FREE ESSAY ON A SEPARATE PEACE

A SEPARATE PEACE

A Separate Peace is a remarkable story about the relationship between two young students,
Gene and Phineas. Their friendship develops through the formation of secret societies and
late night card games. A tragic event, at first glance an accident, changes their lives
forever. As the story unfolds the friends have to deal with the fact that the unfortunate
event was no accident. An extremely well written book, A Separate Peace is a wartime
story about New Hampshire schoolboys as they approach maturity and learning how to handle
adult responsibilities. The story begins with minor incidents among friends. As the plot
becomes more complex the story takes on new meanings. A Separate Peace has many
intriguing allegories. Leper, Gene's friend, is treated as an outcast by his peers and is
shunned by society. Leper's isolation forces him to enlist for military service. The tree
from which Phineas falls and breaks his leg is also allegorical. This tree is the place
where Finny and Gene first learn about good and evil. The various types of characters in
John Knowles' novel, all necessary for a good story, make it an excellent choice for this
reading list. Gene Forrester, the main character, is an exceptional student with average
athletic skills. Phineas, in contrast, is a poor student and changes from a superb
athlete but following a catastrophe struggles to walk again. Leper is a rather flat and
one-dimensional. Brinker Hadley, the class politician, is a static character with fixed
attitudes and ideas. A Separate Peace is a great read. The stories of Phineas and Gene
can be a lesson to today's teenagers as they move into the increasingly complex world
about them. The timeless lessons from this fifty-year-old story are certainly applicable
today.