Vivid imagery is abundant in A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Therefore it would be hard to conceive that Knowles did not have intent with the inclusion of a profusion of this powerful literary element. The use of positive and negative imagery to describe the seasons of summer which represented peace and winter which represents the distress brought on by World War II, as well as the sharp and sudden transition between them clearly confirm that Knowles intended to show how utterly and abruptly the war overtook the peace at Devon.

Knowles use of positive imagery show why summer the symbolize peace. For example Knowles uses positive imagery in this quote, “They (elms) too seemed permanent and never changing, an untouched, unreachable world high in space, like the ornamental towers and spires of a great church, too high to be enjoyed, too high for anything, great and remote and never useful.” (pg.30) Knowles imagery describes an untouchable and unreachable world high in space which would be a space free from evil, sin and desire. Vividly describing the setting like this creates a peaceful image representing summer as a time of peace. Knowles also creates peaceful setting with the imagery in this quote “It was hard to remember when one summer day after another broke with a cool effulgence over us, and there was a breath of widening life in the morning air-something hard to describe- an oxygen intoxicant, a shining northern paganism, some odor, some feeling so hopelessly promising that I would fall back in my bed and guard against it. It was hard to remember in the heady and sensual clarity of these mornings; I forgot whom I hated and who hated me.” (pg. 39) Here Knowles use of positive imagery describes a beautiful time in which is impossible to contemplate hate. This also brings a vividly peaceful image to mind further connecting the concepts of summer and peace together which is later conquered by the war elements of winter.

Knowles negative imagery to show how winter symbolized the distress of the war. For example Knowles uses negative imagery in this quote “Not long afterward, early even for New Hampshire, snow came…They gathered there, thicker by the minute, like noiseless invaders conquering because they took possession so gently. I watched them whirl by my window-don’t take this seriously, the playful way they fell seemed to imply, this little show, this harmless trick(pg.84).” He uses of words such as such as invaders and conquering connect this otherwise peaceful this image to that of as war zone. This helps to show his intent that elements of the war overtook the peace present and Devon School. His use of similar words in this quote help to create a similar effect ““Winters occupation seems to have conquered, overrun and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement in nature; all the juices are dead, every sprig of vitality snapped, and now winter itself, an old, corrupt, tired conqueror, loosens its grip on the desolation, recedes a little, grows careless in its watch; sick of victory and enfeebled by the absence of challenge, it begins to withdraw itself from the ruined countryside.” (pg. 120) Here his use of conquered, overrun, destroyed, resistance movement, and dead connects element of the image he is describing to that of one of a war. He also writes that these elements of winter conquered the life of nature which had previous been a symbol of summer. This of reinforces his intent of emphasizing how the war element of winter took over the peace of summer.

A sharp and sudden change between the previous positive imagery of summer and the negative imagery used during the winter represents how whole and swift effect the war had on the peace at Devon School. The time that Gene and Finny spend at the beach represents the peak of the summer. However overnight it is followed by this description of the ocean, “The ocean looked dead too, dead waves hissing mordantly along the beach, which was gray and dead looking itself.” (pg.49). Here Knowles uses words such as dead, hissing, and grey which have a negative connotation to create powerful negative imagery. This causes a sudden contrast between negative and positive imagery. This sharp contrast between the beach and a “dead” ocean which meets abruptly meets the beach at the shore with the hissing of dead waves foreshadows the contrast sharp between the peace of summer and the distress of winter that meets the summer at Finny’s fall. This event is the symbolic fall of peace to the distress of war. Knowles cements this fact with the imagery of the situation just before his fall claiming that “From behind us the last long rays of light played across the campus, accenting every slight undulation of the land, emphasizing the separateness of each bush.”(pg. 59) The last long rays of light show the end of summer because the end of long days marks the beginning of autumn due to daylight savings time. Since summer represents peace and winter distress shows that Finny fall from the tree marks the fall of peace to distress.

In conclusion, Knowles intent with the inclusion of such vivid imagery was to strengthen

idea of the peace at Devon school being overtaken by the elements of World War II. This is done by the inclusion of positive imagery of summer which represent the peace at the school and winter which represents the invasion of the war and the sharp contrast between these two types of imagery at certain points with in the novel.