Resumo de A Separate Peace (part 2 Of Abstract)

Even in the beginning, when they were having fun inventing games and creating secret societies, inhumanity was already having an effect on them. This is made apparent when Gene states that ?his emotions achieving their most powerful sway over him? and that ?the war was reality to ?(20). Eventually these thoughts and feelings take hold of him, which leads to the first atrocious event in the plot-Finny?s fall. ?Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step forward and jounced the limb?and then tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud?(32). Gene attacks Finny on impulse, but the cumulative effect of his own judgments and postulations about Finny caused something to leap out of the depths of his heart and injure him, reinforcing the idea that war and inhumanity are caused by the darker side of our natures.
As the plot jogs along to the story?s closing stages, events appear more and more frequently that reflect the corruption of war. The episode in the Butt Room where a mock trial is staged persecuting Gene, is an example of man?s reaction to his own callousness. Leper?s mental breakdown before heading of to Europe is an illustration of his misinterpretation of conflict. And the story?s climax that takes place in the form of a tribunal, re-accounting the night of Finny?s accident, and leading to his eventual death by operation, is an example of the bleak irony of all of it. It is here, at the novel?s end, that the plot reveals the meticulous of its construction, proving how significant it is in communicating the story?s theme.
Symbolism is another key contributing factor in developing and progressing the novel?s theme, and there are many cases of it in the story. Finny?s fall is a fairly obvious one. His fall from the tree is the fall from innocence. He is corrupted by the inhumanity and personal wars of others, and is raised, as Lazarus was in the Bible, only to fall again. Another instance of symbolism is World War II itself. The war is a representation of reality, which the boys must wake up, face, and be prepared for. And Gene is a depiction of that reality, an unwilling force of incontrollable heartlessness. At one point, Finny organizes the Winter Carnival as a sort of liberation for the boys. This event is perceived by Gene as ? afternoon of momentary, illusory, special, and separate peace?(81). Because the boys can?t bear the reality of the war, they try to find some kind of temporary, divided harmony, by setting up outings like this one, and fabricating their own ?fantasy world.? What is ironic is that in trying to find peace from the many inhumane actions of the war, they end up taking part in it themselves. These, and many other cases of symbolism in the story, indicate major connections with war and help to express the novel?s theme.
What John Knowles ultimately achieves with A Separate Peace is a strong belief that man?s inhumanity is lasting, and that war is founded on the ignorance buried in his heart. By using the diverse elements of character, plot and symbolism he has crafted a story that will be read and related to for generations to come. And A Separate Peace remains one of the milestones in the history of English literature.

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