumbled, with a flushed face. ‘How do you expect our boys to be as precise as that thousands of feet up with bombs weighing tons!” (Pg 10 chp.1)In war innocent people will die and you can't do anything about it.
In conclusion you now see the theme war is unforgiving by the three reasons war affects friendships, changes lives, and war takes lots of lives. War affected Gene and Finny's relationship, war changed life by having to draft or enlist, war kill lots of people by the bombs and gunfire. I hope you see that my theme works and that you agree with my
How The War Influenced Lives At Devon A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is a fictional novel that depicts life at Devon, a boarding school. Set during World War II, teens Gene and Finny’s lives at Devon are overshadowed by the fact that at the end of the four years, they will be going to the war. The influence of the war can be seen through the students helping out with the war effort, their friend Leper enlisting, and through Finny’s perspective on the war.
The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque portrayed war as a great hole of death and despair dug by a nation's higher power for the citizens to patriotically march into. All Quiet on the Western Front was written as a 'new-age' war story; The book focused on the horrors of war rather than the romantic veneer other previous writers had plastered on. The War obliterated the distinction between civilian and military targets. 'Armies were no longer targeting just their opponents, but the civilian towns that supply them too, killing innocent people. People still today, who are innocent civilians, are being killed for being on the wrong side.
• Tone – Throughout this novel, Capote’s tone towards the case stayed objective yet compassionate. It seemed as if he wanted to capture every single moment of each character’s points of view. “Know what I think?” said Perry. “I think there must be something wrong with us. To do what we did.”
War and Peace In John Knowles’ classic coming of age novel A Separate Peace, the author explores the nature of war as it pertains to the narrator, Gene Forrester, on three levels: one, on an international level; two, on an interpersonal level; and three, on an internal level. On an international level, in Chapter 10, Gene’s friend Leper Lepellier enlists in World War Two in the Army Ski Troops. Weeks following, while at the Winter Carnival, Gene is given a telegram from him, stating that he has escaped from the army, and insisting that Gene must secretly meet Leper at Christmas location, the Lepellier household. Gene discovers Leper at Christmas location mentally unstable.
War has always existed in the world, but do we ever consider what the effects are on the young men we send to fight them? World War I was a brutal time for all countries involved. Over 17 million people were killed both soldiers and civilians. In All Quiet on the Western Front Written by Erich Maria Remarque, he expertly portrays the loss of young men’s innocence and youth. He accurately displays this through the gruesome conditions, the horrendous acts, and altered home life the soldiers had to endure.
A Separate Peace is a fictional book written by John Knowles that takes place in the early 1940s in New Hampshire at the Devon school. High school boys attend Devon to prepare for the war physically and mentally. Gene, a graduate from Devon, returns to the school to visit two specific places. Flashing back to his summer session and fall term as a senior, Gene recalls all of the competitive moments he experiences. Both the good and the tragic memories he mentions include him and his friends.
Key Quotations One of the most memorable quotations in "War of the Worlds" comes early in the novel, when the narrator first catches sight of the Martian cylinders descending from the sky: "It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. It was as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire." This passage portrays the initial horror of the invasion, as the Martians' advanced technology absolutely obliterates the humans. The image of men being turned to fire emphasizes the suddenness and violence of the attack, and sets the tone for the rest of the novel.
What is Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder and why should we learn more about it? Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) is a brain disorder that is caused by stress and some sort of trauma. This disorder can be influenced by life occurrences such as being in a war, abuse, assault, natural and unnatural disasters, military combat, and even accidents. PTSD affects the lives of 8 million people worldwide, including children!
Finny is a person who you can get along with easily, so if he ever joined the war, he would interact with the opposing team, which he would cause confusion, and eventually become the enemy. Finny doesn’t have natural boundaries and how he seems to be neutral when comes to taking sides. “If he ever attacked at all: if he was indeed the enemy” (Knowles 204). Gene is suggesting that wars start in individuals and then gradually build to larger wars, where innocent people are killed. Mr. Hadley says that the war will leave a person with memories and he wants the boys to make a choice based on memories.
The importance of war emphasizes not only the actual war taking place but also both Gene and Finny 's internal conflict with themselves, and their external conflicts with each other. This also expresses how even though considering the book takes place during World War II, The Devon School still tried to shield the boys from the war, that the residual effects of war can still seep through the cracks and reach everyone at the school. One person can only hide so much, especially if there is a war going on, emotionally or literally. People often try to reduce the appearance of emotions and shield personal battle scars from the public eye, similar to how Devon attempted to shield the war from the students attending.
“Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time of school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was taken place at Devon High in the mid 1940’s, in the New England area during WWII. The main character, Gene, is a very smart, but envious and imitative kid that returns back to his school later in life to find peace within himself and past conflicts. Gene’s envious and imitative actions have had many affects within himself, others, and his future, but has found peace throughout everything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him a lot throughout the novel.
Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.
War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead." (pg. 80). The effect of war on each soldier who fought in it was different and unique, and as a result, each soldier's experience with war has a different effect.
Quotes are meaningful, inspirational, wise, etc. They are sayings, things that people have said. In the novel, A Separate Peace, the characters have said many psychological things in relation to who they are as characters. One of the statements of the main character and narrator, Gene, included, “My war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.”
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.