Novel Project Blog 3 (A Separate Peace)

6. an analysis of the effect of setting -- time, place, circumstances

In A Separate Peace by John Knowles the setting in at an all boy’s school in New England. The time is around 1940 and World War 2 is in the midst. It begins in the summer time which was when times were much easier and the war had not yet progressed for those living in New England. The war was only stories and photographs, which kept the boys at Devon from being discouraged or worried. Phineas and Gene were developing a good friendship and they contributed into making everyone’s summer enjoyable. Summer is known for joy and happiness, therefore it was no surprise of the comforting atmosphere within the story at this time. However, when it turned to almost fall, things began to take a turn for the worse. Gene secretly betrayed Finny and let him fall into a life changing moment. When winter occurred the damage done in the fall was magnified as was the war. The seasonal change and the plot change is a tactic well known in the book How to Read Literature like A Professor. For instance Gene thinks to himself “Peace lay on Devon like a blessing, the summer’s peace, the reprieve, New Hampshire’s response to all the cogitation and deadness of winter.” The fact the characters of the story are in a boy’s only school, the World War 2 is taking place, and it is in the 1940’s are mainly what the reader would focus on while interpreting the events taken place within the story. Without these three key elements of the setting, the whole story could have been written and taken place in a different manner. If the boys were not away from home at a boy’s only school, then the events would not be the same due to the different actions a girl would take in these circumstances. Without the setting the message of the overall story would not be understood in the same way.