Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Assignment #8: Why does Finny organize the Winter Carnival? Why is this significant? What is the impact and symbolism of the Winter Carnival? (Sydonie)
Finny organizes the Winter Carnival to lift everyone else's spirits up. Before Finny gets the idea to have a Winter Carnival at Devon, there is a large paragraph about how terrible Saturday afternoons are in the winter. In the paragraph there is lots of talk about how gray everything seems to be and how every "sprig of vitality [is] snapped"(Knowles, 128). Due to this all-time low mood, Finny, being the confident, perky person he is, decides to host The Devon Winter Carnival. On page 128, it reads "Only Phineas failed to see what was so depressing. Just as there was no war in his philosophy, there was also no dreary weather."(Knowles, 128). Unlike everyone else, who seems to be in a bad mood, Finny is inspired and this inspiration easily spreads to the people around him, "[Gene] gave [Finny] a wintry smile."(Knowles, 129). Later on that page, it says that Finny's idea ended up happening, meaning that Finny's Winter Festival has already started making an impact on people. Finny is happy, even on gray days and this is part of the reason why he organizes the Winter Carnival, to boost the moods of the people around him.
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I agree with what you said, but I also think the carnival was about the idea of separate peace. After the carnival, Gene talks about “the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary illusory, special and separate peace”(Knowles 137). its about this shelter that this carnival is creating, like a bubble sheltering everybody at Devon from the war.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Ava and Rohan. I think the significance of the carnival is peace. I think that Finny is trying to ignore the fact that there is a war going on and by organizing a carnival, he is making this "peace" more "realistic" and at the same time. Finny also tries to convince himself and his friends that the war isn't actually happening and denies the existence of the war. Gene narrates, "What deceived me was my own happiness; for peace is indivisible...So I ceased to have any real sense of it"(Knowles 123). The war is naturally leaving the minds of Finny, Gene, and all of their friends, so Finny's carnival will help wipe their brains completely clean.
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