A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace
John Knowles uses many different instruments for developing his theme in A Separate Peace. He uses the differences between Gene and Finny's character, the changing of the school sessions, and the physical appearance of the two rivers to show the every day conflict between good and evil.
The reader can see the conflicts between Gene and Finny throughout the entire book. Gene's life has always been one of conformity and obedience to rules and regulations. He has always devoted himself to fulfilling the demands made upon him by his superiors. He prefers to be in accord with rules and accepted behavior at all times. He is not the natural rebel who does things contrary to the dictates of society. The person he most admires, Finny, is an extreme individualist, even though Gene is not one at all. Finny is a person who responds to the immediate present. He delights in doing things which no one has ever done before. Most of his actions are spontaneous and result from a momentary decision to do something. Finny is the man of action who is not hampered by rules, conformity, or regulations. Gene starts to think that Finny is competing against him, indirectly causing him to knock Finny off the limb. Finny had not been trying to compete against Gene in any way and this is how Gene is band and Finny is good.
There were two rivers that flow through the campus at Devon, the Naguamsett and the Devon. The Naguamsett 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, the Polar Ice Cap, and the moon." The Devon, however, is clean, fresh, and is where the boys swam and jumped from the tree. "The Devon's course was determined by some familiar hills a little inlandÂ…" The Devon represents good as a nice, clean river who's flow is controlled and understood. The Naguamsett represents evil with...
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