A Separate Peace: The Nature of Man Mankind's greatest battles are often not simply a clash of arms, but a vast and silent conflict in the human heart . Likewise, actions in the world are thoughts transformed into reality and feelings transformed into movement. It is terrible to realize that war, with all its evils, is often the pure expression of something sinister within us. A Separate Peace by John Knowles intimately explores the depths of humanity to uncover the essence of human nature. The novel centers on the reclusive, intelligent narrator Gene Forester and his best friend, the athletic Phineas, or Finny. Their experiences over the course of a semester have many parallels to the real life of author John Knowles. He based the setting of Devon School on his time at the prestigious Philips Exeter Academy during the end of the Second World War (Jones). The author uses introspection to exhume Gene's mind and soul and explore what shapes him. In his novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles states that one can only mature through self-awareness, in order to counter the indoctrination of youth in World War II. Fittingly, the greatest expression of such knowledge is in the characterization of the protagonist Gene, and later his development. He is the star student of Devon Academy, intelligent and studious, but a social outcast, trying to stay afloat at a piranha school for classmates. He is commonly described as the "cautious Protestant" with a "germ of wildness" ("A Separate Peace"), describing his innate ferocity beneath the veneer of civility. At the beginning of the story, he harbored great enmity for Phineas despite their friendship. Gene initially saw Finny as a competing rival, neurotic and jealous like himself... middle of paper... Center. Network. November 21, 2011. Knowles, John. A separate peace. 1975 ed. 1960. New York City: Bantam Books, 1975. Print. "A separate peace". Review of children's literature. Ed. Tom Burns. vol. 98. Detroit, 2005. Gale Literature Resource Center. Network. November 21, 2011.Umphlett, Wiley Lee. "The Death of Innocence: The Paradox of the Dying Athlete." The Sports Myth and the American Experience: Studies in Contemporary Narrative. 1975. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1975. 130-45. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. vol. 98. Detroit: np, 2005. N. pag. Gale Literature Resource Center. Network. November 21, 2011.Witherington, Paul. “A Separate Peace: A Study in Structural Ambiguity.” English Newspaper 54.9 (1965): 795-800. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. vol. 98. Detroit: np, 2005. N. pag. Gale Literature Resource Center. Network. November 21. 2011.