A SEPARATE PEACE The theme "rite of passage" was used in the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This moving from innocence to adulthood was contained within three sets of interconnected symbols: summer and winter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war. These symbols served as a backdrop upon which the novel was developed. The loss if Gene Forrester's innocence was examined through these motifs. The summer and winter sessions symbolized Gene's …showed first 75 words of 593 total…

…showed last 75 words of 593 total…I was about ready to write somebody in Russia," (Knowles 190). Gene's rite of passage was examined through these symbols. Summer and winter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war are three symbols represented in A Separate Peace. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is about a teenager at a Prep school in New Hampshire, and his struggle to find out where he belongs in the war. These symbols exhibited Gene's loss of innocence.