A Separate Peace Essay

Stephen Simmons
English Honors 10/Mr. George
12/12/08
Final draft
A Separate Phineas

In our every day lives as human beings something bad is always happening. Whether it is a war in a foreign country or a natural disaster here or in a country we have never heard of, something is always happening. Despite all of these things, it is human instinct to escape the madness and search for joy in our own lives. It is like an infections disease, while everyone else is infected and organizing their funerals there is always one optimistic person who builds an invisible barrier from it all and lives his life like he won’t see the sun rise the next morning. Phineas, from A Separate Peace is that optimistic person. He lives in an indestructible bubble which the world’s issues can’t penetrate. It is almost like Finny represents or sets up this separate peace; something miraculous coexisting with something bad. He symbolizes a separate peace in the way he lives his life, views the world and how he tries to create this world for others.
With the war approaching the Devon school, the boys are frightened by the idea of taking a life and possibly losing one. It emotionally cripples the minds of some students at Devon and the society around them. Unlike many other people, Phineas lives in his own world, untouched by the threat of war and the brutal training to come. Finny is an optimist, he doesn’t see any evil and he doesn’t let what happens in the world penetrate his bubble of optimism. He lives his life like he will die the next day, and nothing can stop him. He also lives cleverly, by sneakily conveying messages to people, “The winter loves me…I mean as much as a season can love” (Knowles 110). The way he lives resembles this idea of a separate peace because while society and everyone else lives in the war, he lives on his own, untouched by the worries of others and untouched by the global issues. He is instead, inspired by his own thoughts and ideas about the people around him and the world around him.
Phineas’ optimism is the essence of the way he views the world. In 1942 the whole world was caught up in World War II. Finny does not fear or obsess about the war that is upon them or give into the fear which some other boys are burden with. He instead creates his own world where nothing truly matters. A world where you can do things and get away with them and where you can have fun and not have to worry about anything. He views the world and war as a joke, a place controlled by a bunch of fat men laughing their heart out at society in the mix of things.
Phineas alone is a separate peace. However, it is not how he acts or how he lives that truly defines him as being a separate peace, but how he tries to create this hidden peace for others. There are many instances in the novel where Finny is taking control and creating weird games and activities to promote this sort of separate peace.
“I think it’s about time we started to get a little exercise around here, don’t you?” he said, cocking his head at me. Then he slowly looked around at the others with the expression of dazed determination he used when the object was to carry people along with his latest idea. He blinked twice, and then said, “We can always start with this ball” (37).
This marks the creation of Blitzball, which was eventually played routinely by the boys as an escape from their recurring problems. The importance however is not that they found something to do in the activity dry summer but that Finny persuaded people to come into his own world, making them become apart of this separate peace in their summer of freedom and joy.
As the year progresses we begin to see snow on the ground at the Devon school. The winter symbolizes the coming of war, which at this point causes mixed emotions among the boys at Devon. In his heroic return from the shattering of his leg, we see that his personality remained intact. After time , Finny had this idea of having a winter carnival like the school has never seen before. “The Devon Winter Carnival…We’ll have it in that park next to the Naguamsett. The main attraction will be sports, naturally, featuring I expect a ski jump-” (129) he said. As the carnival day came all of the boys were greatly enjoying themselves. “It wasn’t the cider which made me surpass myself; it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace.”(137). At this time Finny, facing the coming of war, with a shattered leg and with his friend doubting him, surpassed all of these things to make time for the joys in life he cant let go. Finny created these separate peaces; these joyful times coexisting with these bad times.
A true hero is one who provides rejoice and sanctuary in times of need. Throughout the novel we see specific examples of how Finny views the war and the world. We also see how he acts against violence and how he acts towards others and this leads to the creation of this separate peace, this sanctuary of joy in this time of war and turmoil. The true essence of a separate peace in the novel is Finny, w ho when all went bad, remained this optimistic person creating times of joy out of the war. Finny truly represents a separate peace in his unique lifestyle, the way he views the world, and above all, the way he creates this separate peace for others.