Decay In The Horses And A Separate Peace

William Lane’s “The Horses” and John Knowles’s “A Separate Peace” employ various stylistic features to explore the idea of decay within individuals from each novel. “The Horses” details the school life of a fictional modern Australian high school centred on medieval re-enactments alongside education, in which the teacher Val decays through loss of his reputation. “A Separate Peace”, also set within a high school, Devon High School, in the United States of America during World War II, follows the drama between two friends Gene and Phineas (Finny), and the decay of the character Gene, who loses his identity so that he becomes Finny. The authors firstly employ characterisation in Val’s desire to put himself above others, spurring his reputational
decay; and the actions Gene makes so as to damage Finny yet become Finny in his stead, causing identity decay. Secondly, utilised alongside characterisation is setting, where Val’s surroundings are changed by violent weather, and changing seasons in Gene’s school, both of which react and change according to each character’s varying levels of decay over the duration of the novels. Thirdly the employment of structure displays the decay of the characters Val and Gene in stages, whereby their states of decay vary in accordance to the stages of the novel’s structure. Finally, they also use the symbolism of decay in the fragmentation of a mobile horse in reference to Val, and Gene donning Finny’s athletic clothes. Together, the authors use characterisation, setting, structure and symbolism to convey the decay developing within Val and Gene.
Exploring decay, the authors employ characterisation through Val’s desire to set himself above the others, and in Gene’s actions toward damaging Finny, so that Gene can become Finny. Val continually throughout the novel speaks over and interrupt others, becoming a nuisance without him realising what he is causing others to feel about him, spurring his decay through other’s disdain towards him. Similarly, Gene, although best friends with Finny, is jealous of Finny’s athletic prowess, and takes many deliberate and supposedly ‘un-conscious’ actions toward damaging Finny so that Gene may fulfil his dream of becoming Finny, causing decay in Gene’s identity. Val on the other hand is seen cutting people off in mid-sentence for his voice to be heard, “‘He appears to be fitting in well–f’ ‘Yes, he’s coming along,’ Val affirmed, or interrupted, in a louder voice, intimating a deeper knowledge of the subject”. Val however is unaware of the reality from the repercussions of his impoliteness, “Too late, Val realised. He had been distracted. Val had not seen this coming”, and ultimately he fuels other’s hatred towards him. This causes Val to feel pressured and desperate to regain his reputation, facilitating his own decay as he becomes desperate to regain his status “Val was feeling more uncomfortable, but no matter, he still had a purpose to serve”. Like Gene who had always held resentment towards Finny, and was aware of Finny’s own grudge towards Gene’s academic ability, “You did hate him for breaking that school swimming record, but so what? He hated you for getting that ‘A’ in every course but one last term.” Thus, fuelling Gene’s hidden hatred toward Finny, and upon being given the opportunity, Gene induces Finny’s fatal fall, crippling Finny, and allowing Gene to essentially ‘Take on Finny’, “I felt like some nobleman, some Spanish grandee”. Similarly, Val begins to lose his reputation as “It appears this is a … man who treats those who disagree with him with … Contempt, whether it be matters of judgement or matters of … belief”; and has his revelation on the reality of the issue too late, thus Val becomes desperate, accelerating his decay. Like Gene, who at the peak of his decay, was unknowing of his own actions towards causing his own decay, “[ I ] Had no idea why this gave me so much intense relief, but it seemed, standing there in Finny’s triumphant shirt, that I would never stumble through confusion of my own character”. Becoming Finny, Gene feels more secure, unlike how he feels with his own original self.
The settings of “The Horses” and “A Separate Peace” reflect the intensity of decay in the characters Val and Gene.
As for the settings in Devon School where Gene is taught, the seasons and weather change in accordance with the events of decay seen in Gene, as when he loses more of himself to Finny, the setting changes from summer warmth to winter chill. Val’s decay, as it fluctuates, is also reflected by changing weather which effects the setting, since after or during events of immense decay seen in Val, there is torrential rain, causing permanent changes in the setting. As during the early section of the novel “A Separate Peace”, when Gene has little decay in himself, the season is summer, during which the weather is warm and bliss, with “The clean-washed shine of summer mornings in the north country.” Much like the early settings of Val’s school, in which the setting is associated with summer, “The light had become the even light of noon in autumn.” However, as both novels develop, and the decay of each character increases, the settings of the novels change to reflect this state of decay in the characters. In Val’s school, the weather worsens with continued storms and flooding, damaging the school, like how the decay is damaging Val, “‘Mace house is slipping! Mace is slipping down the bank, into the creek!’”, along with ‘wet’ weather worsening with Val’s decay, “All day rain pelted down, the drops cold and plump.” Gene’s decay is represented in a similar fashion, by which
after Gene takes on the role of ‘Finny’, there is a shift in the seasons change the setting into the bitter cold of winter, “In the air there was only an edge of coolness to imply the coming winter”. Thus, as Gene continued to ‘re-enact’ Finny’s life, continuing the decay of his identity, the settings become colder “Winter’s occupation seems to have conquered, overrun and destroyed everything, so that now there is no longer any resistance movement left in nature; all the juices are dead, every sprig of vitality snapped”, as if Gene has killed his own identity so as to become Finny, much like how winter has quenched nature. That is until the ending of each novel, where Finny and Val die, the settings reverse to how they were, “Early the next morning Gregory woke knowing the sun shone.” As if once Val dies, and Gene’s loses reason to continue being Finny, they are rid of their decay, their decay has come to a peak, and has now ended.
