A Separate Peace Theme

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Kristina Leo 04-21-15 Honors English 11 Glaubitz A Separate Peace In John Knowles novel, A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester is on a quest of self-discovery in which he visits two memorial places of his youth and identifies with his true enemy. These two commemorative places include a tree and a marble staircase, both of which are symbolic to the theme of war in the novel. Another element that corroborates the theme is the friendship between Gene and his best friend Phineas. Gene’s stance at Devon as well as his understanding of himself is also a big portion of his personal revelation. This reveals what Gene discovers about himself through his quest because “The real reason for a quest is self-knowledge.”(Q3) Gene even believes as soon…show more content…
Gene spent time visiting the tree and says to himself, “Changed, I headed back through the mud.”(14) Which insinuates that he did indeed have a sense of self-discovery and realization in that moment. In that period of time Gene realizes that his best friend Phineas had never truly been his enemy but it was all in his imagination and he says “All of them, except Phineas, constructed an infinite cost to themselves these Maginot Lines against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way- if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy.”(204) Gene even unknowingly describes himself when saying “other people experienced this fearful shock somewhere, this sighting of the enemy, and so began obsessive labor of defense, began to parry the menace they saw facing them by developing a particular frame of mind”(204) and this is what he did when he thought Phineas was his enemy. Some people may feel strong jealousy against their best friend and act upon just as Gene did. Although, Gene never admits that he feels as though he is his own enemy because “The real reason for a quest never involves the stated
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