A Separate Peace Group

Question:

nickdeezybabi
nickdeezybabi
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In A Separate Peace, how does the snowball fight mirror events at the trial?

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Posted by nickdeezybabi on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 6:58 PM and tagged with a separate peace, compare, plot, snowball fight, trial.

Answers:

  1. jessecreations
    jessecreations Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Gene sees the fight and is reluctant to join it; he even goes so far as to pretend that he has just remembered something else he has to do in order to get out of it.  As with most other events at Devon, though, he is pulled in by Finny and peer pressure.  This is similar to the trial scene, where Gene really doesn't know what's happening but he joins in anyway.

    The betrayal of the snowball fight is minor, of course, in comparison to the betrayal at the trial.  Still, it is there, as a preview.  As with the trial, during the snowball fight "loyalties became hopelessly entangled.  No one was going to win or lose after all," (p. 154).  Just as in the trial, no winner can truly be declared.  In the snowball fight, the sides are too muddled for either one to win.  In the trial, Brinker's aim is reached, but it leaves everyone worse off than they were before they knew the truth; especially Finny.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/separate/summary

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    Posted by jessecreations on Thursday March 12, 2009 at 5:42 AM