The style captures the peace that the rural location of the school seems to promise even as the students create turmoil.
Knowles wastes no words, but writes with simple grace. In keeping with the themes, the book itself has a quiet and thoughtful air almost bordering on solemnity.
The book ends on a somber and haunting note as readers seem to face the realization that they are practically powerless from stopping such men until it is too late. The adolescent boy professors shake their heads over can grow up to be the next dictator. Frighteningly, Knowles reminds readers that such manipulators do not spring upon the earth fully-formed. The focus has shifted from the darkness inside us all and the need to confront it to the idea that others can utilize that darkness, as well. Though some of the boys lash out in fear or confusion, their thoughts as incoherent and their feelings as unacknowledged as Gene’s were, they ultimately act a predetermined role in a play entirely staged by one evil mastermind. Knowles does not shy from exploring the dark side of the human heart and Peace Breaks Out delves even deeper than its companion book. Their portrayal helps form a commentary that encompasses not only adolescent boys but also human nature. These boys have truly lost a sense of their individual identities in their desire to assimilate themselves to the war effort and to emulate the boys who graduated before them. The broad characterization is not a mistake, but a calculated technique that enables the author to study the effects of peace on a lost generation. However, though the story speaks to the book that came before, it does not try to imitate that book and thus should not be judged on the same merits.
Instead, they get characters who border on stereotypes-the good-natured but not too intelligent athlete, the misunderstood and scheming genius, the steady war hero, and the German Nazi sympathizer. It is true that readers miss the sensitive rendering of an adolescent trying to find his own identity and the subtlety of the interactions between Gene and Phineas. Review: Peace Breaks Out often lies, perhaps unjustly, in the shadow of its predecessor A Separate Peace. The end of the war leaves them disoriented and, with no common enemy to give their lives direction, they begin to turn upon each other. A generation of schoolboys grew up with one goal in mind: to join the army after graduation and serve their country. Devon, however, is not the idyllic place of his memories. He hopes the peaceful atmosphere will help him move past the horror and the pain he has experienced. Summary: World War II veteran and former POW Pete Hallam returns to Devon, the preparatory school of his youth, to teach history.
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