The more things change, the more they stay the same. I was reminded of the book "A Separate Peace" recently when my daughter came home from high school announcing she had to do an assignment on it. It was one of my favourite novels in high school, among other classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and the Shakespearean plays we studied. It seems that much of the English program has remained the same in secondary school whereas there have been massive curriculum changes in the elementary panel. But, just what was it about this book that I enjoyed so much as a teenager?
Perhaps it was the protagonists. Phineas is an extremely enigmatic character whose intentions are difficult to decipher. His relationship with the narrator, Gene, provides a significant contrast reminiscent of the Odd Couple. Gene is introverted and intellectual. He doesn't like to break the rules. Phineas is the best athlete at Devon school and quite the daredevil. It is this daring, spontaneous behaviour that causes his accident. From that point on, Phineas uses Gene to live out his dreams.
Another interesting character is Leper Lepellier. The sound of the name alone is humourous. In the section I am currently reading, Leper has become the first of the Devon boys to enlist in the war effort. After his departure, everytime the boys read about a significant event in the war, they imagine that Leper was involved. They discuss "Leper's stand at Stalingrad, Leper on the Burma Road, Leper's convoy to Archangel; we surmised that the crisis over the leadership of the Free French would be resolved by the appointment of neither de Gaulle nor Giraud but Lepellier; we knew, better than the newspapers, that it was not the Big Three but the Big Four who were running the war." Dealing with the war in this way, helps the boys come to terms with its devastating effects.
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