The values that John Knowles emphasizes in A Separate Peace reveal his belief that an appreciation of nature's wonders is fundamental to a life of moral integrity and spiritual satisfaction. Consequently, the novel is set in the beautiful countryside of New England, not far from the Atlantic coastline at a New Hampshire prep school called Devon. The year is 1942, and the United States is increasing its involvement in World War II. The early reverses the Allies suffer seem to imperil the very values of Western civilization.
The war is presented first as a distant source of uneasiness, but its presence gradually grows into an emblem of the encroachment of the adult world's most mundane elements onto an unspoiled realm of youth and beauty.
That realm lies within the protected sanctuary of the school,.....
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