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Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

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A Separate Peace
In the story A Separate Peace John Knowles shows how war impacts everyone despite mere indirect involvement. The people that are fighting in the war are not the only ones that are affected. It also has an impact on their family, friends, neighbors, and those in their communities. As the boys went through school, the pressure of the impending war was starting to have an effect on them. (“How Does War Impact the Lives of Gene, Finny, Leper, and Other Characters throughout A Separate Peace?”) The book starts out with Gene, who is the narrator and main character, going back to his old school after the war which brings up memories of him and his old friends. He walks around and re-lives all of his memories here that he had with his friends. At the …show more content…

Leper actually does enlist in the army, but basic training proves to be too much for him. He is soon discharged, but even when he comes home he is still plagued with the bad thoughts and memories. When Phineas crushes his leg, it crushes his hopes and aspirations. He wanted to enlist in the army and now he is no longer able to. So now Phineas becomes bitter and makes up stories about the war to try and convince people that he could care less that he wasn’t going, but on the inside his yearning is so strong that it is killing him that he can’t partake. Phineas doesn’t like feeling like all of his friends are gonna go off to the war and leave him behind. He thrives on companionship and now he feels as if he is going to be abandoned. Gene does end up going to war, but it doesn’t really have a significant impact on him. He feels as though his real battle was the one that he fought at school with his friend Phineas. The war left no real impression on him, but Phineas on the other hand, left a serious and strong impression on him. ("How Does War Impact the Lives of Gene, Finny, Leper, and Other Characters throughout A Separate

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A Separate Peace: Reading Journal A Separate Peace begins with Gene Forrester visiting his old prep school in New Hampshire, Devon school. Wandering through the campus, Gene makes his way to two distinct landmarks which he deems “fearful sites”: a flight of marble stairs and a scarred tree by the river.

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a fictional book about Gene Forrester, a student at Devon Private Boarding School. This story takes place during the 1940s when World War II was becoming more and more a part of daily life at Devon. The war encroaches and finally dominates the lives of the boys at Devon. Starting with the boys shoveling snow off of the train tracks, then their friend, Leper, enlists, and finally troops get permanently stationed at Devon.

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Summary Of Separate Peace By John Knowles

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The fiction novel Separate Peace by John Knowles depicts the life of a teenage boy during WWII. In the text, it mentions several times how the boys at the Devon School attempted to disregard the existence of the war. However, the reality of the war soon strikes the school and war life is introduced to the boys. There are several components of how the war gradually took hold of Devon, beginning with how it was almost non-existent in the summer, continuing with how it soon became a serious topic in the fall, and ultimately a way of life for the boys come winter and spring. First of all, the war at the Devon school during Gene and Finny’s freshman year in the summer was only an afterthought to them.

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In John Knowles A Separate Peace he writes about the transition from childhood to adolescence. In this coming of age novel taking place in the 1950’s two teenage boys Finny and Gene form a relationship based on fear and adventure. The two opposite teens, finny a outgoing basically perfect teen and gene being a lesser perfect balances out the relationship between the two. The fact that they are somewhat minor opposites aren’t the only thing that brings the two together. Finny’s fear of anything bad or evil and gene’s fear of hitting rock bottom forms a relationship between the two teens which sets the stage for us all.

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According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, friendship is the state of being friends. A friendship is so much more than simply calling each other a friend. A friendship is about loving each other, being there for each other, and making time for each other. At first glance, A Separate Peace by John Knowles seems like a heartfelt story of two best friends, but this story clearly shows that who you may think is your friend may not actually be your friend. The book centered on two students of Devon School named Gene Forrester and Finny.

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The privilege of friendship conquers the immeasurable boundaries of deceit and treachery. When a true friendship carves in stone, nothing can break that bond. A Separate Peace takes place in 1942, roughly a year after the Pearl Harbor incident. The main character, Gene, goes to an all-boys school named Devon where he and Phineas (or Finny) are best friends. Throughout the book, their friendship goes through trials to see how strong their friendship is.

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In John Knowles’s coming of age story, A Separate Peace, the author forces Gene to face the realities of adulthood and the war, but first he must shed his childhood, represented by the character Finny. Despite Gene’s desire to mature, he finds himself unable to make a clean break from Finny. This leads to a love-hate relationship that Gene must resolve before moving forward. Finny represents Gene’s childhood by preventing him from growing up and moving on to something else. In the mind of a child like Finny, war does not exist.

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WWII served as an induction to maturity for the parent generations of modern-day society. Teenagers were expected to mentally grasp the realities of war and political unrest, whether or not they witnessed the bloodshed firsthand. In John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, he accurately depicts the obligatory, young maturation that was expected of teenage boys during this time period with the protagonist, Gene. Events taking place in the United States that promoted this mental advancement include troop movement throughout the United States, which reminded citizens of the disturbing violence taking place on the other side of the world. In addition, there was the expansion of military knowledge in boys attending high school, assisting them in

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War and Peace In John Knowles’ classic coming of age novel A Separate Peace, the author explores the nature of war as it pertains to the narrator, Gene Forrester, on three levels: one, on an international level; two, on an interpersonal level; and three, on an internal level. On an international level, in Chapter 10, Gene’s friend Leper Lepellier enlists in World War Two in the Army Ski Troops. Weeks following, while at the Winter Carnival, Gene is given a telegram from him, stating that he has escaped from the army, and insisting that Gene must secretly meet Leper at Christmas location, the Lepellier household. Gene discovers Leper at Christmas location mentally unstable.

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“Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time of school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles, 204). A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles, was taken place at Devon High in the mid 1940’s, in the New England area during WWII. The main character, Gene, is a very smart, but envious and imitative kid that returns back to his school later in life to find peace within himself and past conflicts. Gene’s envious and imitative actions have had many affects within himself, others, and his future, but has found peace throughout everything. Gene’s envy and imitation of Finny affects him a lot throughout the novel.

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Protection from reality creates more harm than safety. John Knowles's novel, A Separate Peace, presents an unconventional dark representation of adolescence through a young boy’s life-altering experience. During World War II, the Devon School in New Hampshire houses many children, including Gene Forrester and Phineas. A Separate Peace displays how war forces children to lose their innocence and divert from the standard ways of growing up. The Devon School protects the children’s adolescence and shelter’s them from the dark realities of the world including war and internal struggle.

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Rough Draft “The condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.” Thomas Hobbs. The paragraph will explain the theme of war in A Separate Peace. In the novel, A Separate Peace, John Knowles explores the theme that people can’t escape war and explore characterization of Gene, Gene hurting Finny mentally and physically, and the symbolism of war. My first topic has that Gene hurts Finny both mentally and physically.

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Consequences Of War In John Knowles's 'A Separate Peace'

786 Words | 4 Pages

War: Its Effects, and Disguises Every person can be a veteran of war at times, even if it is in personal battles rather than literal war. This is the case for the Gene as well as Finny in John Knowles 's A Separate Peace. The significance of the contrast of internal conflict with external conflict highlights Gene 's multiple conflicts with himself as well as Finny, building internal and external conflict through both characters. Ultimately, Gene becomes a veteran in the literal and figurative sense of war, regardless of uniform. Gene 's victory in this war with himself portrays how war can prevail in and out of uniform.

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