A Separate Peace Lesson Plan

Why is it significant that the Winter Carnival breaks into violence?

The dissolution of the carnival shows how closely sports and violence intertwine at Devon in war-time and how, in Gene's words, “it was as though football players were really bent on crushing the life out of each other, as though boxers were in combat to the death, as though even a tennis ball might turn into a bullet.” The violent backdrop of the carnival makes Finny's ballet of a separate peace all the more remarkable. Although he thinks "you" always win at sports, it becomes clear at this point, with the news about Leper, that you don't always win at war.

Why does Gene want to stop Brinker's mouth with...