A Separate Peace
Any literary attempt to explore the mystery of evil in human nature
presents the problem of how to avoid the morbidity and pessimism of a totally
black vision of existence.
This is especially true when the work concentrates on the archetypal
journey of a youth from innocence to experience. Because innocence is
irrevocably lost once the youth becomes aware of evil’s universal presence, the
apparent result of the journey is that evil triumphs (wins).
While the mystery of evil literally permeates the novel, the opening
chapter of A Separate Peace reveals that life has regenerated, peace has already
been restored after some essential conflict with evil. The focus, then, is on the
full cycle of human events where life endures (birth, death, rebirth – summer,
fall, winter and finally, spring) passing on, even in death, something of itself.
There is nothing contrived about the literal events that narrator Gene
Forrester re-creates as he wanders about the grounds of his alma mater, Devon
Prep, years and a world war after the events have taken place. A Separate
Peace is first and foremost a deeply believable story about youth, fear,
friendship, tragedy, and growing up.
But allegorical frames of reference move the events of the story in
kaleidoscopic patterns of symbolic connotation. A Separate Peace is much like
that of The Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Christ and mankind, or the Greek
myths of Apollo and Dionysus. The novel becomes a reasonable, interesting,
and informative lesson in the levels of abstraction hidden within an apparently
simple novel.
The Tree and Original Sin
Gene has returned to Devon generally to get a look at his old stamping
ground again, specifically to examine the single object that has burned like a
hot coal in his memory: It had loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike
dominating the riverbank, forbidding as an artillery piece, high as the
beanstalk” (p. 13). “The tree was tremendous, an irate steely black steeple
beside the river” (p. 14).
The object is emphasized so dramatically in the first pages of the novel
because it is the key symbol of one allegory around which the events of the
novel revolve, the biblical rendition of the original sin. Innocent Adam in pride,
wanting to be like God knowing good and evil, eats the fruit from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, thereby losing his paradise of innocence beside the
river of life and gaining chaos outside the Garden of Eden.
So it goes with every person who journeys from young innocence through
the discovery of evil within self to the knowledge of experience. And so it goes
with Gene Forrester as he cavorts about with his buddy Finny in carefree
school days. But Gene’s growing envy of his best friend, who is superior both
in physical games and in mental gymnastics, and Gene’s pride at not being
able to admit his buddy’s natural superiority leads to a moment at the tree by
the river: Finny stands delicately balanced on the limb, ready to spring out far
enough to fall harmlessly into the river. Gene shakes the limb. (Not a
conscious act.) Finny falls to the ground and breaks a leg. Before that break is
healed, Finny re-injures the leg and dies.
Forevermore Gene is radically changed, no longer innocent of his own
maliciousness. Filled with guilt, he is cast out into the chaos of World War II.
Gene and Finny – Cain and Abel
Besides identifying the similarities between Adam’s sin and Gene’s
action, the above paragraphs suggest that the story of Gene and Finny can be
seen as a parallel to the story of Cain and Abel. Finny’s character is much like
what one would expect Abel’s to have been. They are both winners. Both
Finny and Abel are somewhat nomadic – shepherd types, animal raisers. They
are not plodders like Gene and Cain, who work hard continuously within
limited territories – hoeing, digging, plowing through books or earth according
to fixed schedules. No, Abel and Finny naturally and easily give their best, and
their best is excellent and well-accepted. They are essentially guileless. Finny
and Abel are exemplified in Finny’s breaking of the swimming record without
regard to any recognition for his effort. But Gene, like Cain, is sophisticated
enough to hold back questioningly and gradually to become filled with envy.
After he kills Abel, Cain roams forever stamped with the sign of original sin and
15 years after Finny’s death, Gene must still relive the crime.
Finny The Christ
Without negating the previous allegories, but simply by focusing
attention on Finny as a central character, the story can be seen to parallel the
story of Christ and mankind. For Gene, unlike Adam and Cain, does not
remain for long charged with guilt and remorse after causing Finny’s death.
Through Finny, Gene gains peace – or, if you choose, salvation.
Some aspects of Finny’s character that identify him as a Christ figure or
symbol are already evident in reference to Abel, a biblical prototype of Christ.
In addition, Finny stands above the rigid scholastic-athlete rule of Devon by
constantly creating sets of super-challenges for himself and Gene. Gene reacts
to these challenges much in the traditional manner of man resenting the truths
presented by the prophet. Particularly dreadful to Gene is a truth implied in
these challenges – that Gene must grow up and go to war. (If war represents
the ultimate reality, then Gene must also grow up and face reality – the reality
that good and evil exist side by side in his very own personality.) See Finny’s
rationale for jumping from the tree, a feat that only upper classmen have been
known to attempt (p. 16).
As a Christ figure, Finny does not disappear after being used on the tree
as a scapegoat for Gene’s frustrations. Finny returns (for 40 days?) charging
the mortals at Devon with his spirit. (Note the resemblance of the Winter
Carnival at Devon with the appearances of the resurrected Christ to his
disciples when he gave them instruction and communion.)
Finny’s death becomes more like an ascension than a catastrophe. His
work was complete, and Gene was left to carry on in the spirit of Finny. Gene’s
comments in the final pages of the novel (pp. 202-4) glorify Finny:
“…he was, however, present in every moment of every day…. During the time I
was with him, Phineas created an atmosphere in which I continued to live….
He possessed an extra vigor, a heightened confidence in himself, a serene
capacity for affection…harmonious and natural unity…. My fury was gone….
Phineas had absorbed it and taken it with him, and I was rid of it forever.”
