Finny organized the Winter Carnival to animate the boring Saturday afternoons and to recreate the Olympics of 1944. After Gene had been thinking about the bad Saturday afternoons Finny asked him, “You know what we’d better do next Saturday.” This is followed by the introduction of the Winter Carnival. This quote suggests that finny decided to construct the Idea of the winter carnival in order to spice up their Saturday afternoons. Right before they start to begin the Winter Carnival Finny exclaims, “Who ever heard of opening the Games without the sacred fire from Olympus.” Finny wants to light a sacred fire to produce the feeling of the real Olympics. Going to the Olympics is Finny’s dream and he somewhat fulfilled it by building his own Olympics. Boring Saturday afternoons and the dream of the Olympics both contributed to the Idea of the Winter Carnival.
The olympics, which is what Finny pretends the Winter Carnival is, is acknowledged for instilling peace in the world for the short period of time the games take place. As recently the war has had a profound affect on the moods and excitement of the senior class, this Winter Carnival gives them peace, even for a moment in time. As Gene said at the end of the chapter, "It wasn't the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and separate peace" (Knowles 137). For a moment the worries about the war and the boys uncertain future washed away as they played in a peaceful, magical world of their creation; a separate peace.
ReplyDeleteElianna, I agree with you that Finny is made the carnival to somewhat please himself with his own dream. I also think that maybe he made the carnival to try to get Gene thinking about how fun the Olympics would be. If Gene got excited about the Olympics than that would make him train even harder. Finny does a nice job of trying to simulate the Olympics, and I think it was a great idea because it sounds like Saturdays are very boring! I also think that Julia, you made a great point in the the Olympics acknowledge peace. Maybe this is foreshadowing that this may change and there may no longer be peace.
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