Chloe Lightner

Mrs. Brandstadter

English 101

5/26/2021

A Challenge

A challenged book. Not all banned or challenged books are books that shouldn't

be taught. Some books that are challenged are more than what people challenge them

for. They can hold information that can change a student. A Separate Peace is a book

that has been challenged by a few different schools for its offensive language and

underlying sexual themes, but this book should be looked past this as it shows excellent

teaching points in its themes and symbolism.

A Separate Peace is a book that follows Gene Forrester that we see great friends

with his roommate, Finny. Finny convinced Gene to jump off a tree and into a river, and

then they both decide to start a club around doing this. Soon after in the book, you can

find Gene slowly becoming jealous of Finny's athletic abilities and believes that Finny is

trying to distract him. Gene figures out in the book that Finny doesn't feel this way, but

later that day, they go jumping on the tree, and in the moment, Gene's knee collapses,

and he purposely shakes the branch of the tree. This costs Finny his athletic career,

and Gene feels immense guilt over this. Gene later feels so guilty that he apologizes to

Finny, but Finny refuses to blame him and does not listen to him. After a little while,

Brinker, a classmate, convinces Gene and Finny to enlist into the army as this was held
during WWII. Gene meets a man named Leper during the war and finds out how the

war changed him, and he goes to tell others about the story of Leper and leaves the war

with Finny. Gene finally gets outed by Brinker about the accident back in their school

days, and Finny rushes to leave but breaks his leg again; but while getting treated,

Gene visits Finny, and they make up. Finny is killed from complications during Finny's

leg operation, and this is where Gene goes back into the army and reflects on the

hostility that his heart held.

This book had been challenged six times by different high schools. "'Challenged

in Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a 'filthy, trashy sex novel.'

'Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, TN school

system (1989) because the novel contains 'offensive language.'" (American). These are

two of the six times this book was challenged. A Separate Peace has been challenged

for being a sex novel and showing prominent themes of sex in its book and using

offensive language, which makes it inappropriate to read to some. The most recent

challenge was from 1996, which was in North Carolina at McDowell County. This means

that it has been 25 years since it was last challenged.

A lot of the schools that have challenged this book have mentioned the use of its

inappropriate language. "There are about 15 words total that are considered "offensive"

(Knowles). The words that appear are the occasional "s" word as well as the words

damn and hell. Which most people find mild aside from the "s" word. Someone made a

blog post about the offensive language in the book and wrote about these words and
how the book used the Lord's name in vain. In most adults' eyes, damn and hell are

often words on the fence if they are considered a curse word. Some adults don't see it

as one, and others do, and since there are only two to three other curse words like the

"s" word that was commonly used in the era that book was set in.

The next thing that some schools had challenged was the sexual tension

between Gene and Finny. "His skin radiated a reddish copper glow of a tan, his brown

hair had been a little bleached by the sun, and I noticed that the tan made his eyes

shine with a cool blue-green fire" (Knowles 21). A blogger that believes that this book

shouldn't be taught brings up the point that the book mentions underlying femininity and

sexual tension between the two main characters. This quote is cited directly from the

book. This was seen as having an underlying sexual intuition. To debunk this, this quote

can be seen as character development. As this is from the beginning of the book, we

are learning about the characters, and the author is giving us a visual in our minds so

that we can imagine the character in our minds. It is merely a character description that

fills up the space in the book and allows us to imagine the characters. Another source

mentions this, "'Pink! It makes you look like a fairy!' (Knowles 24). Finny dismisses the

comment for a moment then responds, 'I wonder what would happen if I looked like a

fairy to everyone'" (Sansom). This person believes that this is the internal conversation

of Finny and a clear indication that he is considering what other people would think if

they realized he was homosexual. This, in my opinion, is not the case and can just be

played off as playful banter as they were going to a tea party, and Ginny was pointing
out his pink shirt. Finny's comment could be what people would think if he was an actual

fairy or even just worried about what people would think if they thought he was

homosexual for wearing pink. This thought of his doesn't necessarily mean that he is

worried about them realizing he's homosexual.

