Personal Review

John Knowles has portrayed an idiosyncratic view on World War II in his novel, A Separate Peace. By the illustration of a war that is world wide and a reclusive war between two friends, Knowles reveals that even miles from the fighting, in a New England boarding school, war is inevitable. With the base of his novel on two separate wars, I find the title to be ironic. While the boarding school may seem to be at peace, there is turmoil and internalized wars that are occurring inside the boys’ minds and between each other. Ultimately this turmoil emerges from the hearts of the boys, killing one of their own before he has even been out on the front. Personally, I found this novel to be rather poignant because it is the story of how Gene killed his best friend. I would have preferred if the story had ended with Finny’s survival and Gene becoming his own character without the death of his best friend to be the cause. However, while I did not enjoy the end to A Separate Peace, I was fond of the depth of the main characters’ personalities. Gene’s personality intrigued me the most, for one would never think that one would purposefully attempt to harm a best friend, but Gene’s actions show that war as well adolescence has the ability to make one do the unthinkable. The depth of the characters allowed me to read the novel, yet my disappointment with the conclusion does not intrigue me to read it twice. Overall I found A Separate Peace to be a pleasant read that has the ability to ignite new ideas in one’s mind.