10/29/15 3.2 WWII Notes + Discussion

1. 10/29/15 3.2 WWII Notes + Discussion To start today’s entry, please describe a book or a movie you feel uses setting in a really strong way. Name the book/movie, describe the setting, and then discuss some of the ways in which that setting contributes to the story.

2. 10/29/15 3.2 WWII Notes + Discussion MY SAMPLE (which means you have to choose something else): J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series relies very strongly on setting to create a magical world. Hogwarts School has well-described dormitories, a Great Hall with a ceiling that changes, and is in a remote location that must be reached by secret train. All of this contributes to a story that seems both fantastic and realistic at the same time.

3. Cornell Notes Under this entry, please make some space to take some notes. Make it look like this: (You’ll need just about the rest of the page, maybe spilling a bit onto the next)

4. Cornell Notes Don’t worry so much about writing down EVERYTHING on the slides. Focus on key words/phrases/dates for that right column Left column: leave open for questions, reflection, BIG ideas

5. A Separate Peaceby John Knowles

6. Author John Knowles • Born in 1926 in West Virginia • Best known works are set in New England

7. Knowles’ Childhood • Parents were originally from Massachusetts. • Knowles spent many summer vacations there. • At the age of fifteen, Knowles applied to an elite New Hampshire boarding school, Phillips Exeter Academy. (The school in the novel is thought to be modeled after this one. Picture a place like the school in Dead Poets Society…)

8. John Knowles continued… • Knowles expresses his affections and (somewhat) fond memories for his boarding school in A Separate Peace. • Soon after Knowles entered Exeter, the U.S. declared war on Japan and entered World War II. • Knowles went into the military after he graduated from high school and trained to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force Aviation Program. • When the war ended, he attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

9. World War II • Began in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland, and officially ended in August 1945, when the Japanese surrendered. • A Separate Peace takes place during the summer of 1942, directly in the center of World War II. • In America: • In order to cope with the war, America instituted rations on books, sugar, coffee, and other goods. • To conserve gasoline, a national 35 MPH speed limit was implemented in many places, and driving for pleasure was banned. • By the summer of 1942, many Americans realized that the war was far from over.

10. WWII • Called a “World” war because a majority of the world’s nations split into one of two opposing sides: • Allies- included Russia, U.S.A, United Kingdom, and China. • Axis- included Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan

11. World War II • One of the most devastating wars in history. • Loss of human life estimated at 72 million. • Two-thirds of victims were civilians. • Holocaust victims numbered in the millions.

12. U.S. Involvement • The U.S. entered the World War after Pearl Harbor. American leaders were angry because Japan attacked after they said they would not. • Cities that were devastated by the Atomic bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki • Fear of war caused many Americans to turn a blind eye to the conflicts overseas. • Pearl Harbor changed everything. • 1940 brought the first peacetime draft in the nation’s history. • Men 21-35 years of age were required to register for military service. • The age was then lowered to eighteen.

13. Patriotism • Many young men couldn’t wait to be drafted; patriotism was at an all-time high. • Teenagers often felt it was their duty to enlist.

14. Patriotism and Change • The war brought changes to the American economy and lifestyle. • Need for weapons created jobs. • Americans attended rallies, bought war bonds, conserved fuel and rubber by car pooling, and planted “victory gardens.” • In short, American life, as it had been, changed “for the duration”- a phrase that meant “until the end of the war.”

15. Imagine… • Imagine going to high school while one of the deadliest and most devastating wars in history was happening. • How would it affect you? Would your life be any different?

16. The War in Iraq • How has the war in Iraq (and elsewhere) affected you? (Has it affected you at all?) • Have the news stories and pictures affected your life or view of the world?

17. A Separate Peace • The novel was first published in England in 1959 and in the U.S. in 1960. • It proved to be such a success that Knowles was able to resign from his job and devote his time to writing and travel. • He wrote many other novels, none as successful as A Separate Peace.

18. Setting • Devon School in New Hampshire • The central story begins less than a year after December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

19. A Separate Peace • War is in the background of this “bubble” – it affects the boys, but not directly • Main characters are juniors. • They attend an elite private boarding school.

20. Flashback • a story in the present that refers back to an event(s) that occurred in the past. In ASP- starts in the present with Gene returning to his school and remembering a happening that occurred 15 years previously.