Question

Hey, did anyone read "A Separate Peace?"

I have 9 other questions to this, but I've already answered them. It's just this one that I'm stuck on. I've read the book where it talks about this over and over, but I don't understand how to put this into a paragraph. This is the only question I am having trouble with. Please help.

Just before Leper's telegram arrives at the end of Chapter 9, Gene describes the Winter Carnival as a liberating experience, a momentary escape that created an "illusory, special and separate peace." Based on the descriptions of the Winter Carnival and the circumstances that the boys face in this novel, what does it mean to create a separate peace and why is a separate peace so valuable to them all? How does Leper’s telegram contrast with that “separate peace”?

Answer 1

Since you read this novel already, you know that boys were about to avoid the harsh reality of the war. This occasion, the winter carnival, is a shelter for them, that brings only happiness to them. This place is a peace for them, but when they get the news from their friend, this illusion of safety is ruined. The escape brings them back to the fear they wanted to hide from and this is the meaning of the phrase 'separate peace'.