Further representation of decay in the characters is seen in the structure of the novels, whereby the level of decay in Val and Gene can be seen reflected by the stages of the structure over the duration of the novels.
Val shows this in the beginning of the novel, when he is introduced to the reader with no noticeable decay, “Val was a state tennis champion, he played club football, and represented the country at chess.” Gene’s introduction also has little decay when he’s returning to Devon School in the future, having dealt with and recovered from the decay, “I went back to the Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer than when I was a student there fifteen years before.” But, as both novels continue, their decay sees noticeable change. As after the introduction there is the ‘Defining Event’ in “A Separate Peace”, when Gene is informed that Finny is now crippled, “At his touch I lost all hope of controlling myself. I burst out crying into my hands; I cried for Phineas and for myself and for this doctor who believed in facing things.” After this ‘Defining Event’ the structure of “A Separate Peace” builds up to Finny’s eventual death, during which Gene continues to decay so to take on who Finny was, “With that blank filled, I took up my duties as assistant senior crew manager.” Val’s decay with the novel structure follows in a more linear fashion, with the novel detailing a build up to Val’s demise, where he continues to make others despise him, “‘And now,’
said Val, ‘there’s this confirmation camp business. Do you really believe school funds should be put towards that?’” Until the conclusions of each novel, when the decay of Gene and Val begins to dissolve, like Gene at Finny’s funeral, “I could not escape a feeling that this was my own funeral, and you do not cry in that case” and “Val had been swept on”, for in the conclusion, after the peak in the novels and character decay, the decay within the characters is now exhausted, and therefore ceased further decay.
Furthermore, there are symbolic instances in the novels, whereby they allude to the state of decay in Gene and Val. Such as the point in which Gene, after agreeing with Finny to take on his athletic aspirations, wears Finny’s athletic clothing for the first time. During these moments, especially Gene’s first time in wearing Finny’s clothing, he feels immensely satisfied, however this is a symbol of how Gene has progressed in decaying himself so to become Finny, “But when I looked in the mirror it was no remote aristocrat I had become, no character out of daydreams. I was Phineas, Phineas to the life.” Much like the mobile horse in Val’s school hall, a horse which symbolically soars through the air, in its magnificence and beauty, much like Val, “The structure of the horse dangling from the ceiling represents the school’s pride, their integrity, and how they held their heads high in their current state.” However, as Gene, like Val, continues to decay, Gene starts to lose his identity to his dream of becoming Finny, and each time he wore the clothes he felt ‘Transformed’, “The sense of transformation stayed with me throughout the evening, and even when I undressed and went to bed. That night I slept easily, and it was only on waking up that this illusion was gone, and I was confronted with myself”. As if it is an addiction to Gene, which sees Gene lose himself. And as Val’s decay worsens, the mobile horse begins to fall apart, and eventually crashes to the floor “The first boys to march into the hall that morning discovered a jumbled wreckage, sprawled over several rows of seats. They pressed, pranced around the pyramid, jostling to get closer, to find recognisable pieces. ‘Where’s the head, where’s the head?’ they cried.” Much like the events leading up to Val’s death, where he had been falling apart for all this time, losing himself to the decay he caused to himself, until all had caught up to him, “He had never liked the sculpture (Capon the Headmaster), truth be told, he remarked to those about.”
Together, “The Horses” and “A Separate Peace” display many means in illustrating the decay of the characters Val and Gene. Such as the utilisation of characterisation in the depiction of decay, whereby Val takes many actions in having his voice heard over others, yet causes decay in his reputation toward others. While Gene takes action in crippling Finny so that Gene can become Finny, which causes Gene to decay his identity. Setting, whereby environments Val and Gene are in react to their state of decay, since as their decay worsens the settings of each novel become damaged and harsher. Structure, as the stages of the novels reflect the stages of decay in Val and Gene, where we see there to be little decay in the introduction, accumulation of decay in the build-up and a sudden loss in decay upon the conclusion. As well as symbolic references to decay in Val through the mobile horse, which over time begins to fall apart, much like the decay in Val is causing him to fall apart, and in gene’s donning of Finny’s clothing, whereby Gene become transformed, further decaying Gene’s own identity.