Character Traits in a Separate Peace

In

the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, one of the

main themes is the effects

of realism, idealism, and isolationism on

Brinker, Phineas, and Gene. Though

not everyone can be described

using one of these approaches to life, the approaches

completely

conform to these characters to create one realist, one idealist,

and one

isolationist; thereby providing the foundation of the novel.

The

realist is Brinker. Brinker's realism takes on a very morbid

quality after

Gene decides not to enlist with him, do to Phineas's

return to Devon. Brinker

still sees everything the way it is, but

begins to think that the way it is,

is bad. On page 122, he is quoted

as saying, "Frankly, I just don't see anything

to celebrate, winter or

spring or anything else." Brinker will scrutinize

any incident until he

finds a dark side to it, because, in his mind, at least

one side of

everything is a dark side. Already we have the footing for our

climax.

Phineas

(Finny) is the idealist. Like Brinker, Finny's approach

experiences a grim

metamorphoses. Before his accident, Finny sees

the world as a glorious playing

field and life as a never ending game.

After his accident; however, Finny

begins to view the world through

the eyes of a paranoid old man who is always

seeing something

covert in everything. On page 106, Finny even goes as far

as to ask

Gene, "Do you really think that the United States of America is

in a

state of war with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan?" This outlook

is

a mental facade that only succeeds in setting Finny up for a harder

fall.

Finally