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A “Separate Peace” (published in 1960) takes place during the Second World War in a New England Prep School called Devon (based on Phillips Exeter Academy). This is around the year 1943, the time period where teenagers had to make a decision, either to enlist or wait and be drafted. In this novel the author John Knowles gives a good understanding of the war. The main characters Gene and Finny are always struggling between the “separate peace” and the real war. Even thought the story doesn’t take place in a war battlefield, it just takes place in school. The war in Europe took away the peace from the boys, affected them, and influenced them to be ready for what was coming to them. The war encouraged Finny and the others to prepare for the war ahead of them. Finny created two games to imitate the real war. The first one was the “The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.” It was the “entrenched institution of the Devon school” (pg.25) and “They signed up as ‘trainees’ on the s