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Analysis Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, is an American novel that is set during World War 2 when evil was rampant. People in the war fought viscously against each other and they fought to keep their country strong. Much like the battles that were taken in europe, there is an inner battle that every human fights during their life. The boys at Devon high school were at that vital age when fighting this battle. Among of these boys who took part in this battle was Gene Forrester, the narrator of the story. The story tells the reader about Gene’s and his best friend, Phineas’ friendship and how their friendship started a war against Gene’s innocence. Therefore Gene’s ultimate enemy is not Finny (Phineas’ nickname) nor the Germans of World War 2 but rather his “own youth, the innocence that burns too hotly to be endured.” …show more content…

Gene is unable to understand that it’s natural for a human to have bad feelings like jealousy towards another person. “I found it. I found a single sustaining thought. The thought was, You and Phineas are even already. You are even in enmity. You are both coldly driving ahead for yourselves alone. . . . We were even after all, even in enmity. The deadly rivalry was on both sides after all,” (page 24). Gene thinks that as much as he is envy of Finny’s athleticism, Finny too is jealous of Gene’s intellectual achievements. When Gene starts to feel bad feelings towards Finny for the first time, he acts childish, therefore his battle begins with his

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