III. THE DEVON AND NAGUAMSETT RIVERS

Jeremiah Noack Noack 1

John Knowles' A Separate Peace attracts many young readers because of its high school setting. One of his uses of symbolism is to show how Phineas and Gene are complete opposites. Another use of symbolism is, the Devon as carefree summer days, and the Naguamsett as adulthood. He also uses symbolism with the war as reality, and how is effects the students at Devon. Knowles uses symbolism as the main components in his novel A Separate Peace.

Phineas and Gene are often considered to be symbols of the two sides of the human personality-good and evil. Phineas becomes a symbol of the ideal pers

Knowles attracts many young readers, due to the high school setting.

John Knowles' first published novel, A Separate Peace, now a decade old, is a minor but very nearly perfect piece of work: a tight, cohesive account of the corruption of innocence that is not merely the finest "prep-school novel" but a genuine work of art (Yardley, 271).

o that he would fall. However, he knows that this action was spontaneous, and that Gene never meant to cause him life-long grief. Finny sympathetically says to his best friend, "Something just seized you. It wasn't anything you really felt against me, it wasn't some kind of hate you've felt all along. It wasn't anything personal" (Knowles, 183). Gene admits to Finny that he feels incredibly guilty and replies, "It was some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside

The two rivers that are part of the Devon School property symbolize how Gene and Finny grow up through the course of the novel. The students prefer the Devon River because it is above the dam and contains clean water. Since it symbolizes childhood and innocence because it is safe and simple, the boys prefer it. This shows how the boys choose to hold onto their youth instead of growing up. The Naguamsett is the disgustingly dirty river that symbolizes adulthood because of its complexity. It is also "governed by imaginable factors like the Gulf Stream, the Polar Ice Cap, and the moon"(Telgen, 248). The two rivers intermingle showing the boys' changes from immature individuals to slightly older and wiser men. Sooner or later, Gene and Phineas, who at the beginning of the novel are extremely immature, have to face reality. Signs of their maturity appear when the boys have a serious conversation about Phineas' accident. Finny realizes that Gene did shake the tree limb purposely s!

and Gene automatically goes on the defensive. He becomes enraged because he already is feeling guilty about the incident. While visiting Leper, Gene says; "I shoved my foot against the rung of his chair and kicked. Leper went over in his chair and collapsed against the floor. Laughing and crying he lay with his head on the floor and his knees up.'...always were a savage underneath. (Knowl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gene Phineas, Devon Academy, Separate Peace, Phineas Gene, Gene Leper, Finny Finny, Devon River, Leper Gene, Gene Finny, I'd I'm, separate peace, novel separate, knowles symbolism, war reality, novel separate peace, phineas gene, devon knowles symbolism, attracts readers, prefer devon, gene finny, john knowles', reality effects, days naguamsett adulthood, students devon knowles, carefree summer days,
Approximate Word count = 1471
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)