How Does Gene And Phineas Present The Theme Of War On An International Level

John Knowles explores the universal theme of war on an international, interpersonal, and internal level through the development of the characters Gene and Phineas in his novel, A Separate Peace. Knowles frequently expresses the theme of war on an international level throughout the text. One of the first evident examples is when the narrator Gene says, “‘He wants to know if I’ll sign up with him,’ I said, ‘enlist.’ It was the ultimate question for all seventeen-year-olds that year, and it drove Brinker’s insinuations from every mind but mine.” (Knowles 107). World War II is occurring internationally outside of Devon and it is the responsibility of every boy at Devon to chose whether they want to “enlist” and join the war efforts or not. Jumping

A strong example of this foreshadowing is Gene’s paranoia towards Phineas and how he thinks Finny is always trying to sabotage him and his studies. Gene thought, “The new attacks of studying were his emergency measures to save himself.” (Knowles 55). Gene feared that Finny wanted to get even with him skill wise. Gene is a great student and Finny is a great athlete but, Finny is not a good student while Gene is a fine athlete. Gene’s self preservation made him convinced that Finny was trying to prevent him from being top of the class so they could be ‘even’. In reality, Finny just wanted to spend time with who he deemed to be his best friend. Through the narrator Gene, Knowles was able to enforce the theme of war throughout the text. The theme of war was broken down into international, interpersonal, and internal levels of war. In the novel Gene experienced all three levels of war within his country, relationships, and mindset. As part of Gene’s progress as a character he had to find the levels of war that were inside him and try hard not to give into them. Knowles incorporated the theme of war into his novel and expanded on it as the characters and plot grew making it such a powerful novel to