The Fall of Innocence in A Separate Peace :: essays research papers

Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance g unmatchable, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud, It was the first clumsy fleshly action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear forgotten. (Knowles 59-60). Gene Forrester, one of the main characters in John Knowles novel A Separate Peace, describes his best friend Phineas fall from a tremendous tree, an irate steely black steeple beside a river,(Knowles 6) at their all boys boarding school, Devon. Gene is an introverted young boy who is very academically gifted. Finny, however, is an extremely extroverted childish young boy who is very athleticaly gifted. Finnys fall resultant roleually leads to terrible things, such a s death and guilt. Throughout the novel Knowles uses Phineas fall from the tree to symbolize his loss of innocence, to show Genes guilt, and to expand Phineas death.After Phineas, in like manner known as Finny, falls from the tree, he slowy begins to change. He begins to lose his innocence, It can be seen in the beginning of the novel that Finny acts very innocent. For example, Finnys bet on of Blitzball shows his spontaneous style of play, and his innocent child like personality. However after Finnys tragic fall from the tree, he begins to seem less innocent and childish. He begins to go against secrets to Gene, such as when he tells Gene about trying to enlist in the war. Ive been writing to the Army and the Navy and the Marines and the Canadians and everybody else all winter..(Knowles 190). War is not an event for innocent little boys. When readers find out that Finny had been trying to enlist in the war all winter it shows that after the fall Finny becomes less and less in nocent. He no longer begins to play his childish games, and no longer tries to preform his crazy stunts. Though he is hurt, he does not seem to want to keep up or help participate in any of these activies. On the day Finny fell from that tree, he did not just plument down into the river beneath him, but also fell from innocence.