Summary Of John Knowles A Separate Peace

The internal wars inside people’s minds is often ignored in comparison to the wars of the world. Mankind defiantly does not look within to inspect our flaws and demons. The dangerous aspect of it all is they descend in the deepest parts of human hearts and transcend through people’s thoughts, words, actions. There is unmerciful pain in dealing with individual demons. People certainly go through their own trials and tribulations which give them insight and wisdom into their true selves, so they can conquer and vanquish their inner wars; however, if humans let their demons hold the power of their minds, it will eventually take a detrimental toll on them. In A Separate Peace, the lonely, introverted, intellectual protagonist, Gene Forrester,

Therefore, John Knowles uses World War II as a backdrop to symbolize the internal battles and demons he endured and how he overcame them.
Subconsciously, people tend to regard the World as a hostile place and makes enemies where none exist. It is a prominent darkness in their minds which will persuade them that others are atrocious and cunning. Thus, causing a great deal of paranoia. After that, they soil their minds with evil assumptions; therefore, letting those vicious demons control them. Gene Forrester is a prime example of letting his monsters get in the way of his friendship with Phineas, a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. To begin with, Phineas and Gene are paired up as roommates at Devon Boarding School for the summer session of 1942. They instantly connect and together they have their own fun adventures outside of Devon. However, Gene soon begins to

Essentially, the purpose of this group was to demonstrate their capabilities and preparation for when they enlisted into the army by jumping off a tall, tremendous tree onto the Devon River. One day, Gene and Phineas climb up the tree to jump down together as a sign of unity; however, Gene acts out on his envy and anger and subtly shakes the tree causing Phineas to stumble onto the branch and fall into the river leading to a rupture in his leg. As an athlete, performing outstanding in sports and having plans to go to the Olympics, Phineas was certainly devastated but remained optimistic for his journey of recovery. Gene soon feels the overwhelming guilt and shame of shattering his own best friend’s leg and dreams; therefore, Gene agrees to train for the Olympics for Phineas and later confesses “the grace of it was, that it has nothing to do with sports. They were barred from me, as though when Dr. Stanpole said, ‘Sports are finished’ he had been speaking of me. I didn’t trust myself and I didn’t trust anyone else. It was as though football players were really bent on crushing the life out of each other, as though boxers were in combat to the death, as though even a tennis ball might turn into a bullet. This didn’t seem completely crazy imagination in 1942, when jumping out of trees stood for abandoning a torpedoed ship… So to Phineas I said ‘I’m too busy for sports’,