Outside Reading

When I read the first page of "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles, it captured my attention right away. The first chapter takes place when the narrator has been out of school for 15 years, and is revisiting Devon School; the private boarding school that he attended. This flashback made me want to find out what his high school experience was like, and what brought him back to see it again. The second and third chapters weren't as exciting... they were just background information to let the reader know what exactly was going on. But I managed to get past these somewhat boring details, and into the meat of the book. I can't say that this book is the best I've ever read, but it is fairly good, and I am enjoying it.

The main literary element at this point in the book is either imagery or tone. It is hard to decide between them, since they both are pretty prominent. Imagery is a huge part of the story because the author is constantly providing images to enhance the events taking place. The story is written through several seasons, so imagery is very important to let the reader know the current setting. However, tone is also a key part of "A Separate Peace" because a main part of the story is the somberness of the situations and plot. It is necessary that the author uses these literary techniques so that the reader can begin to see what the theme is, and what we can learn from the story.

The tone of this novel is somber and emotional. Gene, the main character, has feelings and thoughts constantly running through his head, and a lot of the plot is based on emotions. For the most part, the tone is dreary and solemn. In a few chapters, mostly towards the beginning of the book, the tone is bright and cheery, but as the characters mature, the tone becomes much more serious, and you can begin to grasp the meaning of the story.