Book #6- A Separate Peace

Wow, I can't believe this was the last book for summer reading. It feels like yesterday that I started to read Huck Finn. I feel that A Separate Peace by John Knowles was a great way to finish summer reading. It portrayed the harsh affects of war on boys. The characters, setting, and character development influenced the themes of war through out the text. The language was closer to how we talk and write now a days, so that made it easier to understand. I also loved reading the story through Gene's Point of view. It made it more personal for me to hear his reactions to the events happening rather than reading in third person. I got to see the feelings of how close Phineas and Gene got as well as how he reacted to Phineas' death.
The characters for me helped portray different views of people growing up during the war. My favorite Character from this book was probably Phineas. His carefree nature and how he seemed to live in the moment reminded me alot of my dad. My dad did everything crazy or illegal when he was Phineas' age because he knew that he would go off to the Vietnam war soon after and maybe not come home ever again. My dad's situation is not only similar to Phineas' situation but all the other boys too. Phineas' attitude about the war seemed a very protester idea. The idea he brought up that it was made up by the government made me think of protesters in the Vietnam War as well. They believed the men in the war were dying for nothing that the war was "fake". I also liked Leper's character. Near the end where he went crazy really showed the affects war had on men. Not just the War taking place in the book, but it can be related to whats happening now. Many men come home from war hallucinating due to the things they seen. Leper's character really portrayed a man who has seen what no man should ever see and now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress. He I believe represents the millions of soldiers that could have this dreadful disease and not get treated for it. To me, Gene had the most growth in the book. At first, he seemed very timid and cowardly, but then I see him becoming confident, brave, but unwilling to use violence to solve his problems. That in my opinion are traits of a great man. I think my least favorite character was blinker. He seemed to resort to taunting, rumors and violence to make him seem important. These traits in my opinion are suppose to represent what war could due to boys. he was brought up to believe that violence and war are ways to solve his problems. He joined the Coast Guard because he would see more action and danger which leads to him killing another to protect him and his country. This may seem noble, but killing for selfish reasons are empty.
The setting of the story really played an important part of the story. Instead of making it in the middle of the battlefield., Knowles showed that there was another battlefield during the war at home. Instead of using adults as the main characters, Knowles used teenage boys to show the affects of war had on children. They grew up believing as Phineas said on pg. 35 "We are all enemies." They grow up not to trust anyone and war will solve what ever problems with anyone. Also, the death of Phineas shows that even the innocent are hurt during the war. Phineas revealed that he wanted to join the war, but couldn't because of his leg. I find it ironic that it was because of fixing his leg that he died. The doctor said the marrow traveled through his blood stream and stopped his heart, and if he hadn't of fixed it again, he probably would have lived. I also believed he chose the setting taking place during another war because he wanted to show the affects of the violence on others. It also can be compared to other wars we have seen. It can be compared to the War on terror going on now. the main theme of the book in my opinion can be viewed on pg. 196 where it says "My war ended before I ever put on a uniform. I was on active duty all my time at school. I killed my enemy there... All of them, all except Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves... against this enemy they thought they saw across the frontier, this enemy who never attacked that way-if he ever attacked at all; if he was indeed the enemy. I interpreted this quote to mean that during war, we are still fighting each other, "The enemy", and we think we are fighting for a good cause in believing it is for protection. This however does not mean its true. No one at home ever truly was a threat to our safety. They were no the enemy. Maybe even the enemies in the war may have not been the enemies. It may represent our misunderstandings and our reckless actionscost other innocent people lives. This can also be viewed as a anti-war idea.
Out of all the books I read, A Separate Peace is my Second favorite. The Great Gatsby is still my favorite. The Scarlet Letter, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Crucible were all great books to interpret, but I didn't like them as much. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was overall my least favorite out of all of them. I do have to admit though most of the main character traits, emotions, development, and themes were overlapping through all the books. You can compare Phineas and Huck together or compare the themes of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. These are some examples in my opinion of overlapping themes, and characters. Well I enjoyed blogging about the books this summer and I can't wait to see what Honors 10 has in store for me.