Kinesthetic imagery in A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace is a beautifully written novel. The images used by the narrator, not only add a realistic touch to the story itself, but they also add a particular mood to the description. Readers feel what the narrator describes, and at the same time, get the clear image defined by the storyteller. Gene, the narrator, used kinesthetic imagery to emphasize how actions of characters adjust the plot of the story. This kind of imagery describes the sense of touch, temperature, movement and most importantly, feelings of characters in the novel.

One way in which the narrator used kinesthetic energy in the novel was, “The room was bitterly cold. I stood trembling in front of Phineas, still holding his crutches in place, unable to turn and face Binker and this joke he had gotten into his head, the catastrophic joke” (Knowles 107). The use of imagery in this quote highlights the tone of the situation. Gene’s plans of enlisting to the Army are forgotten as soon as Phineas comes back from the Hospital. Gene, always dreaming of superiority to Finny, pretends as if nothing changed. Afraid of Finny’s reaction, the boy gets stuck between confessing the truth and continuing his dishonesty. By stating, “the room was bitterly cold”, the narrator is not informing the readers about the temperature of the room. He, in fact, is demonstrating the result of the conversation on Gene, which forces frigid air into his personal bubble. The significance of this observation proves how Gene is unsure of himself, not even being aware his own feelings.

Feelings of the characters of the novel are again mentioned on page 128. “The sky is an empty hopeless gray and gives the impression that this is its eternal shade. Winter’s occupation seems to have conquered, overrun and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement left in nature; al the juices are dead, every sprig of vitality snapped, and how winter itself, an old, corrupt, tired conqueror, loosens its grip on the desolation, receded a little, grows careless in his watch…” (Knowles 128). This quotation describes the wintertime at the Devon School. The narrator’s choice of words, create an immediate image in the mind of the reader. There is no hope, or happiness. Nothing is boisterous, showing some kind of life. The description gives readers a depressing mood, as if nothing is worth living for. Characters in the book get a similar feeling. It is only Phineas, who adds a twist, by deciding to boost the school spirit up, creating the very first Winter Carnival. This proves that nothing can let Phineas down, not even his peers being overpowered with the depressing feeling of winter.

Another image that the author uses in A Separate Peace, is in chapter 13. “ The old trees surrounding it all were intensely meaningful, with a message that was very pressing and entirely indecipherable. Here the road turned to the left and became dirt. It proceeded along the lower end of the playing fields, and under the pale night glow the playing fields swept away from me…” (Knowles 186). This part of the book is emotional, being one of the climaxes of the story. The image of a life without Phineas, presents Gene with an understanding of his life. The lives of both boys are changed drastically one summer day, when Gene purposely jounces a limb causing Finny to become a cripple forever. Gene realizes that, “I alone was a dream, a figment which had never really touched anything. I felt that I was not, never had been and never would be a living part of this overpoweringly solid and deeply meaningful world around me” (186).