Summary Of John Knowles 'A Separate Peace'

Kilroy J. Oldster once wrote that, "Every encounter with the external world presents a conflict with a person’s cherished inner world." This idea of separate internal and external worlds was also an underlying theme in John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace. In the story, Gene struggled with accepting his "external world", which for him was adulthood, and leaving behind adolescence at Devon. The two rivers and the change of seasons at Devon are symbols of the divide between innocent adolescence and harsh adulthood for Gene and Finny. In the same way that the students of Devon grew up, the events reflect how everyone grows up and changes their way of thinking and viewing the world. The Devon River and summer season were symbols of the young …show more content…
The apt time and manner that Gene wound up in the Naguamsett River was done by John Knowles as a way of representing the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Gene made this connection in the story with the thought that, "...it seemed appropriate that my baptism there had taken place on the first day of this winter session, and that I was thrown into it..." (Knowles 78) However, Gene's fall into the Naguamsett wasn't as much showing when he changed from a boy to a man. The passing of summer and the beginning of winter was the start of the struggles for Gene, Finny, and all of the other students. Even before falling into the Naguamsett, Gene recognized that, "It was ugly, saline, fringed with marsh, mud and seaweed." He also added that, "A few miles away it was joined to the ocean, so that its movements were governed by unimaginable factors..." (Knowles 68) The river itself represented adulthood while the filth it contained stood for the corruption, jealousy, and troubles of the world. Another key point made by Knowles was that it connected to the ocean, and all of its unpredictability, which was another aspect of the world that Gene and the students hadn't yet experienced. Ultimately, Gene realizes that he was never as good of a person as he thought he was and that he had

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