(Assignment #12) At this point in the novel, the main action has wrapped up now that Finny is dead and the boys are graduating, but now the war has quite literally invaded the insular peace on the campus. Summarize and explore the significance of the transformation of the campus (description occurs throughout the chapter, so provide at least two examples in your answer). (Kate)

For most of the book, the boys at Devon were living in their own separate bubble of peace. But by the end of the novel, the Devon campus has transformed from a school into practically a base for war operations. And the war has literally invaded the school, "The jeeps, troops, and sewing machines were now drawn up next to the Far Common quadrangle" (Knowles, 197). The troops are using any space that they can to prepare for the war and without Finny to deny it, the war is seeping into their everyday lives. Gene then describes the day as, "The reprieve, New Hampshire's response to all the cogitation and sadness of winter... perhaps that was only true for me now" (Knowles, 197). The war had changed everyone at Devon except for Gene, and the campus was the last thing that was untouched by the war that Gene could relate to. I think that the transformation of the campus signifies the complete resolution to the war and all that it has changed.

Do you agree?