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Imagery
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in A Separate Peace
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Sailing Tolls:
In this scene from the first chapter of the novel, the author employs visual and auditory imagery and a metaphor to evoke the tranquil atmosphere of the Devon School’s grounds for the reader. As Gene, Finny, and their friends walk across the grass, Gene describes what he sees and hears:
I went along beside him across the enormous playing fields toward the gym. Underfoot the healthy green turf was brushed with dew, and ahead of us we could see a faint green haze hanging above the grass, shot through with the twilight sun [...] over all, cool and matriarchal, the six o’clock bell from the Academy Building cupola, the calmest, most carrying bell toll in the world, civilized, calm, invincible, and final. The toll sailed over the expansive tops of all the elms [...] across the open New Hampshire sky to us coming back from the river.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—American Drab:
In Gene’s thoughts about his life and his choices, he often returns to the question of his own privilege as an American and what having an American perspective means. In Chapter 3, he uses a simile and a metaphor to describe how he sees the American perception of the world:
Unlock with LitCharts A+All foreign lands are inaccessible except to servicemen; they are vague, distant, and sealed off as though behind a curtain of plastic. The prevailing color of life in America is a dull, dark green called olive drab. That color is always respectable and always important. Most other colors risk being unpatriotic [...]
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Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Cold Yankee Stars:
In Chapter 7 Knowles employs metaphor and personification to convey the subdued atmosphere at the Devon School during winter, which shapes Gene's mood and thoughts as he gazes into the night. The snow and stars assume symbolic importance as Gene thinks about the pressures his world places upon him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Devon, muffled under the gentle occupation of the snow, was dominated by them; the cold Yankee stars ruled this night. They did not invoke in me thoughts of God, or sailing before the mast, or some great love as crowded night skies at home had done; I thought instead, in the light of those cold points, of the decision facing me.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Grey and Gurgling:
While the Devon School is idyllic in summer, in the harsh New England winters its rural remoteness make it feel like a prison between autumn and spring. In Chapter 9, as Gene describes this feeling of entrapment and the change in the school’s atmosphere after Leper enlists, he employs imagery, a metaphor, and hyperbole:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And these Saturdays are worst in the late winter when the snow has lost its novelty and its shine, and the school seems to have been reduced to only a network of drains. During the brief thaw in the early afternoon there is a dismal gurgling of dirty water seeping down pipes and along gutters [...] Shrubbery loses its bright snow headgear and stands bare and frail, too undernourished to hide the drains it was intended to hide.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Gene's War:
As an adult Gene tries to contextualize his experiences at Devon by framing them through a metaphor that compares his childhood difficulties with World War II. He realizes that his “war” was not with the Axis powers but between Finny and himself:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.
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