Is the trial actually the “Last Judgment of Christ” by Pontius Pilot? Do
the boys figuratively “leave Finny in the hands of the people” for final
judgment? When Finny falls down the “hard, white, marble stairs” and is
ultimately killed by his own bone marrow, can we interpret this to be Christ
being found guilty because of some “whiteness” and purity that exists within
the very “marrow” of his being?
Finny as a Greek God
In an article for English Journal, December 1969, entitled “A Separate
Peace: Meaning and Myth,” Marvin E. Manning proposes that Knowles’
dominant thrust was to evoke the quest for an ideal man represented in the
golden age of Greek Mythology. Manning’s article analyzes the character of
Finny before his accident as representative of the Greek sun god, Apollo, and
Finny, after the fall from the tree, a representative of the Greek god Dionysus.
Manning describes the Devon Winter Carnival incident in Knowles’ novel as a
re-creation of the Greek Dionysian festival.
Whether Knowles uses the Greek references to fortify the biblical
allegories or vice versa is a question that sophisticated students of literature
are still debating.
Challenging Finny’s Goodness
Consider Finny’s character. Is he as good as Gene seems to think? (“I
was not the same quality as he.”) Is it true that “only Phineas never hated
anyone”? Can this be reconciled with Finny’s behavior during the winter or at
the First Academy Building? When Gene considers what Finny would have
done in his situation, he says, “He would have told the truth.” Would he have
told the truth?
Perhaps Finny is not so good. Can he be consciously leading Gene away
from his studies as much as Gene is conscious of jouncing the limb? Is Finny’s
dislike of authority and regulations justified? Can it be possible that Finny’s
world is as rigid as the world he dislikes?
Finny the Sport
Finny’s idea that sports “were the absolute good” may be challenged.
With the ever increasing athletic budgets of some schools and the conformity
required by some coaches, this could be an interesting topic for a debate. How
many examples of sports being “the absolute” evil can you find within the last
month? The last year? The last 5 years?
Literary Techniques
An important aspect of this novel is its use of dialogue. How authentic is
the dialogue between the boys? Is it language (making allowances for the
changes in slang terms in current use) you might use today?
Knowles’ use of figures of speech illustrates how these can contribute to
the development of an atmosphere of war. Examples of simile and metaphor
are “There was a swift chain of explosions in my brain like a detonation…”:
“Rays of sun were shooting past them like golden machine gun fire.”
In addition to the mythological references, Knowles uses allusions from
the Bible, from history, and from literature to develop further the unity of the
book. Read the story of Phineas in the Old Testament to find out if there is any
relationship between the Phineas of the Bible and the Phineas of the story.
Consider the meaning of the title: A Separate Peace. What are the
possibilities? Is the title referring to the escape experienced by the students in
the winter carnival? Is it an escape from reality like Leper’s? Does the title
relate more to Phineas or to Gene? What does the title have to do with war?
What does the title mean in terms of human relationships? Is it possible that
the title of the book was taken from Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms? Look in
the Hemingway novel on page 252 (Scribner’s edition). Does this passage help
understand human behavior, particularly that of boys at Devon School or, for
that matter, any school where boys compete athletically and/or scholastically.

Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms
The title of this book comes from Hemingway's novel. Think about how A
Separate Peace fits into the conversation that is started by Hemingway's book.
At the end of book 3, the protagonist Henry escapes his possible death by
jumping into a river and swimming away. After this baptismal scene, which is
similar to the river scenes in A Separate Peace, Henry says, "Anger was washed
away in the river along with any obligations [to the war . . . ]. I would like to
have had the [military] uniform off although I did not care much about the
outward forms. I had taken off the stars, but that was for convenience. It was
no point of honor. I was not against them. I was through. I wished them all the
luck. There were the good ones, and the brave ones, and the calm ones and the
sensible ones, and they deserved it. But it was not my show any more" (232).
One can imagine Gene saying these words in A Separate Peace. The next
passage displays from where the title of A Separate Peace comes.
Henry then abandons his position as ambulance driver for the Italian army and
takes a train to see his lover Catherine. On the train he says:

"In civilian clothes I felt a masquerader, I had been in uniform a long
time and I missed the feeling of being held by your clothes. [. . .] I had
also bought a new hat. I could not wear Sim's hat but his clothes were
fine. They smelled of tobacco and as I sat in the compartment and looked
out the window the new hat felt very new and the clothes very old. I
myself felt as sad as the wet Lombard country that was outside through
the window. There were some aviators in the compartment who did not
think much of me. They avoided looking at me and were very scornful of
a civilian my age. I did not feel insulted. In the old days I would have
insulted them and picked a fight. They got off at Gallarate and I was glad
to be alone. I had the paper but I did not read it because I did not want
to read about the war. I was going to forget the war. I had made a
separate peace." (243)
Besides merely giving us the words of the title, this passage gives us a feeling
and mood that John Knowles is trying to recreate. Gene feels the same way as
Henry from A Farewell to Arms. There is the motif of clothing, and especially
the use of someone else's clothing. Henry used to be the kind of guy who could
easily be insulted and strike back, but now he has created a separate peace.
Finally, can we consider Gene and Finney to be, allegorically, the same
person(ality)? Do they or can they, in fact, exist totally separate from one
another? When the story begins, does Gene represent one extreme and Finny
another? If so, then what are those extremes? Where, in the personality type
continuum represented by the other boys (Cliff, Brinker, Chet, Leper), does
Gene become the perfect blend of all the various extreme personalities
represented? Can you accurately define Gene’s “Phineas filled” personality and
explain why “becoming Finny” he is actually able to avoid constructing his
“Maginot Lines” and attain A Separate Peace?