A Separate Peace Symbolism Essay

Symbolism started as a loosely organized literary and artistic movement that originated with a group of French poets in the late 1800s. Within a century, symbolism will become a big influence on European and American literature. In the novel A Separate Peace, two rivers that are described are the Devon and the Naguamsett. The Devon river was filled with fresh water, flowed past hills, highland farms, and forests, passed the school grounds, then went over a little waterfall into the Neguamsett. The Naguamsett River was ugly, saline, fringed with marsh and seaweed, and its course ended in the ocean. These rivers and the relationship between the two have many important symbolic meaning in the novel. One interpretation of the rivers is Gene as
Before the war enters the school, the students take part in many activities such as the Blitzball, the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session club, and going to the beach. After the war starts to enter the school, the field is used for practicing parachuting, the students shovel the snow off the track to help soldiers pass, and the clubs start to incorporate the war. The flowing of the Devon River into the Neguamsett River is shown through the students’ most probable fate of going to the war. At the beginning of the novel, Gene says that “The class above, seniors, draft-bait, practically soldiers rushed ahead of us toward the war.” This foreshadows that Gene as his class will be next in going to the war. Clearly the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers have many important symbolic meanings that develop throughout the novel. Symbolism enriches and conveys a deeper meaning to ordinary people, places, and things in literature. John Knowles makes a great use of symbolism through the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers in his novel A Separate Peace. “Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”- Ezra