Love

A detailed Summary of Love

As with most novels, it is best to begin a discussion of thematic by examining the

title. The phrase, "a separate peace," is mentioned once in the novel when, speaking of the

Winter Carnival, Gene writes: "it was this liberation we had torn from the grey

encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary,

illusory, special and separate peace" (118). The Devon of 1942 and 1943 is, at times, a

haven of peace and forgetfulness for Gene and his classmates. And it is significant that it is

termed a "separate peace" because it indicates that the peace achieved is not part of the

surrounding reality, which, for Gene, is a world of conflict, a world at war. The joy that

the older Gene remembers upon re-visiting Devon is due to such momentary periods of

complete freedom achieved during the summer of 1942 and the following school year,

moments when a sixteen year-old could live without conflict or rules, and forget about the

The novel is about a young man's struggle to achieve and maintain such a separate

peace. And although the setting is in an America in the midst of war, the focus of the

metaphor for the internal conflict of a sixteen-year old boy. Gene's soul becomes a

and hatred, Gene's isolation and self-loathing deepen and he intentionally cripples the one

jealousy and insecurity as the real enemy. Instead, his fears are projected onto his closest

Approximate Word count = 843
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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