“A Separate Peace” by John Knowles orchestrates my given theme in the World War Two era through a group of young boys who are enrolled at a private school named Devon. The boys find many ways to bend the rules and ways to get their minds of serious matters such as the war. Finny especially finds creative ways to dissociate himself and to his best ability Gene from the worrisome war they may be drafted into once they reach the age of eighteen. This novel really represents my theme well because the boys have distinctive and very empathetic ways of going about themselves and escaping their sometimes harsh realities.
There were all sorts of different escapes for the boys at Devon. For some, it was the gloomy smoking room in the basement and for others it could be simply enjoying a game of blitzball famously created by Phineas at the time. One specific occasion in the novel is when Gene and Finny ride their bikes off to the beach because Finny wanted to do some real swimming in the ocean and the boys needed to clear the mind of some recent complications. The novel also characterizes Leper as someone who cannot escape the horrific reality he was surrounded by. He was a prisoner to his own inner demon. Leper allows the readers to see how the innocence of a child can be stripped away by the harshness of his reality. This type of text was crucially helpful in expressing to the fullest extent of the troubles the boys had to overcome and all the misfortunes that haunted their very own realities. It impacts the message of escaping reality in a more positive light because it shows you that even in our weakest and toughest times there is always a way out. “A Seperate Peace” makes you appreciate the simpler breaks in life nor matter they be short or long .
Even though I did not live to see the day of any of World War Two I can still relate to the boys at Devon because they very much had to deal with many of the same issues I have to today. The constant stress of going to school and trying to achieve academically is no easy task to deal with. All of the homework and assignments, it seems like school can never leave your mind. That constant train of thought that has you ever so worried about your next test or when your next essay is due seems to be over-bearing and hard to beat. All of that academic stress on the boys now add on athletics and the war and you got yourself a very tough reality for young adolescents of this era. I learned that nothing seems as big of a task as it seems from the novel as the boys overcome many issues that seem unbearable or plausible. They always tend to find ways to get their mind off their problems. Creativity was key to them in escaping reality at such times as their winter carnival and when moseying around the school during their own free time.
Escaping From Reality 