Through the narration of Gene Forrester, a typical New England schoolboy, John Knowles’s A Separate Peace displays educated, formal diction when Gene is clear-headed, exhibiting the intellectual that he is. However, when Gene is reflecting upon his actions, his diction becomes more denotative and connected with feeling. Given that Gene is introverted, he has a lot of time to think and ponder his actions; therefore, much of his diction reflects his thought process and awareness of the world around him.
Much of his word choice is used to reflect his surroundings and the setting for most of the novel—the esteemed Devon School. This school has been the center of his life, the place where everything momentous event has happened, so naturally the diction is euphonious to reflect its paramount importance. The surroundings are described as “capacious” but also “impressive” and “forbidding” (10-11), conjuring a pleasing but unapproachable image. It can be inferred that Gene is a very observant person, noticing “every slight undulation of the land” (59). Knowles’s words through Gene are usually denotative and abstract. He focuses on impressions of things rather than concrete words, things only imaginable, again adding to the reader’s right to deduce meanings: “the essence of this careless peace” (24), “a world of branches” and “an infinity of leaves” (30). “[H]opeless joy” (55) is a thing felt, experienced. The reader has to connect with Gene’s emotions. Gene also uses simple but intelligible diction to describe other characters, such as Phineas having a “steady and formidable flow of usable energy” (40). The diction is clear but still scholastic, contributing to an image of Gene as a smart schoolboy.
On the other hand, in certain events, Gene uses more precise yet detached diction. When describing Finny’s movement, he said it had “sudden metallic tension” (43). He also described Finny with his “face transfigured, body a complex set of balanced and compensations...” (75). These scrutinizing descriptions exhibit exact diction and forms Gene into an analytical character; it also contributes to the distant and rational tone that is consistent throughout the novel.
I also noticed Knowles’ use of formal diction in relation to the school as indicative of the setting of the novel and it was effective in providing a characterization of the boys as having received higher level education. Additionally, your observation about how Knowles’ focuses on impressions in certain descriptions rather than trying to illustrate something tangible creates an effect of living in another world. I feel this effect is appropriate in that Devon is a place in which the boys that attend are living in a world separate from the destruction of World War II, to the point that it is believable to the boys that the war is just a hoax established by the government. Their two worlds do collide with one another however. In regard to the diction, the descriptions do contain references to the real world by describing objects such as “branches” and “leaves”. In regard to the separation of the war from Devon, the boys never actually see evidence of the war; they know only what they have been told. However, their worlds are not completely separate in that the storyline is riddled with war references, an indication of the time period.
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