Water possesses different characteristics when in different forms. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a water motif shows the differences between ugliness and beauty. Knowles uses saltwater, freshwater, ice, and snow to represent different characteristics, when water is in different states. Knowles uses saltwater and freshwater to show the differences between beauty and ugliness within his characters. After Finny’s accident, he is told that he will never play sports again. Gene decides that he will not either, so he signs up to be the assistant crew manager. On the first day Gene and Quackenbush get into a fight and “catapul[t] into the water” (Knowles 79). Later, Gene showers “to wash off the sticky salt of the Naguamsett” (86). Falling …show more content…
Snow functions to provide beauty, and to hide ugliness. During the time of the war, many threats to enlist were being thrown around, “but only Leper[ is] serious [when he decides] to enlist in the[] ski troops” (125). After Brinker’s “tone turned the word [...] ‘a nat-u-ral-ist’ [...] into a curse” (100), Leper feels pressured to fit into a group. He thinks he can escape the pressure to enlist if he just picks any program. Leper goes with the ski troops because he likes to ski, and hopes the snow will bring him peace. Another passage where snow is depicted as a sign of peace is when Gene is looking out the window near his desk, after the boys go apple picking. The “snow came [...] theatrically [...] big flakes twirling down [...] whirl[ing] past [his] window [. … T]he playful way they fell seemed to imply [a] harmless trick” (92). Despite Gene’s nerves, he still notices the beautiful snow, and it proves to be a source of peace for him. The winter carnival, presents yet another place snow shows beauty and hides ugliness. The boys manage to get their hands on some alcohol, and hide it in the snow. The “jugs of very hard cider [... that are] buried in the snow [... are] the most cautiously guarded treasure” (131). The passage continues to say that the boys enlist Brinker’s roommate to “guard them with his life” (131). The boys use the snow to hide the ugliness of cider. Even though the cider brings out …show more content…
As Gene leaves the infirmary he passes “the water hole [] where unauthorized games of hockey were played during the winter” (186). He notices “islands of ice remaining in the center and a fringe of hard surface glinting along the banks” (186). The layers of alternating ice represent Gene’s layered personality. He has a hard, tough core, that he does not want anybody to see. Then the water in between the ice islands and outer rim represents the nice, cool, refreshing inside, that Gene allows his friends to see. Finally, the outer fringe of ice equates to the thick skin or shield, he uses to protect himself from outside emotions, which everybody sees. Even though Gene ‘recognize[s] sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak” (29), he does not think others see him using this as a cover. Gene needs a hard wall on the outermost layer, and a thick “good guy” personality under that, because he actually is weak, and does not want people to know it. When Knowles talks about the icy wooden planks on the pathways between buildings, this demonstrates another place where the ice metaphor shows layers. Finny just came back to Devon after his accident, and him and Gene are skipping class after chapel one morning. Gene thinks to himself that “there [are] icy patches everywhere[, and how] a crutch misplaced [...] could [] throw [Finny] down [...] into the ice encrusted snow” (110). The ice is slippery and a hazard for Finny, while the beautiful snow gets hidden by