A Proof of Closure from the book A Separate Peace
...thing that meant a lot and is really true. Mr. Handley says, “There is no stage you comprehend better than the one you have just left”(_). This means that there is no phase you would understand better than the one you have just went through. You can compare that quote to most of the stuff in life, and I do think it is really true. Gene also does this when he returns to Devon. Gene, during his academic years in Devon, really didn’t know what he was experiencing. He knew what was going on and did experience it all, but when he came back to Devon fifteen years later, he understood the concept of everything. It is like saying, “wow I went through all that.” Another thing that surprised me at first, was that why couldn’t Gene come back earlier, not fifteen years later? The answer to this question is that Gene was not ready to come earlier. Gene wasn’t as mature to face what had happened until now, fifteen years later. It was a lot easier for him to go back when he was ready. If he had come back earlier, who knows what he might have done. Gene states, “ I went back to Devon School not long ago, and found it looking oddly newer then when I was a student there fifteen years ago before. It seemed more sedate then I remembered it, more perpendicular, and strait-laced, with narrower windows and shinier wood-work, as though a coat of varnish had been a war going on. Perhaps the school wasn’t as well kept up in those days, perhaps varnish, along with everything else, had gone to war”(1). This quote shows the proof that it was fifteen years back when he last visited his old school. Gene is saying that its like a totally different environment then he last remembered it. It is like its more better looking, and in shape then it was back then because of the war. The quote as is can be read, it very different then it was before because he is now trying to get his closure and put together his thoughts on the incidents that had happened that fifteen years ago. The buildings are much different, you would think that it might have gotten older and dirtier looking then before, but they saved it and kept it looking in a good condition. Gene forgot about some of his past since it was so long ago. It all seemed different to him. It’s good to see that everything has changed, for if he thought t...