Blog Entry #4 Text Connections
In A Separate Peace the author frequently makes connections to what was going on in the world during the time of the novel. For example he references Pearl Harbor, Mussolini, Stalin, the boys refer to the Germans as Krauts, and they even name their invented summertime game Blitzball after the Blitzkrieg war tactic developed by Hitler during WWII.
I, personally, connected this novel to All Quiet on the Western Front because, although it follows the life of young German soldiers during WWI, I felt that many aspects were remarkably similar. For one, in both novels, the boys are encouraged to sign up to fight by their teachers, by their peers, by the government, and by almost every adult they encounter. Also, present in both novels is the theme of detachment dehumanization and overall negative effects of war. This is seen in A Separate Peace by the character Leper, the first to join the army who loses a bit of his sanity before even being deported, and by self- disappointment Finny faces by being deprived of the chance to fight in the war. This book also reminded me of Lord of the Flies because the characters are also private school boys separated from an ongoing war (expect in Lord of the Flies the boys are stranded on an island). Both books also address that competition among peers can bring out an innate evil present in human nature.
I made a similar world-connection due to the World War II topic. But what I found very interesting and thought-invoking was your literature connections. I find it somehwta ironic that such a close connection can be made between two World War novels even though one's narrator is a German, or a "Kraut", and the other an American. Both Paul from All Quiet on the Western Front and Gene from A Separatae Peace acknowledge the war and the pressure to enlist without acknowledging the reason to enlist--what are they fighting for?
ReplyDeleteAnd the connection to The Lord of the Flies is a very unique connection--but I definitely see it now that you point it out. They both include alienation due to war (sort of) and insanity among boys.