A Separate Peace

I read this story in the Eighth grade, and then had to take a test on it. Well, part of that test was an essay question. I did rather well, and the teacher was impressed, saying I had "college-level insight". While I'm not sure if she was saying this to make me feel good or if she honestly thought this, my answer was interesting, so I'm going to node it.

Q: What is the literal meaning of "a separate peace" and what is it's application to the novel?

A: The novel implys that "a separate peace" means a calm admist(sp) the storm, care-free peace despite the World War that is tearing apart the globe. Finny is the source of this peace, and shows this in the games he created like blitz-ball and the Winter Carnival. Of course, Finny's separate peace blinds him to cold harsh reality and this eventually kills Finny as much as the bone marrow did.

Q: What is the turning point in the novel? Why?

The novel's turning point is after Gene visits Leper, Until this point, Gene has been wrapped up in the "separate peace" created by Finny and has been hiding his actions and motives from the world. Now Leper (who was there when Finny fell) starts yelling "You always were a savage underneath...like....like that time you knocked Finny out of a tree!....like that time you crippled him for life." Reality has been forced into Gene's lap. "They've got you" is Leper's forshadowing of the "trial" when everyone will find know that Gene purposely crippled Finny. From this point until the trial Gene is trying to avoid the confrontation he knows he will face Finny and tell him that he(Gene) purposely cripled Finny.

Also the title of a 1965 television play by Tom Stoppard. It was made to go with a documentary about chess players and somehow illustrate it, but he admits that it doesn't really. It's the story of a man who checks into a private hospital because he wants privacy, and wants to be looked after. He has plenty of money, and makes no demands, but he is not ill. They try to dissuade him, and he is very amiable about it, but he can't see why he can't book an unoccupied room and be treated like any other patient.

Reluctantly they allow him in. Maggie, one of the nurses, becomes friendly with him, but is still trying to find out something of Brown's past, his family, or his reasons for coming. And the psychiatrist can't find anything wrong with someone who wants clean laundry, regular meals, and no worries.