The Symbolism on the Bank of the Tree By: Hannah Litwa and Tanner Smith

Thesis In the novel A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the tree to represent an obstacle that the boys must overcome in order to bridge the gap between adolescence and adulthood.

“It had loomed in my memory as a huge lone spike dominating the riverbank, forbidding as an artillery piece, high as the beanstalk.”(13).

Analysis of the Quote In this quote Knowles presents how prominent the tree was in the boy’s memories as a climax from their younger years. The gloomy past remained fresh in their minds for years after this life-changing incident.

“ The tree was not only stripped by the cold season, it seemed weary from age, enfeebled, dry. I was thankful, very thankful that I had seen it. So the more things remain the same, the more things change... Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.”(14).

Analysis of Quote This quote utilizes the meaning of the tree to represent the stagnate nature of a significant memory, even if all of the characters’ surroundings and mindsets have changed.

“We were standing on a limb, I a little farther out than Finny, I turned to say something else, some stalling remark, something to delay even a few seconds more, and then I realized that in turning I had begun to lose my balance. There was a moment of total, impersonal panic, and then Finny’s hand shot out and grabbed my arm and with balance restored, the panic immediately disappeared.”(31).

Analysis of Quote This represents how the great changes in life can build or destroy the character of people. Finny’s perfection made Gene’s insecurities flourish, and the tree is a concrete symbol of this immense transformation in Gene’s personality.

“ With the sensation that I was throwing my life away I jumped into space.”(17).

Analysis of the Quote This quote may seem simple, although it is a great representation of the symbolism within the tree. Gene said this as he jumps from the tree for the first time and it represents the chances a person must take in order to face their most threatening challenges in life and obtain closure.

“They were caught up in accelerated courses and first-aid programs and a physical hardening regimen, which included jumping from this tree. We were still calmly, numbly reading Virgil and playing tag in the river farther down the stream. Until Finny thought of the tree.”(15).

Analysis of the Quote This quote demonstrates the importance of the tree by unmasking Knowles’s concealed message of the tree, symbolizing the transition between boyhood and maturity. Before the boys faced the tree they were immature children, but after, they were converted into established young men.

“This was the tree, and it seemed to me standing there to resemble those men, the giants of your childhood, whom you encounter years later and find that they are not merely smaller in relation to your growth, but that they are absolutely smaller, shrunken by age. In this double demotion the old giants have become pygmies while you were looking the other way.”(14).

Analysis of the Quote This quote illustrates, by defeating this once threatening obstacle, the character can grow into a more refined adult. It shows that the menacing obstructions of the past now seem to be harmless in result of defeating the opposition.

Conclusion In the novel A Separate Peace John Knowles takes an ordinary object to symbolize the immense change between boyhood and maturity.