A Separate Peace

I just finished reading John Knowles' most famous novel, A Separate Peace. I had, of course, heard of the novel being that my degree is in English, but I had never read it. This year, however, I taught 8th grade and the students who were selected to be in the honors course at the high school next year had to read the novel as part of their summer reading requirement. Several asked me if it was a good book (I guess they assumed my taste would be their own since we pretty much all agreed that we hated reading Fahrenheit 451. I'm sorry if you like that novel but I think it's a poorly put together jumble of ideas that lack coherency and is, quite frankly, pedantic and dull).

Anyways, I had to admit to them that I had not read A Separate Peace. So when Ben suggested a trip to Borders to check out their discounts (now that they are closing), I decided to look to see if they had a copy, and they did. I have to admit, this summer I haven't read as much as I usually do because I've been traveling so much and enjoying new married life. We've been on tons of adventures and so on those trips I took dime novels like the Stephanie Plum series, which is cute but could hardly be called a great work of literature.

A Separate Peace is one of the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. Not only is the language so pleasant to read, but the theme, I believe, can touch home for any of us.

The story takes place in 1942-43 at a boys school (Devon) in the United States. The two main characters, the narrator, Gene Forrester, and his best friend Phineas (Finny) are juniors about to enter their senior year of high school. In the backdrop of their school days and summer wanderings is the ever present reminder that when they turn eighteen, they will be drafted into the war and inevitably lose the chilhood which they are so desperately holding onto. They create, at Devon, a "separate peace," to ward off the evils of the world and the devastation of war in their own hearts. Phineas is the main leader of this because he is the only character in the novel who is without guile. His heart embraces life, people, and experiences, not for his own gain but for the pure enjoyment that both he and others can share together.

And so it seems that the boys have constructed their own idyllic world. Until unexpected evil creeps in--not from the war alone, but from the evil and ignorance in their own hearts.

This novel is a great reminder to me of the potential for evil inside each one of us. It would be nice to think that we are always full of good intentions, guileless like Phineas, and pure. But sometimes we are not. I have had occassion to meet a few Phineases in my own life, or at least I think I have. I wonder what keeps them untouched. I am not Phineas, sadly. I am more like Gene. But I think that in recognizing this I am able to, if not change myself, at least hold those parts of myself in check. When I was younger, I struggled with that and it caused me a lot of pain and unhappiness. Perhaps it is maturity and experience that help me to keep those things in check? Or maybe it is that I am so aware of all I have to live for now? Or maybe God's grace permeating into my life? It is probably all of those things.

I think we all wish we could be more like Phineas.

What about you? What is a book that has moved you? Why?