A student from one of the schools in Illinois that challenged the book spoke out in

a blog post criticizing the school for challenging it. The student, Neha Madhira, talks

about how this book was removed in the middle of the semester from the 10th-grade

curriculum. Despite whether John Knowles had intended for his book to have the two

main characters have sexual tension, this high schooler wrote, "At this age students are

still being molded into the people they will become, which includes their morals and

beliefs. Schools should not teach that censorship is right. It violates their rights, and it

will teach them that if something allows you to think for yourself, then it should be

stopped. Censorship of books only stops the flow of new and challenging ideas through

a school" (Madhira). Madhira brings up a valid point that even if the book intended for

the two main characters to have a relationship that's not physically spoken about, it is

essential to teach things that may not be in someone's morals or beliefs. She mentions

that censorship closes students' minds and does not expand their minds to learn about

the world and what they may be exposed to in the future.

Despite the challenges that the book has faced, this book is an excellent book to

teach. One of the more prominent themes in the book is identity. "Identity — Gene and

Finny spend the duration of A Separate Peace trying to come to terms with who they're
growing up to be" (Domingo). This review of the book summarizes it well. Throughout

the book, we see Gene fighting for his identity and wanting to feel special for something

that Finny wasn't. We see this when Gene shakes the branch that Finny falls off. "He

had never been jealous of me for a second. Now I knew that there never was and never

could have been any rivalry between us. I was not of the same quality as he. I couldn't

stand this. . . . Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees

bent, and I jounced the limb." (Knowles ). This text is taken out from chapter four, where

Gene shakes the branch. His beginning words to himself before this act were that they

were not of the same quality. He had believed that Finny was greater than him in

athletics and that Finny was trying to tear down his academic career. He then shook the

branch and broke FInny's leg. After he had done this to Finny, Gene felt immense guilt

and went to apologize to his friend for hurting him. Here we see the beginning of this

theme as he is already starting to change and figure out who he is. This is good to teach

to students whether there is any sexual tension or explicit language. Identity and who

you are as important for students as they are developing, and this story takes a journey

through somebody's mind when they feel guilty.

Another theme that can be seen in the book is overcoming internal enemies.

This connects closely with identity as you can see this theme take action nearing the

end of the book. Gene creates an enemy inside him when he believes that Finny is

better than him in athleticism and trying to sabotage his intelligence in the school. Then

his guilt follows him as he shakes the tree branch, and Finny falls and breaks his leg.
Throughout the novel, he holds this internal enemy with him for the consequences he

caused. Nearing the end of the book, he feels at peace with his enemies and how he

began to overcome them. Knowles writes, "Around them spread a beautiful New

England day. Peace lay on Devon like a blessing, the summer's peace, the reprieve,

New Hampshire's response to all the cogitation and deadness of winter. There could be

no urgency in work during such summers; any parachutes rigged would be no more

effective than napkins" (Knowles 107). The enemies he felt inside over Finny's death

and the war have allowed him to grow and break free from his internal enemy. At the

end of the book, he is at peace and can't feel worried or anything else despite the

approaching war near him. In school, it is important to talk about the overcoming of

enemies. This topic has good value in a classroom setting as everyone holds guilt and

deals with different harsh topics in their everyday lives. This book can help reconnect

with them and allow them to relate to a certain extent to the book and the overcoming of

internal enemies.

A Separate peace is a symbol of war. With the book taking place during WWII, there is

some part that it plays in the book. This war symbolizes the reality of adulthood and

denying conflict and one's own feelings. We only see them start to realize and begin to

cope with the war when they see Leper. "Leper's gone crazy. When I heard that about

Leper, then I knew that the war was real, this war and all the wars. If a war can drive

someone crazy, then it's real all right" (Knowle 87). This is where Finny admits to the

war and how it can change a person once they step into it. He sees the real
consequences that can happen to him and anybody else in the war. At this point, he

couldn't stand being in the war anymore after seeing how this could make someone go

crazy and run away.

This book is engaging to the students, and the challenges that these schools

tried to go through should be looked over. There is a multitude of personalities that

come from every character, which allows them to connect to someone or something in

one of the character's lives. Students can also follow alongside the relationship of Gene

and Finny and pick apart the dynamic that they hold. It could also be a good teaching

point to discuss what led to some of Gene's choices. This book allows students to be

able to explain the use of flashbacks in the story and the foreshadowing that is made.

Gene had made a reference to death by violence, and the fears that he had surrounding

the school, which can be seen is connected to the tree and stairs. This is all a

foreshadow of Finny's two accidents and then his death from falling from the tree they

stood on and falling down the steps. Students are also able to analyze Gene and his

behavior throughout the book. This can be closely knit from the themes and about his

internal enemies that he overcame and his identity and figuring it out throughout the

book.

