Escapes from reality in "A Separate Peace"
How did Finny and Gene find ways to escape from the world? They actually had many ways in which they seemed to escape from life to focus on other things. Everyone in the book found their own ways to escape as well, but to me, Finny and Gene's ways stood out the most.
One way of escaping reality was through Finny's invented game of Blitzball. The boys escaped school from the moment Finny invented the game and every time they played. Every student played, so all the boys got to break away from the world for a short time. Blitzball was very popular Gene even says, "Everybody played it; I believe a form of it is still popular at Devon" (Knowles 39). There were always new rules to learn because Finny seemed to always make something else about the game up. The game seemed to be hypnotizing to all who played.
The next way Finny and Gene escaped was by taking a trip to the beach. The trip destroyed study time so it was another escape from school. While at the beach, the boys did almost everything possible such as surfing, swimming, eating, and staying the night. While there, Gene and Finny got to talk one-on-one for a while. It was one of the few times that they got the time to talk alone outside of their room.
One of the last times that the boys were able to get away from the world was when Finny trained Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Gene notices that Finny seems to be training him for a goal Finny himself had once longed to accomplish. While training, the boys are trying to forget the war, but according to Gene's own words it doesn't work that well, "...not forgetting that troops were being shuttled toward battlefields all over the world..." (Knowles 117). Still Gene goes along with the feat of training for the Olympics even though he understands it is quite impossible, "There was no harm in taking aim, even if the target was a dream" (Knowles 117).
Escaping from reality seemed to be something the boys did often. I think in a way it became a tradition for them. They
One way of escaping reality was through Finny's invented game of Blitzball. The boys escaped school from the moment Finny invented the game and every time they played. Every student played, so all the boys got to break away from the world for a short time. Blitzball was very popular Gene even says, "Everybody played it; I believe a form of it is still popular at Devon" (Knowles 39). There were always new rules to learn because Finny seemed to always make something else about the game up. The game seemed to be hypnotizing to all who played.
The next way Finny and Gene escaped was by taking a trip to the beach. The trip destroyed study time so it was another escape from school. While at the beach, the boys did almost everything possible such as surfing, swimming, eating, and staying the night. While there, Gene and Finny got to talk one-on-one for a while. It was one of the few times that they got the time to talk alone outside of their room.
One of the last times that the boys were able to get away from the world was when Finny trained Gene for the 1944 Olympics. Gene notices that Finny seems to be training him for a goal Finny himself had once longed to accomplish. While training, the boys are trying to forget the war, but according to Gene's own words it doesn't work that well, "...not forgetting that troops were being shuttled toward battlefields all over the world..." (Knowles 117). Still Gene goes along with the feat of training for the Olympics even though he understands it is quite impossible, "There was no harm in taking aim, even if the target was a dream" (Knowles 117).
Escaping from reality seemed to be something the boys did often. I think in a way it became a tradition for them. They