A Separate Peace presents many themes of contrast: humanity’s innate goodness vs. its inherent evil, past vs. present, illusion vs. reality, innocence vs. experience, and more. Select one of these themes of contrast and discuss how the text presents it.
A Separate Peace portrays the ending of childhood innocence, leading into the beginning of adulthood. The story starts with Gene and his best friend Finny enjoying their childhood, having fun, and jumping off trees. They were somewhat like a light brightening up the darkness of war and conflict. There are many parts of the book that present this contrast, and I will split it up into 3 major events.
The first event is the innocent childhood of children. In this part of the story, they are simply happy and enjoying their lives, not concerned about war. They are in their own worlds, separate from the ‘real world, jumping off trees to prove their courage and wrestling each other on the beach.
However, the innocence starts perishing slowly as time progresses, leading into adulthood. At some point, Gene starts believing that everything Finny made him do; jumping off trees, and being late for dinner, is part of Finny’s plan of making Gene fail in academics. Furthermore, he starts considering Finny a rival, instead of a best friend. With raging rivalry, he makes an irreversible mistake. In the tree, Gene purposely jounces the limb of a tree to make Finny fall. Finny loses balance and falls to the bank, which causes his bones to shatter, together with his dreams. This is the first step into adulthood; Finny’s injury and his shattered dreams.
The perishing of innocence continues when the students go back to Devon after the Autumn break. The boys are more concerned about the war and are interested in enlisting, but there is one boy, Leper, who seems uninterested in the war, enjoying his own world by finding beaver dams. Unexpectedly, he becomes the first one enlisting in the war. In the war, he experiences mental problems and hallucinations, and Leper’s innocence fades away. With Leper gone, the world becomes even darker.
At last, childhood comes to an end, leading into adulthood. An unfortunate event happens. Finny slips at the marble stairs, and breaks his leg, causing the marrow in his bone to enter the bloodstream and stop his heart. Most people feel grief and sorrow for him, but Gene doesn’t cry and show his grief, even though he was Finny’s best friend. He says “You don’t cry at your own funeral” and that he didn’t cry because Finny felt like a part of himself. He feels as if part of himself is gone, never to return.
Finny’s death symbolizes the ending of childhood. Throughout the story, Finny was a symbol of childhood innocence. The death of Finny also symbolizes the death of childhood. In addition, Finny refused to become an adult and faces an unfortunate death at a young age. Earlier in the book, Leper said “Everything has to evolve or else it perishes” This explains Finny’s situation. He couldn’t accept the fact that he will become an adult and refused to become one. He then died. In conclusion, the book portrays the ending of childhood and the beginning of adulthood and the fact that you have to mature, or you will perish.
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