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Compare And Contrast A Separate Peace And Dead Poets Society

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Oh Captain, My Captain John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is a moving story about a young man and his friends at a preparatory school in the midst of World War II. World War II puts a lot of stress on the boys, while the main character, Gene, is also struggling with internal conflict. Knowles’ beautifully crafts the story around Gene’s inner struggle. This story is much like the movie Dead Poets Society, which is about boys at a preparatory school during the 1950’s who are challenged by their teacher to go against the flow of society. Todd Anderson, the main character in this story, is trying to live up to his brother’s expectation. Henceforth, Todd is facing an internal struggle as well. Dead Poets Society and A Separate Peace are similar in a multitude of ways, including congruences in the characters, setting, and overall theme. …show more content…

In A Separate Peace, Gene, the quiet kid who is striving for excellence in school, is rooming with Finny, a boy who is followed by a crowd and looked up to by everyone. This really stretches Gene to try new things and come out of his comfort zone. Moreover, in Dead Poets Society, Todd is the quiet kid who is just trying to pass school. His roommate, Neil, already has a group of friends and pushes the limits on all the school rules and policies. As you can see, Gene is much like Todd because they both are shy and most overcome internal conflict. Likewise, Finny and Neil are parallel characters because they cross the line on school limitations and dare others to try new things. Cameron, a boy who no one really likes, is let into the club, but in the end he rats out the boys. In the same way, Leper in A Separate Peace is an outcast and not accepted by

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