A Separate Peace is a book that has been challenged a handful of times, but its

literature content and the themes and symbolism that can be shaped and worked within

the classroom should overpower the negatives that people see. Despite the "sexual

tension" between the two characters and the minimal explicit language that is thrown
out in the book, it should be taught in every high school literature class. Looking at any

book that a school chooses to teach, there is always someone that can find a flaw or

create an image that isn't meant to be in the book. In return, you need to look at what

teaching value this has on the book, like A Separate Peace does in the classroom.
 American Library Association (2021, April 23). Banned & challenged classics. Retrieved
May 10, 2021, from
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics#:~:text=A
%20Separate%20Peace%2C%20by%20John,filthy%2C%20trashy%20sex%20novel.
%22&text=Challenged%20as%20appropriate%20for%20high,novel%20contains
%20%22offensive%20language.%22

I would like to use this for background information of the times that this book has been
challenged and the reasoning behind the challenge. A few of them i might reference are,
“Challenged in Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "filthy, trashy sex novel."”
“Challenged as appropriate for high school reading lists in the Shelby County, TN school system
(1989) because the novel contains "offensive language."
“Challenged by the parent of a high school student in Troy, IL (1991) citing profanity and
negative attitudes. Students were offered alternative assignments while the school board took
the matter under advisement, but no further action was taken on the complaint.”

Domingo, A. (n.d.). Free teaching guide: A separate peace. Retrieved May 10, 2021,
from https://www.prestwickhouse.com/blog/post/2019/12/how-to-teach-a-separate-peace

I will use this website to back up ideas on how this book is good to teach to teenagers. It also
gave me a few ideas i didnt think of like learning objectives that you can learn from A Separate
Peace. It also talks about some themes that show up in the book. This gives me an opportunity
to also take that and expand on why these themes are to be taught to teenagers. “Identity —
Gene and Finny spend the duration of A Separate Peace trying to come to terms with who
they're growing up to be. This is one of the defining characteristics of a Bildungsroman, or
coming-of-age story.” This can especially be used as a pushing point because identity is
something teenagers struggle with and its good to talk and discuss this.

Knowles, J. (n.d.). About. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from

https://aseparatepeacesoloproject.weebly.com/about.html

This website gives off a little bit of information about why this book was challenged. I mainly
chose to include this because they included the amount of words in the book that are
considered ‘offensive’ and talks about how there isn't direct sexual content in the book itself.
“There are about 15 words total that are considered "offensive." There is also no direct sexual
content in this novel. Many people thought there was a sexual attraction between Gene and
Finny from such quotes such as, "His skin radiated a reddish-copper glow of tan, his brown hair
had been a little bleached by the sun, and I noticed that the tan made his eyes shine with a cool
blue-green fire" (3.71). “ I want to use the first part and then mention things like the second part
of the quote but directly quote the book

homeschoolbookreviewblog (2017, May 29). A separate peace. Retrieved May 10,

2021, from https://homeschoolbookreviewblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/29/a-separate-
peace/

This link is where someone talks badly about the book and how it curses and why it shouldn't be
read. I want to use this source and turn that around as they provide information on the book and
how those themes are good to read and how the words that are used are words that aren't often
considered curse words or words that aren't as bad. “Quite a few instances of cursing, with the
“d” and “h” words appearing frequently, and profanity, with various forms of taking the Lord’s
name in vain,”

Madhira, N. (n.d.). 'A separate PEACE' removed from 10th grade English class.
Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://slpecho.com/uncategorized/2018/05/26/a-
separate-peace-removed-from-10th-grade-english-class/

This is written by a student from St Louis park high School where the book was removed from
the curriculum halfway through the semester. This student talks about how they removed it for
the underlying sexual content between the two main characters. This is an actual student that
was in the school so its a good backup on my points as it came straight from a student. I want to
include in my essay how important it is to include a student in the discussion of the book.
Especially at the highschool level it's important to include their voice.

Sansom, J. (2018). The tree of panic in a separate peace. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from
https://core.ac.uk/reader/276620190

Opposing side on why this book should be banned. I want to use it as a source where I pick
apart the specific details they mention and talk about how they arent meant in a sexual manner.
Mentioning opposing sides and me debunking them will make my argument stronger. “Pink! It
makes you look like a fairy!” (Knowles 24). Finny dismisses the comment for a moment then
simply responds, “I wonder what would happen if I looked like a fairy to everyone” (Knowles 25).
This appears to be a clear indication that Finny has considered what other people would think if
they realized he was homosexual;

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 1987. Print.

I'll use the book to reference themes and important parts of the book that are important to
teach.