A Brief Review Of John Knowles A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace is a novel written by John Knowles in 1959, was challenged and

banned from school libraries around the United States because it contains offensive and

inappropriate content for teenagers to read, such as the Illinois High School and McDowell

County, NC School. The book shows homosexual content and also it shows strong vocabulary

words that are not appropriate for a certain ages in order to read. (Banned and/or Challenged

Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century)

The novel speaks in Gene’s point of view, we can see what he thinks and what he feels

toward all the situations he has pass through. In the beginning of the novel, Gene visits his old

school and he remembers the past

At the end of the novel it

is concluded that Phineas dies, and Gene learns a lot from the friendship he shared with his

friend Phineas. (In A Separate Peace, What Lesson Is Knowles Trying To Teach the

Reader?)(McGauran, James Holt. "Fear's Echo and Unhinged Joy: Crossing Homosocial

Boundaries in a Separate Peace)

In A Separate Peace the different themes are shown such as jealousy, identity, fear,

friendship, and also rivalry. ("The Lit Charts Study Guide to a Separate Peace. “Lit Charts.)

There are content in the novel that showed homosexual thoughts. For example, Gene thinks

Brinker has a nice butt “There was nothing idiosyncratic about Brinker unless you saw him from

behind; I did as he turned to close the door after him. The flaps of his gabardine jacket parted

slightly over his healthy rump, and it is that, without any sense of derision at all, that I recall as

Brinker's Salient characteristics, those healthy, determined, not over-exaggerated but definite and

substantial buttocks” and also he describes Phineas physical features "His skin radiated a

reddish-copper glow of tan, his brown hair had been a little bleached by the sun, and I

This is what he liked me so much. When

I jumped on top of him, my knees on his chest, he couldn't ask for anything better", which lead to

a conclusion that Gene felt sexually attracted to his friend. (Knowles, John. A Separate Peace; a

Novel). In the novel, Gene wears Phineas’ clothes feeling strangely peaceful, symbolizes his

desire to leave behind his own self and tries become Phineas, which shows that he is obsessed

with Phineas. He does not know how to control himself and his anger issues. Gene initially

presents as a perfect friendship soon emerges as nothing of the sort. His accounts of certain

actions, along with statements that seem insincere, soon betray his true feelings, but it is seen

that Gene, in fact, resents his friend Phineas because Gene see the things different than what they

are.("Morally Ambiguous." A Separate Peace.)

At the end of the novel it is concluded that Gene finds himself, he let jealousy take over

him and it led him to do bad decisions and harm others, such as his friend Phineas, he

comprehends that he should learn to control himself and not letting jealousy take over