A Separate Peace

Our last and final book of the summer was a great piece to end on and not to mention one of my favorites. The introduction of the story was a remarkable approach to get you hooked right away. It makes you question what happened at the Devon School to make this unknown guy seek the grounds of the school for memories of his youth. Then you are brought back to 1942, the year of the first Summer Session at the Devon School, you are introduced to Phineas. This character, in my opinion, makes this whole story. Finny, as the boys called him, is a very strong worded, rule braking, athletic, wise and ambitious teenage boy. That dream shattering fall during a gathering of the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session should have ended Finny's hope of excelling. However, that accident just fueled his determination to make something great. That something was Gene.
"But they couldn't use that trick forever, so for us in the forties they've cooked up this war fake." That quote from the text made the character of Finny become so much clearer to me. His mind set of everything had an alterior motive. Although, this was not a deceiving trait, it was an honorable one. The day Finny beat the "100 Yards Free Style" swimming record he didn't want it publicize it, he just wanted to see if he could beat it. When he and Gene went to the beach, he just wanted to swim; it gave him a sense of freedom, something that was the opposite from the Devon School. The most apparent example would be after the fall which made him incapable of sports; he put his knowledge, dedication and drive for Gene becoming successful.
The way John Knowles told his story was a great feature to whole understanding of the book. This was not a difficult book to follow but finding the deeper meaning took effort. If you just saw Gene and Finny as best friends at a boarding school, then I believe you did not receive a full and proper understanding of such an amazing book. You had to place yourself in the setting, make yourself be in Finny’s pink woven broadcloth shirt, to understand Finny's mannerisms and to finish the book with a compression as I did.

The Crucible

The Crucible has to be one of the most exciting books we've read this summer. The reason I liked this book so much has to be the way it is written. I think if the story was written in any other way than the play it would not have had the effect that it does. The plot is so interesting that it could have been written in 1st person but like I said, it wouldn’t have been that great of a book as it is.

This book had such craziness in it. The thing I could not get over while reading the book was that how could your friend and neighbor just turns on you like that? Friends naturally have this bond that they don’t turn on each other and they protect them. Being neighbors you developed a bond similar to the one you’d have if you were the best of friends. That is why I do not understand how you and be accused of something ridiculous from someone that you have a bond with. I guess it could go along with the trend "if they're doing it, so should I." But something such as witchcraft is too big of something you pick someone randomly to accuse.

Puritans have the mindset that they have to be perfect. That is honestly what started the whole mess in the town. The girl’s didn’t want their imperfectness to be discovered so that is why they lied. They still wanted to be seen in their community and to their families that they were still perfect. I'm not sure if it was just the times or the religion or the way the girls were raised but they were scared to death to be seen as anything but perfect. I personally think that is crazy! I know and most other people know that perfect does not exist and for reasons as if it did exist people who were not perfect would endure the cruel torture that the accused in the story experienced.