Evolving in Wartime: Effects of the Psyche

One component of war is the coming of age which is evident in John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace. It explores the lives of two teenage boys, Gene and Phineas, at a boarding school during World War Two. Gene’s coming of age is shown in this passage, “When they began to feel that there was this overwhelmingly hostile thing in the world with them, then the simplicity and unity of their characters broke and they were not the same again” (194). An observation is made by Gene about how the war makes the boys in his class realize the existence of evil in the world. The coming of age is present in all wars and throughout literature, because it has mental, emotional, and physical effects.

There is an accelerated maturation that comes along with being involved in war. Thematic images seen and events experienced bring changes in the people who live through war. Letters from the Revolutionary War, journals from the Civil War, posters from World War One, graphs from World War Two, and essays from the Vietnam War trace the coming of age in a person. It is always present in war time. A general understanding from those who never experience war is made through analyzing the different conflicts in literature and other mediums.

America’s struggle for independence during the Revolutionary War exemplifies the coming of age of a nation and its people. Declaring independence from Great Britain in the eighteenth century caused the thirteen colonies of America to go to war. John Conrad, a soldier under the command of General George Washington wrote to his mother, “You would think very odd if you was here to see how we live as unconcerned as if there was no enemy on the continent till the drums beat to arms and then three minutes is sufficient us to be ...

... middle of paper ...

...y, and Service.” HesperiaStar. Freedom Communications, 28 June 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York : Batnam Books, 1959. Print.

Lind, Michael. “Why We Went to War in Vietnam.” American Legion Magazine. 01 Jan. 2013. N. pag. The American Legion. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

McKee, William. Spirit of ’18.1918.Poster. Library of Congress,.Learn NC Multimedia.Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Paus, Herbet. US Army Recruiting Poster. Poster. Net Mole: A Collection of American First World War Posters. Web. 24 Apr.2014.

Sitikoff, Harvard. “The Post War Impact of Vietnam.” The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Ed. John White Clay Chambers. New York: Oxford UP,1999. English.illinois.edu. Web.26 Apr.2014.

Tisdale, Henry W. Civil War Diary of Sergeant Henry W. Tisdale.1862-1865. MS. Rare Books Department of the Boston Public Library, Boston. Web.23 Apr.2014.