comparison of A seperate peace and Catcher in the Rye essays

comparison of A seperate peace and Catcher in the Rye essays A Separate Peace was written by active author John Knowles from his real experiences and personal struggles. Knowles attended Phillips Exeter Academy, an exclusive New Hampshire prep school, for two summer sessions in 1943 and 1944. This book vaguely outlines his experiences at Exeter with himself as the main character but under the name of Gene Forrester. Knowles' novel tells the story of a young man's struggle to escape from himself and his world, to achieve a special and separate peace. Similar to A Separate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye is also a story of an emotionally disturbed young teenage boy, named Holden Caulfield. Holden is telling this story in first person, although the whole thing is all one big flashback. The story is one of a young Boy trying to grow up in an Adult world, and trying to show that he is an Adult. As Holden is learning, there are many depressing things in the world. Holden, being the Idealist that he is, searches to find everything that needs to be changed, but never gives an alternative to the situation or thing. These novels can relate to each other through their themes which are, lack of innocence, growing up, and facing reality. Holden believes that the children are almost perfect in the way that they are truthful, innocent and not phony. They never try to impress others by being something other than themselves. They rely on adults and have little or no responsibilities, but are open to learning and the truth. Holden wants to preserve the innocence of children because he sees children as the only people who are able to see the truth behind the illusions of the world. Children are still discovering new things and are open to learning, while adults do not learn, but conform. Gene tells of how they were children of "careless peace," set apart from adults by their lack of knowledge of the war, and their utter abandon to thei...