Assignment #10 (152-177): Discuss the irony of the dialogue between Finny and Gene on the second half of page 155.

            It is ironic that Finny does not believe there was a war as he stated that he would not be drafted in the war because of his broken leg, which caused Gene to give up on his goal. Brinker stated there were, “two men sidelined for the Duration . . . of course [Finny] is [one of the two]” (Knowles 157). Once hearing this remark, Gene immediately used Finny’s theory about how the war does not actually exist. “Not that there’s anything to be out of . . . Just this dizzy war, this fake, this thing with the old men” (Knowles 158). When Finny replied with “Sure. There isn’t any war” (Knowles 158), Gene realized that Finny was loosing hope in his original conjecture about the war and the old men. Gene then began to acknowledge that the separate peace and dreams he had at Devon were just a false sense of reality. Finny becoming reacquainted with the truth of the war made Gene recognize the false hopes that the school supplied.