One Tree, Hidden Meanings: A Close Reading of Symbolism in A Separate Peace Anonymous 10th Grade

Everyone has a specific object or place that immediately floods them with memories. Whether it be the stretch of road where they crashed or a pencil they used to pass a huge test, these items are everywhere. The memories they hold can be painful or joyful, a beginning or and end, but what every object or place has in common is that it holds significance beyond what meets the eye. Such a symbol in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, specifically to Gene Forrester and Finny, is the tree along the bank of the Devon river. While it may look like any other tree on the bank of the river to most people, to the students at Devon during 1942, it symbolizes many things. The tree serves many purposes in the novel A Separate Peace, some of which being to symbolize friendship, fear, and youth. One of the main things that the tree in a Separate Piece symbolizes is the friendship and bond only formed through an abnormal activity. For Gene and Finny especially, this action is jumping into the river from the tree. Out of this bond forms the “Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.” Gene depicts the formation of the society when he recalls “Rigid, I began climbing the rungs, slightly reassured by having Finny right behind me. "We'll jump...