Review Of The Novel 'A Separate Peace' By John Knowles

In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the author uses heavy symbolism in the form of the Naguamsett and the Devon River to portray the relationship between boyhood and adulthood, and to convey the dynamic of the war sweeping away the boys from the purity that is Devon School. A common theme throughout A separate Peace is that of boyhood and growing up into an adult. This theme can be distinguished through Knowles's description of the two rivers. Knowles uses the Naguamsett River to illustrate growing up and adulthood. He describes the Naguamsett, “It was ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud, and seaweed. A few miles away it was joined to the ocean, so that its movements were governed by unimaginable factors like the gulf stream,

Knowles uses word choice to relate the river and growing up, he describes the river as filled with filth and fringed with outside influences just as adulthood is filled with hardships and corruption compared to the purity and freedom of adolescence. Knowles also describes how the Naguamsett is controlled by “unimaginable factors”, mysterious geologic systems like the moon, Polar Ice Caps, and the Gulf Stream just as life in adulthood is no longer simply controlled by passions and goals but rather the complexity of things like family, work, and the stock market. Knowles then uses the Devon River to depict boyhood. He writes, “It (The Naguamsett) was nothing like the fresh-water Devon where we had so much fun, all summer. The Devon’s course was determined by some familiar hills a little inland...”(76). He describes the Devon as a form of pureness where they could have fun all summer just as boyhood is filtered from the pollutants of the real world where adolescents have freedom to enjoy the purity of life and chase passions and goals. Knowles also writes how the Devon’s course is determined by hills and parts of the landscape unlike the Naguamsett whose course is controlled by “unimaginable factors” similar

Again when analyzed, the Naguamsett and Devon Rivers act as a symbol for this dynamic as well. The Devon River is a symbol for the school boys while the Naguamsett represents the war. Knowles writes, “It (The Devon) rose among highland farms and forests which we knew, passed at the end of its course through the school grounds, and then threw itself with a little spectacle over a small waterfall beside the living dam, and into the turbid Naguamsett”(76). This passage is a symbol for the boys enlisting into the war. Once the boy’s time at Devon is over they must fall into the war and be swept into whatever this future may hold for them just as once the Devon River reaches its end, it flows off a waterfall into the harsh Naguamsett River. The war acting like a river is also depicted when Gene is describing the seniors at Devon. Knowles writes, “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...”(15). Knowles using word choice like “rushed” and “caught up” to create feeling that boys are being swept away by the war much like how a confluencing river is swept away by the dominant river. The depiction of the Devon falling into the Naguamsett serves as a symbol of the war carrying the schoolboys away from