John Knowles A Separate Peace

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In schools across the nation, students read A Separate Peace. The multitude of lessons presented in the book serve as valuable teaching moments for our own values, morals, and attitudes. Gene Forrester’s envy is a perfect example of one such lesson. John Knowles in A Separate Peace uses envy as a pivotal plot point throughout the course of the storyline. Gene’s envy follows him for the duration of his time at Devon. In addition, the results of the choices he makes follow him well into adulthood, potentially even up to his death. Finny’s accident, which is the largest consequence of Gene’s actions, stands as the backbone of the story. Prior to the accident, Gene falsely convinces himself of a rivalry between himself and Phineas, inadvertently
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John Knowles is an American Author who was born in Fairmont, West Virginia on September 16, 1926. He left West Virginia at age fifteen to attend Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire when World War II was going on. Once he graduated in 1945, he enlisted in “the U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program. He eventually became a pilot but was discharged after eight months” (“John Knowles”). He attended Yale and worked on the alumni magazine once he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1949. He…

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles is a story of innocence to experience. Gene Forrester is a boy who goes to a rather painful but necessary transition of adulthood. A journey of understanding his responsibilities and opening his eyes to see the world in a different perspective. Gene, in the beginning of the story, did an immature action because he envied his best friend Finny. When he and boys went to the tree again for jumping Gene affirms this, “I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone,”…

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produce the thematic purpose of the writing. John Knowles once said, “Looking back, I think we were all quite mature, surprisingly responsible. In earlier wars, boys of our age had just gone off to raise hell or enlist or both, but we stayed dutifully at our desks doing homework.” Knowles brings out the idea of how different the lives of teenaged boys were then compared to now as it is associated with the novel. In the bestseller, A Separate Peace, John Knowles utilizes the rivers, the tree, and the seasons…

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