Literal Content This passage is taken from Chapter 8 of A Separate Peace by John Knowles. This excerpt is taking place a Devin in the winter where Gene is running a course which Finny had laid out for him. Gene reaches the tree and then begins to describe his surroundings noticing the snow and the stillness of the world. Gene takes notice of the sky and the time including the “motionless sky” and the “immobile dawn”. Gene is doing this run because this is part of the workout regiment that Finny has laid out for Gene. Finny has put Gene on this workout becane Finny himself is unable to participate in any activities because of his fall off of the tree which he stands next to now. Figurative Language This paragraph is filled with figurative language, in the first sentence, “the sun blazed icily” is an oxymoron. Yes the sun will blaze but not icily. Knowles does this to show the stillness and overall chilling setting of Gene’s situation. This paragraph is also filled with imagery as “its clean rays shed a blue-white glimmer”. The sun is being described as giving off these beautiful rays that, rather than giving off a red and orange glow, the sun gives off a cool color effect of blue and white to represent the solemn tone between Gene and Finny. They no longer have the spark in their …show more content…
This is done to set the scene as this mixed up relationship that has no consistency. His sentences at times solely contain imagery while others have personification and others are oxymorons. The only consistency is his varying figurative language which can be found in every statement. Each sentence though begins with an object which is either described using imagery or is personified. This is done to truly set the scene as Knowles wants to cover everything that is needed to set up a solidly unbalanced relationship between Gene and