"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