Leeper’s
interruption of the Winter Carnival is similar to the war’s interruption of daily
life. During the Winter Carnival, all the boys are having fun and are singing
and dancing. This is where “a separate peace” is found for Finny. Ever since Finny
has come back to Devon, he has been depressed and has not shown signs of his
old charismatic self. However, during the Winter Festival, Finny jumps on the
table and begins to dance. This Festival then becomes Finny’s “separate peace.”
Before his tragic accident, Finny was able to find peace in sports. However,
after falling out of the tree, Finny was bed ridden and could not play sports,
the one thing that made him happy. Finny finally found happiness again at the festival,
but it was short lived.
Leeper’s telegram has a direct
connection to the war. While most of the boys are celebrating, Leeper is off
fighting in the war, but he abandons his fellow soldiers in what appears to be
fear. The telegram interrupts the boys' celebration and happiness just like the
war. The war has taken over Devon, and has prompted many to consider
enlistment. Finny believes that the war is a curse and has destroyed any chance
for the boys to have a normal childhood. Finny tries to keep Gene safe by lying
to him about the war. ““Don’t be a sap,” he gazed with cool self-possession at
me, “There is no war”” (Knowles 115). Finny does this for Gene so that they both can have the most normal childhood possible. The timing of the telegram
is ironic because it disrupts the boys’ happiness, just like the war.
The significance of the telegraph arriving at the Winter Carnival, was Finny had finally found is own new " separate peace". Before the telegraph arrives, Finny was dancing and jumping on the table," It was his wildest demonstration of himself, of himself in the kind of world he loved" (Knowles 136) Finny had found his own inner joy, and this was taken away from the telegram. The war which finny refusing to except had just come to Devon, no longer making it a separate peace from the war. Leper has escaped from the War, and this idea to Finny that the war is real has a large impact on him.
ReplyDeleteThe arrival of Leper's telegraph also gave the boys a harsher reality of Leper's fate. Prior to recieving this news, Leper's enlistment was commonly made light of by his former classmates. "Leper sprang up all over the world at the core of every allied success." (Knowles 126). Every positive head line was somehow related back to Leper, as if somehow the war was not so awful, that their friend was not actually suffering greatly in battle. During the period of the Winter Carnival, all was going well. Leper was supposedly off saving the world, fighting for peace, while everyone else was partying. What is possibly the most ironic is what Finny said right before the telegram was opened. ""A telegram for Gene? It's the Olympic Commitee. They want you!""(Knowles 137). As we already know, Finny has been coaching Gene for the Olympics, which will inevitably be disrupted by the war. Leper's telegram reminded the Finny and Gene that the war was still very real.
ReplyDelete