A Separate Peace
Essay by 24 • December 30, 2010 • 344 Words (2 Pages) • 1,735 Views
War is full of secrets, lies, and struggles. Trying to escape war brings mental illness, while completely avoiding it can cause conflicts within yourself." This quote by Ronald Green seems to describe exactly what the war is like in John Knowles novel "A Separate Peace". In "A Separate Peace", his use of analogies describes the war as being like snow, like a wave, and like an operating room.
To start out John Knowles uses an analogy comparing war and snow. The snow is like noiseless invaders conquering because they take possession so gently. When it left it came back even harder. Both the snow and war seemed to invade the school quietly and unexpectedly. The snow and war seemed to be one, when the snow came lightly the war was more distant, while when it came down hard the war was breathing down their necks. When large amounts of snow came, as did the information about the war. Both the war and the snow came theatrically.
In addition to the war being like snow it is also like a wave. Both wars and waves are overwhelming, and inescapable. Wars and waves are also very powerful and are large, usually growing in size. Avoiding one wave only leaves a larger and more powerful one next time. In "A Separate Peace" when Finny left Devon academy the war closed in upon the students. But when Finny came back Gene "ducks" from the war.
Lastly, and the most evident analogy is the war being like an operating room. During war and in an operating room risks are formal. Injury is obviously expected. The biggest risk in both an operating room and while at war is death. During both the worst is always expected.
In conclusion author John Knowles uses these analogies to show that the war is like many various things. War is like snow. War is like a wave. And war is like an operating room. As you can see analogies can compare very confined words to war. What type of analogies
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