A Seperate Peace by John Knowles (Banned Book)

A Separate Peace - John Knowles

      A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about two young boys who study at Devon School in New Hampshire. These two young boys grow an unbelievable bond but stumble across problems along the school year as it is around the time of World War 2 around the year 1942. From Finny's astonishing athletic abilities coming to an end to Gene's envy rising even more problems occur during this time. Both Finny and Gene live life to the fullest until an accident who ruined Finny's athletic career, after that everything changes. A Separate Peace by John Knowles demonstrates how everyone needs comfort and the support of someone either from your family or just a friend to be able to go through tough moments.

      During the story both Gene and Finny realize how they need each others support to be able to go through all the tough moments they do go through. One of these examples is when Finny falls from the tree and becomes crippled, with Gene's support they are able to carry on with each others help one step at a time. Another example is when Gene is trying to study and Finny interrupts him to go have some fun and play a game they created, (blitzball) once Finny realized Gene was studying he wanted to do everything to help him finish studying to ace a test they were going to take the following day. Not only that but when they were drafting people into the army they realized they were entering adulthood and that they both needed support in case they got drafted as a form of symbolism that World War 2 represented in this book. A quote that shows this is the following, "Everyone has a moment in history which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person "the world today" or "life" or "reality" he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever.” The reason why this quote shows that everyone needs support of someone is because it tells us everyone has a special time in their life that they will impact everyone around them and that everyone needs help to get to that point, and when someone does need that support you will remember the time you had the support.

     In addition, during the story Gene becomes very jealous of Finny and tells Finny the truth that it was his fault he became crippled because he was the one who shook the limb of the tree causing him to fall. After this both of them become even further apart from what they were when Gene began to become jealous. After all this commotion, Finny falls again and breaks his leg once again and later on has a surgery on his leg dying while the operation occurred. Even though everyone needs someone to support them getting off on a wrong hand can cause serious problems as "A Separate Peace" shows us. Not only that but this book also shows peer-pressure because Finny calls everyone a wimp if they don't jump from the tree of where the accident occurred. This being the case Gene was basically forced to jumping off the tree. However, even though this may seem like a bad thing they became best friends after the first time they jumped and then became a continuous thing that they did. After the first incident that occurred all teachers try to help Gene cope with the situation that occurred and of what happened to Finny, Gene breaks down after this occurrence but has the support of the school teachers and help him get through it.

     In conclusion, everyone needs the support of someone to get through tough problems as one of the first ones in this book was Finny falling off the tree. Even though later on in the back they grew hatred towards each other after the death of Finny, Gene still felt remorse after him as they were after all friends. However, because of the first incident that happened on the tree Gene strived to become head of the class to cope with the jealous side of him he had towards Finny. Gene believed Finny was a show-off and that he had all the fame because of the astonishing athletics he had. In the end this book shows how everyone needs the support of a friend or a family member to help cope with any issues going on in your life or anyone else life.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Final Published Piece)

Christian Rodriguez                                                                                                                         808

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

     Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes is about a young boy named Johnny Tremain who has been drafted for the civil war. After suffering so much before the actual civil war Johnny looses his best friends who were also drafted into the civil war which causes Johnny to lose it but he pulls through it. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes shows how even through tough moments you still pull through it and that life is worth living. This book simply shows how you must still fight through tough moments as Johnny faced many issues but always carried on strong and had many reasons why he shouldn't give up. The author shows us how many challenges are thrown at us but that we should always keep trying.

     During the story we find out that Johnny's family isn't very wealthy as he is an apprentice to a blacksmith. During a regular day while he is working he accidentally burned his hand on the burner which caused him severe pain and the results were that he could barely use his hand. In the story Johnny says, "I know I got drafted father, I must carry on however and come back victorious with my life." However, when Johnny is going to the meet up with the rest of the people who got drafted in the army Johnny begins to feel judgmental as he doesn't know what to think anymore as he is beginning to panic. In the story when he is about to set out to scout Johnny begins to pray and say how hes seen things happen to other soldiers and that he is beginning to feel insecure on what he will begin to do. One day while they were camped they were awoken to a gunshot, Johnny and his pals were talking by the cabin they were stationed at and all of the sudden a cannon was fired and hit 2 of his best friends which were in Johnny's squadron, when this happens Johnny becomes furious and becomes determined to finish this war for once and for all and get it over with quickly and go home with his life.

    In addition to this, before Johnny was sent to war zone he is told his crippled hand can be fixed with a minor surgery, however since Johnny's family wasn't very wealthy they had to seek help from someone who had money to help support them. They found a wealthy business man named Mr. Lyte, Johnny explains that his family is related to Mr. Lyte after Mr. Lyte rejecting that they are both apart of the same family he asks for proof, Johnny then goes and gets a silver cup with the Lyte's family's coat of arms. Mr. Lyte then claims it was stolen and Johnny is arrested. After Johnny fights for his freedom he is at last free'd by the court. Johnny was then assigned a new job which was to hand out a popular newspaper which was a Whig publication.

     In conclusion, Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes demonstrates how even when things get rough you still push through them and end up with better things at the end. Things may not look as good as they should be at the moment but they get better with a bit of work and determination. The author clearly gets the point across because she clearly states all the issues Johnny and his family are facing at the time and in the near future. This book has a big significance as it could be a big influence to people who have issues with their family or even problems themselves. The author shows how things can get rough in life but how its worth living through them as life is worth something special.