Brief Comparison Of A Separate Peace And The Book Thief

The stories unfolding over many seasons allows the characters to grow and lets the theme be supported through the growth of the characters, mood, conflict, and plot that changes over time. On the other hand, A Separate Peace takes place in America, and The Book Thief is in Germany. This affects the character’s exposure to war. along with the thoughts and themes created from that. In Germany, Liesel must attend Hitler Youth, book burnings, bomb drills, and everyone must support Hitler. Dissimilarly, Finny can pretend there is no war, students at Devon can speak out against the war, and there are no dangers in the United States. In addition, Liesel resides in a town where she can roam free, whereas Gene is cooped up in a male boarding school.

Throughout the novel, mood changes drastically with the plot. At the onset of the text, a serious, yet sad feeling emerges from the toughness of Liesel and her struggles. Beside the minor conflicts, the middle of the novel leaves the reader with a cheery mood through the playfulness of Hans and Rudy and Death’s creative narrations. At the closure of story, a sadness is emitted from the tragedy of the bombing, but hope is soon brought back once the reader learns Liesel and Max live on. As mentioned much before, mood is set though the anger and envy that Gene feels in A Separate Peace. Although Gene intensely focuses on Finny, the seasons form the mood also. When Gene arrives at Devon fifteen years later, the weather is rainy and gloomy to show the discomfort he is feeling to be back. Once his flashback begins, it is summer to show the carefree joy Finny guides Gene to feel. The transition of summer to fall allows the reader to see Gene’s mood progressively get colder as he suppresses his feelings of envy for Finny. After Gene lashes out and pushes Finny off of the tree, the school year begins, creating a strict and dull mood. Both moods of the books change drastically as the plot progresses, which contributes to the intensity of the mood and themes in each novel. Each story

Each set of characters portray emotions and contribute strong relationships to the theme, but Gene focuses on his struggles and acts out in ways that add to the theme of envy, while Liesel controls her emotions more and engages in conversation with others. This allows the reader to forcibly focus on the developing theme through Gene’s jealous emotions. The point of view of the stories also points in favor of A Separate Peace’s ability to support its theme. Similarly, the narrators speak in first person and talk of others, but again, Gene is so focused on his struggles that the reader can get a deeper look at how the theme develops. Death, being an overseer, spends more time narrating the lives and stories of many people, which can add extra knowledge that draws the reader’s thoughts away from the theme. Another element that supports A Separate Peace is the setting. In The Book Thief, Liesel lives in a town where she can freely run off with Rudy and avoid conflicts at home, school, or negative thoughts, so this helps conflicts to settle down quickly and let a new rabbit hole in the story commerce. The era in which the stories unravel in is the same, which contributes to similarities in conflict, but the strict, crowded atmosphere of Devon Boarding school allows for a dark mood and more man versus man conflict to emerge, building on to the theme. Continuing on with conflict, both of the stories involve