In the case of most war stories, there is violence caused by enlisting in the military and going overseas. While it's true that John Knowles' "A Separate Peace" ends with the characters finally being old enough to join, the majority of the 200 pages don't have a single bomb dropped. There is no great outbreak that directly impacts the characters. What Knowles chooses to focus on instead is the childlike wonder that slowly gets deconstructed because of what is unseen. The book is about friendships that end because of one mistake, reflecting a counterpoint to war that is itself just as heartbreaking as any battlefield. The story may be small by nature, but the emotions that fly through the book are real, managing to capture youthful angst that informs the rest of the characters' lives, long after the final chapter has finished. It's a touching book and one that proves that you don't have to be fighting in a war to have it impact you on a subconscious level.
At the boys' school of Devon, Gene Forrester recalls his past with friend Finny. Together they are two of the brightest boys at the school, constantly competing to break records and prove their superior intellect. It's an innocent set-up that manages to confirm their relationship as something pure, informing each other as having something to prove. They have a bright view of the future, believing that they'll change the world. It all comes until one day when Gene is accused of pushing Finny off of a tree branch, leading to a broken leg that informs the rest of the story. What was supposed to be one afternoon of carefree summer activities ends up causing drama that lasts throughout the rest of the school year.
Finny's dreams of being elite are dwindling. He can not join the fight in World War II, choosing to deny its existence. Meanwhile, Gene feels pressure to work twice as hard for him. Only that leads to some revelations and heartbreak as characters discuss the war. Everyone in the book is heading down that path, believing that it's the right thing to do. Knowles' prose is written in a manner that captures the slow youthful understanding of complex ideas. Whereas fighting teachers in classrooms may seem innocent, Gene comes to some dark revelations about how the mistakes of the past can become hurtful. There's a war inside of him that tries to keep the friendship alive, but those who are wounded in different ways come to experience grief.
What's brilliant is that the book ends without a single bullet fired, a bomb dropped, or any combat actually seen. While it's discussed, the heart of the book is more Gene's time at Devon dealing with the other students. He wants to fight for his own form of peace, which comes from being younger and not knowing what emotional pain is. While he comes to experience it by the end, the road there is a war that tries to find the optimism in life, but notices that he just can't achieve it. With a young adult audience in mind, Knowles manages to write with his audience in mind, never growing dark enough to be offensive. Instead, he trusts his audience to know what the pain of friends falling apart means and how that applies to war. In some ways, it helps to better understand the tragedy of PTSD and loss than the actual war. If anything, it proves that just because you're not on the battlefield doesn't mean that you can't know what pain feels like. It just comes in a different way, where there's pressure to contribute while feeling inferior.
"A Separate Peace" is a great book that manages to convey the horrors of war without dealing directly with war. Instead, it finds the pressures of growing up and trying to be everything you can as the catalyst. There's a constant wonder for what the adult world beyond the school will look like. By the time it's achieved, there's a sense that it can't be worse than the first sense of disappointment that Gene faces. There is a longing for a peace that is only drifting further away. It's something that the audience will connect with, understanding that everyone faces these tribulations throughout their life. It's just a matter of dealing with them in a rational manner.
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