A Separate Peace Stylistic Analysis

Knowles elegant, sophisticate writing style in A Separate Peace mirrors the personality and complexity of its protagonist and narrator, Gene Forester. A strong vocabulary is the first example of the sophisticated writing in the novel. Knowles uses the word “Herringboned”, meaning zig-zag, describing the way the skiers smoothly traveled down the slopes to the base of the mountain (124). He uses this word to draw attention to what he is describing because if he had just used the word zig-zag, the reader may just read over the meaning of the scene without thinking about it. The word “Idiosyncratic”, the definition being unusual, is used on several occasions. For example, Leper is told to be idiosyncratic because of how much he enjoys being in nature. The word again draws attention to how unusual Leper is. Knowles writes extensive and windy sentences to explain that Gene’s mind wanders when something sparks an idea or thought.

Gene’s mind rambles on from one topic to many subtopics showing his complex and sophisticated mind. Knowles uses repetition to give an elegance to his writing. Throughout the entirety of the book, the word “Peace” is written. With the title of the novel being A Separate Peace, the word peace is obviously important to the book. Also at the end of the book, the words “All” and “Enemy” are used to get his message of the book across with a sense of elegance and formality. Finally, he authors a poetic sense to the story using his analogies and metaphors. All Gene wants is a normal “Khaki design, however twisted [the threads] might be,” (100). He uses an analogy like this to show that this is what he truly wants. If an in depth analogy was used for everything he kind of wanted, there would be no use or purpose for the analogy at all. Knowles specifically chose where his sophisticated analogies would