Monday, April 23, 2018
#1. The novel opens up with present day Gene (1958ish) narrating his return to Devon 15 years after he graduates (until the middle of page 14). Why does John Knowles begin the novel this way? What is the purpose? What is the effect? (Gillian)
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the author begins the novel with the narrator at his old school to show the fear that was preserved within the school since Gene had last been there. The book begins with Gene roaming the school, talking about how new it looked compared to how it used to be. He says “As though a coat of varnish had been put over everything for better preservation. But, of course, fifteen years before there had been a war going on” (Knowles 9). This quote shows how, as Gene walked through his old school, he saw all of the past that he had there, and it was as if they were trying to fix the school and make it shiny and new again. This quote also shows the toll that the war took on the school and how the fear that once lingered when he was there was preserved. This idea is carried into another quote from the novel. Gene also mentions while walking through the school, “Because, unfamiliar with the absence of fear and what it was like, I had not been able to identify its presence” (Knowles 10). Gene explains that throughout his days at the school, he felt as if he didn’t know what it would be like to be unafraid because he simply did not know what it felt like, showing how the war affected him. He continues to explain that since the last time he was there, Devon felt the same. He says in his narration, “There was nothing else to notice; they of course were the same stairs I had walked up and down at least once every day of my Devon life. They were the same as ever” (Knowles 11). This quote once again shows how everything that Gene once knew is still preserved in Devon and how nothing has really changed. John Knowles begins the novel by narrating Gene’s return to Devon to show how is past is preserved in the school and he creates the effect of Gene’s fear being trapped in the school.
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I agree that Knowles decides to begin the novel in the future to show the readers how much fear of the war circulated back when Gene went to Devon. I think that Knowles shows us this scene to also portray how Gene has escaped the fear that he once was consumed by. At the very end Gene's trip he quotes that "nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence," (Knowles 14). Gene is reflecting on his time at Devon, and specifically on the effects the war had on the boys there. He seems to be thinking about specific events that occurred when he was in school. This leads me to think that Knowles is using Gene's thoughts to foreshadow things that will happen later on (or before in terms of time) in the book. Overall I think that the first scene is extremely important to the book, and Knowles cleverly uses this to give us backstory as well as show the fear of war, and even foreshadow occurrences later on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Gillian said about how the author feels like the school is the same. This is because the fear that was trapped inside of him while he was there could not escape him. It is almost as if the war had scarred The Devon school forever. After the author toured the school we can tell that he does not think anything has changes when he says "There was nothing else to notice" (Knowles, 11)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that he uses the museum-like qualities of the school to show how the school had stayed the same, I also think that this is done so that he can show how the war still affects his life. Its condition is a metaphor for how the war continues to affect him. Although it seems "oddly newer,"(1) it still is the same and affects him. This metaphor shows how although his life and the area is "more elegant"(11) than during the war, the building's bones still exist and it has an impact on him. Although the war is over, it is still present in his mind, like the school and how it was impacted by the war.
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