In A Separate Peace, why is Saturday "battleship gray?"

The author's
depiction of Saturday as "battleship gray" is highly symbolic. On a literal level, it
is late winter, and the sky is, in fact, a deep, dull, overpowering gray color. Symbolically,
however, the color of the sky represents the ominous reality of the war which overshadows
everything that winter of 1943.

Earlier in the chapter, the winter sky is
described as "an empty hopeless gray," which in the context of the story reflects the
inexorable encroachment of the war on the lives of the youths at Devon. The halcyon days of
summer are over, and although Leper is the only one so far to take the initiative to actually
join the armed forces, it will not be long until the others will be swept along with the tide as
well. As the author states, "only Phineas fail(s) to see what (is) so depressing;"
doomed by his injury to be left behind when his comrades will inevitably be taken by the
military machine, he creates his own world of carefree innocence, the titular "separate
peace." For one day, the boys are swept into Phineas' version of reality, as they are
seduced into participating in his "Winter Carnival," his "choreography of
peace." Despite the merriment Phineas creates, however, the sky remains "battleship
gray;" the oppressive presence of the war will not go away. The reality of the situation is
brought home abruptly at the end of the chapter, when Gene receives an urgent telegram from
Leper. Its contents jolt the boys back to the real world, and its stormy, threatening conditions
which cannot be denied (Chapter 9).