A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Background
I first saw A Separate Peace by John Knowles at National Bookstore in Katipunan around 2010. It’s cover features a young man brooding against a background of a picturesque Victorian inspired building. I hate to admit it but it was really the cover or the loneliness I saw on the cover that attracted me even before I checked- out the story. I didn’t bought it then as the new edition was too pricey and buying brand new books was not included in my college allowance. I wanted it though. Wanted it so much that every time I go to National Bookstore, I will check it out and see if is already on sale.
It never went on sale (until now!) however, luckily, on 2011 when I went for the first time at Bookay-ukay, I found an old 1959 copy for only P40. The book is now the oldest in my collection and though it is tattered and torn and the cover different, the book exudes a quaint charm that my newer books doesn’t have. Looking at it makes one feel the comforting warmth of an old memory that endured through time.
Summary
A Separate Peace is a coming of age story set in the fictional boarding school named Devon at New England during the Wold War II. Narrated by one of the main characters, Gene Forrester, fifteen years after he graduated from Devon, it tells the story of youth, his friendship with Phineas (Finny)- the handsome daredevil athlete- and the wars being waged inside the adolescent heart.
The story starts with Gene returning to Devon as an adult. He visited as he wanted to see a couple of places and as he walks around, he compares his current surrounding with his memory of the place fifteen years before. He went to a certain tree and lapsed into remembering Phineas and their prep school days.
As it turned out, Gene is envious with Finny’s athletic abilities, his natural charm with people and the ease in which his best pal goes through his life. Fuelled by this, he developed a secret hatred with Finny and tried to equalize their status by trying hard to be at the top of their class. Gene, however, soon found out that Finny is not competing with him or with anyone else.
The story reached its highest point when Finny decided that he and Gene jump together from a tree near the river. From Gene’s memory, this is how it happened:
“Holding firmly to the trunk, I stepped toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb...”
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I will end the summary there- in the tree- in case someone who accidentally go to this page decided to read “ A Separate Peace”. I don’t want to be a spoiler. I just want to record what I feel after reading the book because I realized I remember more when I write about things and the story of Gene and Finny is something I don’t want to forget.
Also, I find it hard to continue. My mind refuses to believe the words “ I jounced the limb”. Did Gene really made Finny fall-off from the tree? This is already my second time reading the novel. The first time I ended by believing that the incident was an accident. I didn’t thought of it as a deliberate act stemming from envy or hatred. Now I feel like Phineas when Gene “confessed”. I don’t believe any word of it. What I feel is a mixture of resentment toward Gene but at the same time I don’t believe he will do something like that as the two boys were the best of friends.
Like the boys at Devon, it is hard to accuse Gene of a crime. But then again, the story is narrated from his perspective. Who knows about the details he didn’t confessed. Who knows what really are the things lurking in his sub-conscious when he “jounced the limb”.
We will never know. We will never truly know. And right now I don’t know why I’m wasting my time thinking about the actions of fictional characters. Maybe I am like this because the story touches on something real- the wars inside the heart, the things people can do fuelled by envy. As Gene reflected towards the end, we make enemies for ourselves and we go to war against them.
