Symbols in A Separate Peace, by John Knowles Essay -- essays research

The theme ordinance of passage was used in the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This moving from innocence to adulthood was contained within three sets of matching symbols summer and overwinter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war. These symbols served as a backdrop upon which the novel was developed. The damage if gene Forresters innocence was examined through these motifs. The summer and winter sessions symbolized Genes loss of innocence. During the summer sessions, the boys of Devon were carefree and showed no respect for the rules, age the teachers put no effort into enforcing the rules. This was the way the masters tended to treat us that summer, (Knowles 23). Together, Gene and Finny formed the tiptop Suicide Society of the Summer Session. The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session represented the freedom and naivet of the summer. inappropriate the summer, the winter session was defined by rules and discipline the teachers now enforced the rules unlike the summer. The fight that occurred between Gene and Quackenbush set the tone for the winter session. I had never been in it before it seemed inappropriate that my baptism had taken flummox in the first day of the winter session and that I had been impel into it, in the middle of a fight, (Knowles 86). Genes transformation began with the summer and winter sessions. Equally important to Genes metamorphosis were the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers. Devon train sat in between these two r...