The Life of John Knowles “I went back to the Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before” (Knowles 1). This was the very first statement that John Knowles wrote in his first published novel, A Separate Peace. John Knowles based a lot of this book on Phillips Exeter Academy, which is an impressive boarding school located in New Hampshire (Literature and Times). The author John Knowles connects his life to his novel, and the connection between his life and this work makes this story more believable and more interesting. John Knowles was born on September 16, 1962, in Fair Mount, West Virginia. As a child, John’s parents worked in a coal business in West Virginia. (Exeter.edu) His brother, James Knowles, attended the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and then college in Dartmouth. John’s parents thought that schools in New England would offer a better education than the ones nearby, so they decided to look at many catalogues of schools throughout this area. Out of the blue, John says, he, “pick[ed] up a catalog one day which was lying around the house, the catalog was for Philips Exeter Academy” (Exeter.edu). Phillips Exeter is an all-male boarding school in New Hampshire. After graduating high school in 1945, John decided to go to Yale, and there he earned a Bachelor’s degree in 1949. (NYT.com) Throughout his life, John wrote nine novels and eight stories. A Separate Peace was John’s biggest hit. This novel has received the William Faulkner Award and the Rosenthal Award from the National Institute of Art and Lectures. (“About the Author”). John Knowles passed away in 2001 at the age of 75 from a short illness. In the novel A Separate Peace, the Devon School took the place of Phillips Exeter Academy. Even though the Devon School was a replacement for Phillips Exeter, it represented the place that changed John’s life forever. “It was that summer that I realized I had fallen in love with Exeter” (Exeter.edu). I can understand now why the scene with Phineas jumping out of the tree into the pond was the center of the novel because that’s what John loved the most about Exeter. John also enjoyed the great tress and the wide area of playing fields (Exeter.edu). During the fall term of when John attended Phillips Exeter, World War II was affecting everyone at school. “I didn’t entirely like this glossy new surface, because it made the school look like a museum, and that’s exactly what it was for me, and I did not want it to be” (Knowles 1). In A Separate Peace, Gene looked back on his fifteen year and realized the fear that existed within him. He knew that the Devon School was like his second home but he had to escape from the distress that came with the joy of the school (Knowles 2).
Since the children at the Devon School had no family with them, the kids were there for each other in an important way. Two major characters in the novel were Phineas and Gene. They were roommates and even though there was jealously and tension between them; they were like brothers. Since World War II was happening, competitiveness between the two boys stood in their way. Gene was academically sharp while Finny was the best athlete. Bitterness and Envy of Finny lead Gene to become violent and malicious. “In the end Gene realizes that war, hatred, rivalry, and betrayal are all based on fear” (Shuman 815). John Knowles demonstrates this theme by tying in how War can be crucial in many forms. Even though the sixteen-year old boys weren’t fighting in war; they were fighting their own battles of self-identity. John Knowles wrote A Separate Peace to relate to his childhood life experiences. In A Separate Peace, John managed to connect actual people from the past to fantasy characters in the story. The story was told through first person narrative by Gene Forrester. Phineas, also known as Finny, was representing David Hackett. David took part in the 1948 U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey team (Shuman 810). In chapter 7, Finny helps train Gene to get in shape for the 1944 Olympics. (Knowles 117). Brinker, another character in the story, is a foil character to Finny. Brinker is all about rules and discipline, as Finny resembles youth and rebellion. Brinker was created to seem like Gore Vidal, who went to Phillips Exeter with John but was a year older (Shuman 810). In the end of the novel, we read about the tragic ending of Finny’s life. On his way down the stairs, Finny fell. The doctors had to perform surgery on Finny’s leg and during the process, a piece of bone marrow went through his bloodstream and he suddenly passed. The death of Finny was modeled after the death of Robert Tait, who was a fellow student of John Knowles (Shuman 810).
Knowles appreciated the affection and kind-heartedness of these people who had once been strangers (Shuman 810). These “strangers” ended up being his inspiration behind his work and making Phillips Exeter more memorable.