Leizel's Analysis of the Setting

        In A Separate Peace, the setting is extremely important and the following quotes shows this:

“Devon is sometimes considered the most beautiful school in New England, and even on this dismal afternoon its power was asserted. It is the beauty of small areas of order—a large yard, a group of trees, three similar dormitories, circle of old houses—living together in contentious harmony.” (11, Knowles) This quote describes the basic yet crucial setting of the novel. It is set at the Devon School which is a prestigious prep school for adolescent boys. It is a secluded and sheltered area where they are aware of the events occurring outside of the school, yet it has no direct effect on them (World War II). It is here where the stage is set for the two main characters, Gene and Phineas, to develop as people and discover their place in their society.

“Bombs in Central Europe were completely unreal to us here, not because we couldn’t imagine it...but because our place here was too fair for us to accept something like that. We spent that summer in complete selfishness, I’m happy to say. The people in the world who could be selfish in the summer of 1942 were a small band, and I’m glad we took advantage of it.” (28, Knowles) "Stranded in this mill town railroad yard while the whole world was converging elsewhere, we seemed to be nothing but children playing among heroic men" (89, Knowles). It is clear that based on the description of their school campus that the area is of middle to upper class. In the summer of 1942, World War II was raging and though the people at this school do not have to live with the same problems, both their struggles are to find and achieve peace. In this way, the World War II time period as the setting is important so that as the plot builds up their conflicts are drawing similar parallels.

“They too seemed permanent and never changing, an untouched, unreachable world high in space, like the ornamental towers and spires of a great church, too high to be enjoyed, too high for anything, great and remote and never useful.” (30, Knowles) This quote is speaking of the tree in which many of the climatic events occur. This is an important aspect of the setting because of its symbolic meanings. For example, this is the meeting point of Gene and Phineas and they are always jumping out of it. It symbolizes how as the whole world is in turmoil, they are free and peaceful. As the story develops, the setting of the tree and its role progresses too.  

    Winters occupation seems to have conquered, overrun and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement in nature; all the juices are dead, every spring of vitality snapped, and now winter itself, an old, corrupt, tired conqueror, loosens its grip on the desolation, recedes a little, grows careless in its watch; sick of victory and enfeebled by the absence of challenge, it begins to withdraw itself from the ruined countryside.” (120, Knowles) The Devon School’s school year is split between sessions of winter and summer. The season in which events occur is important to the story in that in the glowing months of summer the boys have their fun, but in the desolation of winter, their problems heighten. Since the seasons are used in relation to the story, it acts as part of the symbolism and imagery.   

The setting is extremely important in this story. The entire story revolves around the coming of age of Gene and Phineas. Therefore, the thorough description of the setting is crucial in its symbolism  and correspondence to the changes that happen to Gene and Phineas.