Summary Of A Separate Peace By John Knowles

A Separate Peace written by, John Knowles, is an effective example of a book that uses interesting features to grasp a reader’s attention. In further detail, the author shows the characters envy and jealousy towards each other, as well as displaying many essential settings or objects in many unique ways. Alternatively, the author provides the reader with many different characteristics and mannerisms that support how the reader reacts and feels. Along with the character’s moods, the symbolism that the author demonstrates becomes properly beneficial to the reader as well. As an illustration, the author establishes the tree, for example, to value the many different memories or “flashbacks” that the characters had with each other throughout the

For instance, Phineas, also known as Finny, is demonstrated as the naturally successful and achievements come natural to him. Where as, on the other hand, Gene is a more somber and a somewhat hostile character as he resents Finny. According to the text, Finny was handsome, athletic, and adventurous adolescent; he was a distinguished young man in many aspects of his life. Along with being successful, the author also portrays Finny as being a remarkably caring and reliable friend and roommate for Gene. For example, “Finny saves Gene from falling out of the tree when he loses his balance” (Knowles, 31), this quote indicates that Finny saved Gene’s life and shows Finny’s kind

A Separate Peace consists of many symbols that give the reader a better sense of the mood and tone of what the characters are feeling. For example, there is the tree in which the two boys share many peaceful, as well as, many unpleasant memories with each other. The tree plays importance in the story because it was where “The Suicide Society” took place [which is where the act of jumping off of the tree would prepare the adolescent boys for the war in the early 1940’s]. The tree also symbolizes where Finny’s adventurous side comes out, when he voluntarily jumps off of the tree branches