A Separate Peace

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Sarif Greene February 12, 2013 English 10 – Pd. 3 Ms. Goldberg A Separate Peace Final Draft Final Draft The story takes place during fall, when a man goes back to his high school after many years to think back on how his school life school life was surrounded by war and anger. In the story A Separate Peace by John Knowles the narrator Gene on the day of the winter carnival describes the day with much of war imagery due to the fact that they were surrounded by news of war. Although the festivities of the winter carnival suggest the Devon boys have been successful in creating “A Separate Peace,” Knowles’ use of war imagery in describing the setting, the prizes, as well as the boys’ own behavior suggests that this peace is illusory. On the Saturday of the winter carnival, Gene uses war imagery in describing the day by saying “The day was battleship grey.” Gene implied to the dullness of the day, the quote also referred to the grayness of the sky as it was snowing that day. That day, the boys had taken cider from classmen and hid it. Gene describes the location of the drinks, saying “They were buried in the snow near a clump of evergreen in the center of the park.” Gene tells us the discrete location of the drinks and how the cider was strategically hidden in the park. Gene also describes where Finny was sitting, “Phenius sat behind the table in a heavily curved black walnut chair; the arms ended in the two lions’ heads, and the legs ended in paws gripping wheels now sunk in the snow” By Gene describing Finny’s chair, he also gives us an image of the depth of the snow. Since the winter carnival was supposed to open up a day of fun, the boys each contributed one of their own personal belongings as a prize at the carnival. The boys had come up with different prizes. “Webster’s collegiate dictionary with all the stimulating words marked” a
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